DigitalRoutes@Culture is a KA2 Strategic Partnership project, funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, which aims to promote social entrepreneurship education, cultural awareness and digital competencies in an attempt to address issues of rural development and urbanisation.
On the 14th of December, we tested the Digital Routes @ Culture module on Communication & Branding Competence for Cultural Entrepreneurs during the Think Social Winter Entrepreneurship Academy. In this Training Course, we gathered a diverse group of participants that are engaged in youth work and/or social and cultural entrepreneurship, where they were able to learn more about the European Solidarity Corps funding program and Solidarity Projects for Youth. As such, bringing the component of marketing, branding and communication is paramount to promote the projects themselves, but also the values behind each of them and make them as accessible as possible.
We started out by talking about gender roles in the entrepreneurship world and the necessity of working towards the goal of changing social and economic systems that don’t serve us anymore through intersectional social and cultural entrepreneurship, by overtaking unfair and unjust systems, sparking collaborative social movements, and reshaping dominant expectations, norms, and stigmas.
To follow up, we introduced the concept of marketing and the exploitation of social movements, focusing on feminism and the women’s rights movement. We wanted to reiterate the importance of marketing and how to communicate our values while promoting our brand, in order to avoid diminishing relevant social movements to a hashtag and “to practice what we preach”. Reflecting on marketing strategies is crucial in the promotion of cultural heritage, as it deeply relates to the socio-economic history of a country and the delivery of very specific and powerful messages.
Then we organized a workshop focused on the importance of branding and graphic design, and how they relate to social media as a means of communication. We touched upon topics such as the power of imagery and how we can use it to our advantage, how graphic design has been evolving and how relevant it is for dissemination and promotion purposes, and the role of social media in the 21st Century and how it revolutionized marketing. We introduced the Digital Routes@Culture project to the participants and its communication channels as an example of a consistent graphic line that translates the values of cultural entrepreneurship and the promotion of cultural heritage.
To finish off in style, we encouraged the participants to put their creativity to work and come up with a graphic design line for their projects that translated their values and their brand – basically making their brand visible and understandable through the power of visuals! The participants came up with very different but equally incredible examples of how to use imagery, typography, colours, etc., to deliver a message.
Are you interested in communication and branding for your social or cultural enterprise? Check out our module on the Digital Routes e-learning platform!
Telma Roque, the European Solidarity Corps volunteer at CGE, has been involved in the Digital Routes project team from the begininng of her placement and was inspired to co-designed this piloting. She successfully facilitated the session with the support of her coordinator. We are very proud of her achievement! 👏🏼
🇪🇺 DigitalRoutes@Culture (2020-1-PL01-KA205-080646) is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.
