Núria Rovira Terradas
At the end of 2019 I was selected by the British Arts Council to attend Creative Catalyst networking conference taking place this week in Kayseri, Turkey.
Connect for Creativity is an 18-month project led by the British Council, in partnership with 4 organisations – ATÖLYE and Abdullah Gül University in Turkey, Bios in Greece and Nova Iskra in Serbia.
The project aims to form a network of creative hubs across Europe to foster creative exploration and collaboration that contributes to building a more cohesive, open and connected civil society.
At the conference, I was selected to attend representing student-lead creative hubs. This had to do with my involvement with the Lancaster University society Up North Arts as its 2019 - 2020 president. Moreover, I was representing UNA with its upcoming project that involved a mentoring scheme between students and practicing artists.
The conference was composed by presentations and panels lead by a selection of speakers. These where creative professionals experienced in the field of creative hubs that shared valuable skills learned through the case studies from their creative career. Hearing stories from creative innovators and panels offered really useful insights of the nature of creative careers. Moreover, these different stories, research projects and case studies by the 24 speakers were compared and contrasted side by side. This resulted in a very unique and wide view of the scene of creative hubs in Europe.
The experience of attending the two day conference was a fantastic opportunity to learn and develop a wide range of relevant skills. I got to liaise with an impressive group of Creative Professionals involved in creative hubs from places all over Europe. For sure, it was a way to engage and gain knowledge about a side of the creative industry that I would not have been able to get in touch with if it wasn't for the conference. Through these valuable interactions I was able to foster networks and connections that have followed up into projects that I am currently working on. Surprisingly, I even fostered networks that circled me back to people from Lancaster University that I had previously worked with for my art project.
Overall, this opportunity granted by the British Council fuelled my development as a creative partitioner at a key point of my career. It was an exciting condensed time of non-stop sharing, learning and connecting. As a result, I was able to further define and develop my identity as an artist. Understanding where the valuable esense of my work lies by being inspired by other's stories.