The Creative and Cultural Industries are considered as one of the most promising fields of economic activity in EU but also a promising sector to significant job creation. They can act as important drivers of innovation. Long-term structural changes in our societies towards a knowledge-based economy have led to new forms of non-technological innovation in which “culture-based creativity” plays a key role.The rationale of the project is that in recent years many projects have been implemented to improve basic business and management skills of artists/creatives but no one has focused on specific technical skills to be improved with a cross-sectoral approach. In addition, the majority of existing initiatives are targeted to start-ups and not to entrepreneurs who need to consolidate their businesses.The overall objective of the project is to develop specific training tools which will support people working in CCI to improve their competences and skills required to reinforce the competitive advantage of CC sectors by maintaining a virtuous cycle of creative talent, artistic expressions, entrepreneurship and investment. The specific objectives are to:- develop 1 transnational training model divided in 5 macro-area, 1 for each expertise which has been identified as essential to unlock the potential of CCI: 1) Creative and artistic; 2) Technical and engineering; 3) Market and business; 4) Managerial and financial; 5) Process and networking.- test the models both on trainers/VET providers and cultural and creatives businesses.The objectives will be reached through a set of well-defined activities which will be implemented in 30 months by 6 partners coming from 5 different countries (Croatia, Italy, Spain, Slovenia and Greece):- Setting up of 5 working groups with the aim to elaborate detailed training models on 5 identified thematic areas:- 1 International training for internal staff and trainers to transfer the knowledge among partners on training materials related to 5 thematic areas;- 1 International training to test the models and improve the knowledge of people working in CCI;- Development of a handbook to support SMEs and self-employed in CCI to manage their business;- Development of an online learning platform targeted to entrepreneurs in CCI;- Implementation of dissemination activities and 5 multiplier events to actively involve the participation of stakeholders.The direct target of project activities will be businesses operating in the Cultural and Creative sector who will benefit from training activities and intellectual outputs, and also the staff from participating organisations who will improve their knowledge and expertise in assisting the companies working in CCI sector to transform their business models from “project-by-project basis” to “maintainable creative entrepreneurship”.

In many European countries people with visual and hearing disabilities are still excluded from cultural life as the level of accessibility is extremely low. When it comes to audiodescription and subtitling (practices which offer visually/hearing people an equal opportunity to enjoy arts under comparable circumstances), across Europe there are some good practices but generally the level of implementation of these services is very low. Audiodescription/subtitling must become the norm, not the exception (as it is now). Unfortunately, the profession of Audiodescriber/Subtitler is still not widespread at EU level, and in many countries is not even recognized as a profession. Many audiodescribers and subtitlers are working in isolation, or on a voluntary basis, and the possibilities to make their job sustainable over time are very limited. The rationale behind the CASTLE project was to fill an identified gap: in recent years many projects have been implemented to improve audiodescribers' and subtitlers' artistic competences, but these projects have not focused on the artists' concrete need: to increase their sense of entrepreneurship in order to foster the creation of new and professional providers of audiodescription/subtitling services which will be sustainable over time. The general objective of the project was thus to promote entrepreneurship and support people working on audiodescription and subtitling to start their own businesses and improve self-employment skills. This was achieved through 2 specific objectives: 1) Increase basic enterprise skills of artists/cultural operators working as audiodescribers/subtitlers,2) Develop practical tools to support artists/cultural operators to start and manage their own business.These objectives were reached through a set of well-defined activities, implemented in 24 months, by 6 partners from 5 different EU countries:- 1 international workshop planned to improve key enterprise skills of people already working in the audiodescription/subtitling sector (24 participants); - 1 international workshop to improve knowledge on how to set up and manage a business which will be successful and sustainable over time (25 participants);- development of a practical handbook to concretely support people working in the audiodescription/subtitling sector in starting their own business. The handbook is available in English, Italian, Polish, Slovenian and Spanish, and is free to download at http://accessibleculture.eu/pratical_handbook-29.html;- development of an interactive platform to support audiodescribers/subtitlers to successfully manage their business in order to make future companies sustainable and profitable over time - http://accessibleculture.eu;- implementation of dissemination activities and 5 multiplier events to actively involve the participation of stakeholders (183 participants at the multiplier events, and an overall reach of around 900 people). Feedback from the international workshops demonstrated a real improvement in the participants' enterprise skills. For example, after the first workshop, there were increases in how participants in every category rated their skills at the *highest* level, compared to before the training:Entrepreneurial skills - 0% to 15.79%Knowledge on different business models - 0% to 5.26%Business management - 0% to 5.26%Knowledge on business opportunities - 0% to 21.05%Competences on how to start a business - 0% to 10.53%Ability to sell - 0% to 15.79%Creativity - 26.32% to 47.37%The ability to work in teams - 26.32% to 57.89%Increased curiosity about EU opportunities – 90%CASTLE's impact can be measured in 4 areas:SYSTEMIC• Identified best practice about audiodescription and subtitling in Europe.• Specific training materials available.• Professionalisation of audiodescription and subtitling. ORGANISATIONS• Increased European links• New project ideas • New training opportunities • New knowledge about sustainable business modelsLEARNERS (Audiodescribers and subtitlers / cultural providers)• Business start-up skills• Links with cultural institutions• More AD / subtitled performances• New business models for existing businesses • Users find it easier or less stressful to deal with business aspects• More audiodescribers / subtitlers availableSTAFF• Management and finance experience• Language practice• European and local networking• Experience in EU/Erasmus+ projectsThe CASTLE consortium included 2 non-profit associations (Centro Diego Fabbri and Cultural Centre Wroclaw), 2 private companies: 1 providing the audiodescription and subtitling (Audiosigno) and 1 experienced in accessibility policies and dissemination (ARGO), 1 University (University of Wolverhampton) and 1 business incubator (SASA Inkubator) experienced in delivering tailored training for young entrepreneurs.

"<< Background >>""ATHENA"" is based on the current EU youth strategy 2021-2027 and its fundamental pillars for the involvement, connection and training of young people for their correct inclusion in social and economic life. The most recent data at European level on the social inclusion of young people in Europe (Eurostat 2018), showed a slight improvement of approximately 5% compared to the data for 2014. However, the recent socio-economic situation caused by the Covid-19 crisis threatens these advances and poses an uncertain scenario for the future of young Europeans. Taking into account also the working document ""Situation of young people in the European Union"" (European Commission, 2018), the cyclical changes or booms and busts in the economic cycle lead to rises and falls in youth unemployment rates, influencing job prospects and opportunities for young entrepreneurs. In this sense, for the first time since the Second World War, there is a real risk that today's young generation will end up less well-off than their parents. The evidence from the previous recession suggests that young people, especially those who have just left education, could be hit harder economically too by the COVID-19 fallout. On the same line, the impacts of crises are never gender-neutral, and COVID-19 is no exception. According to the recent data from unwomen.org ""women are overrepresented in many of the industries hardest hit by COVID-19, such as food service, retail and entertainment"". In order to face this new challenge, a well-oriented entreprenurship is still representing an alternative way for socio-labour inclusion of young women.Pandemic reality is also influencing working methods and youth workers need to adapt their traditional initiatives to the new circunstances in order to continue offering support for young women entrepreneurs, and youth entrepreneurship in general. In relation to this, ""ATHENA"" will focus on young women entrepreneurship support and put in value digital and alternative tools, adapted to new COVID19 restrictions. In this sense, eight European organizations from Spain, Italy, Finland, Belgium, Lithuania, Ireland, Slovenia and Poland are committed to cooperate during 24 months in order to improve their youth work methodologies, explore new European good practices and develop new intelectual and working methodologies to be adapted by them in their own territory and other territories regarding young women entrepreneurship promotion.<< Objectives >>""ATHENA"" aims to improve integrated youth work strategies, adapting working methods to COVID19 restrictions, in order to offer a good youth entrepreneurship support and promotion. To reach this objective, eight European entities are committed to cooperate and face the new reality in order to facilitate solutions to other peers in Europe. ATHENA will work on entrepreneurship field, because, even if entrepreneurs are fighters, by nature optimistic and resilient, their potential can increase significantly when they find a correct support.Youth workers should be ready to guide young future entrepreneurs to new world after COVID19. A world less open and, probably, less free. A world with limited travel of goods and people, notably business travelers (more remote working and remote meetings) due to the impact of physical distancing requirements. The potential growth in “dematerialization” of products and services: for example, we could witness a boom in 3D printers to produce masks and ventilators in each country. More agility in corporate decision-making: for example we’ve seen companies like Apple changing their operations virtually overnight to design, produce and ship face shields for medical workers.Pandemic reality is influencing working methods and youth workers need to adapt their traditional initiatives to the new circunstances in order to continue offering support for young women entrepreneurs, and youth entrepreneurship in general. In relation to this, ""ATHENA"" will focus on young women entrepreneurship support and put in value digital and alternative tools, adapted to new COVID19 restrictions. In this sense, eight European organizations from Spain, Italy, Finland, Belgium, Lithuania, Ireland, Slovenia and Poland are committed to cooperate during 24 months in order to improve their youth work methodologies, explore new European good practices and develop new intelectual and working methodologies to be adapted by them in their own territory and other territories regarding young women entrepreneurship promotion.""ATHENA"" will reach the following specific objectives:- To Improve youth work methodologies regarding promoting young women entrepreneurship, specifically by introducing COVID19-adapted strategies;- To increase awareness and knowledge among youth workers and decision makers, about new COVID19-adapted strategies for promoting young women entrepreneurship;- To compare situations in different European countries and exchange knowledge and experiences between partner countries;- To collect best COVID19-adapted practices in the field of young women entrepreneurship support;- To produce sustainable and adaptable knowledge to be implemented and tested in other European realities;- To put in value new COVID19-adapted strategies to be adapted to youth work policies and initiatives across Europe.<< Implementation >>ATHENA is based on a transnational collaboration between different organizations related to entrepreneurship from eight different European territories that will cooperate at Europeanlevel. The transnational attitude of the project would enable participants to get to know a wide variety of opinions and experiences coming from different national situations. This willguarantee the exploration of innovative COVID19-adapted practices in order to provide European youth workers with tools to face potential situations related to support youthentrepreneurship in pandemic times. ATHENA thus will imply a pilot project including all the partners, where digital and alternatives strategies will be tested in local contexts by anintegrated approach, involving stakeholders from all territories. Therefore, the project will have a local dimension as well. To be precise, the pilot projects will be leaded by the expertsand youth workers provided by project partners and will be implemented in the different partner cities of the project. The pilot project will concern European youngster’s attitudestowards specific challenges as Covid-19 economic crisis, unemployment and other social relevant issues. The main idea is to find common solutions for this European challenge ofyouth social inclusion through new strategies based on IT and other alternative tools, so that it would be possible to shape better youth work methods and practices adaptable for thedifferent European cities. To do so, the results of the project will be elaborated and summarised in an online report, an interactive MOOC with pop-up material and a practicalguidelines for youth workers.<< Results >>""ATHENA"" aims to to adapt and improve work methodologies and tools applied to assist and encourage women entrepreneurship, regarding new pandemic situation and digital transition needs. The project roadmap will be developed through close collaboration and increased flows of knowledge between project partners and the different stakeholders in each target territory. The main project outcome of the ""ATHENA"" project will be the development of an experiental development training programme for youth workers aiming to increasse their skills about new COVID19 situation and how to adapt their work to the new-reality, including digital, online and alternative methods and tools. More specifically, ""ATHENA"" will: 1. Offer a unique training package to City Councils, Universities, Private entities and Non-profit organizations related to youth entrepreneurship promotion, by making more explicit the link between organizations, communities and business and the integrated approach a success factor; 2. Offer guidelines for improving youth work methodologies regarding youth entrepreneurship support, specifically adapting working methods and tools to new COVID19 situation; 3. Provide quality information and collection about European best practices about potential COVID19-adapted methods, tools and initiatives in the field of youth entrepreneurship promotion including a comparition among different European realities; 4. Provide sustainable and adaptable knowledge to be implemented and tested in other European realities. 5. Provide useful insights for the introduction of new COVID19-adapted strategies. 6. Facilitate access for youth workers and decision makers to important open training resources related to youth entrepreneurship promotion; 7. ""ATHENA"" will become a best practice example and a training model for other EU initiatives aiming to enhance new COVID19-adapted strategies for young women entrepreneurship amongst youth workers and their communities. 8. Develop a relevant material for e-learning platforms used by project partners as well as MOOC for further explotation of""ATHENA"" training programme. 9. Develop promotional information to put in value project results and put in value COVID19-adapted strategies for promoting young women entrepreneurship; 10. Development of a sustainable cooperation network about promoting young women entrepreneurship by new online, digital and altenative strategies;"