ECHO Academies

ended

“ECHO Academies ” is an arts project that aims to foster young and emerging European talents in the fields of comics (in GR), fashion design (in BU), music (in MK), photography and architecture (in HU) by using heritage (Karagiozis Shadow Puppet Theater-GR, Urban Industrial Heritage of Budapest 1860-1960-HU, Traditional Folklore Costumes of Rhodope region-BU, and Ritual Songs-MK) as a means and inspiration for their work. Given the experience of “ECHO: European Cultural Heritage Onstage”, “ECHO II: Traditions in Transition”, and ECHO III: For Memory’s Sake the project tries to tackle the issues of visibility, networking, employability and opportunities to enter the art market for new European talents. When it comes to the use of heritage as an inspirational tool, It builds on the values of the European (European Year of Cultural Heritage and its legacy, New European Bauhaus) and glocal (critical heritage discourse as expressed by Laurajane Smith) perceptions of heritage. “ECHO Academies” attempts to: 1) Cultivate young and emerging European talents from the fields of arts and the CCS in order to enhance resilience. 2) Offer training opportunities and build capacities for artists and CCS professionals in order to improve employability. 3) Create networks between artists and CCS professionals with the art market, and 4) Promote artists and their work on the international level in order to increase opportunities and outreach. ECHO Academies tries to benefit a) new, talented artists from European countries, with a wide geographical range, through creative work, cultivation of skills, and promotion of their work, b) CCS professionals by building their capacities and offering them training opportunities, c) micro organizations to develop pilot projects with a focus on building partnerships of cross-national cooperation and income generation.