VISION
The DeuS vision is to inspire new policies on training and entrepreneurship for the cultural and creative sector. Innovative educational trends and real problem solving through cross-sectoral co-creation and collaboration will be promoted.
MISSION
The DeuS project mission is to shape and promote V.E.T. (vocational and educational) training solutions in support of the cultural and creative industries by experimenting with an innovative training methodology and tailored validation framework. The potential within the Industry to solve tangible local challenges will be demonstrated through a multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral co-creation process. Commonalities will be identified at European level to encourage scalability and a new digital community platform, acting as a point of reference, will further support the sector.
ORIGINS
The contemporary inspiration comes from the Matera-Basilicata 2019 team who developed the“Open Design School” methodology for creative professionals and policy makers to tackle current and future challenges. But DeuS is also rooted in history and the “Deus ex Machina”of Greek and Roman tragedies where a ‘God from the Machine” helps the protagonist overcome seemingly insuperable problems. DeuS operates in the same way but on a larger scale, with communities, as a tool to change the dynamics of social and economic relationships. The idea of DeuS also manifests within a physical space where, through creativity, the re-imagination of society is enabled. A ‘thinking place’ is created for new educational pathways, genuine collaboration not hindered by the traditional boundaries, where the cultural vocabulary becomes ‘political’ and where, finally, the tragedy is solved through a different language. For a different concept of society.
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PROJECT DESCRIPTION

DeuS is an Erasmus+ Vocational Educational Training (VET) project, coordinated by the Matera – Basilicata 2019 Foundation, that aims to co-create a european-wide learning and training approach in critical thinking and entrepreneurship to find participatory, creative and cost-effective solutions to local challenges, by unlocking the potential of the cultural and creative sector.

The project brings together relevant players from the cultural and creative sector from Austria, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Slovakia and UK.

The DeuS project is shaped around the unique Open Design School, a pillar project of Matera 2019 (Italy), European Capital of Culture. It is a design laboratory using a peer-to-peer challenged based approach, where professionals of any discipline work together and share knowledge and expertise while designing, prototyping, delivering and testing design solutions. 

The Open Design School methodology goes one step further than existing design thinking processes by applying real solutions to real problems, validated by real people: it transforms applied research in the real domain. In the process, DeuS works as a “think and do tank” where professionals with different backgrounds can upskill and re-skill while responding collaboratively to current societal and economic challenges. 

The project will

  • Develop a VET learning approach (inspired by European education frameworks and in accordance with ECVET) that is employability-driven and builds on non-hierarchical, peer-to-peer, learning by doing and challenge based pedagogies
  • Facilitate professional skills (entrepreneurial/digital/transversal) development for the cultural and creative sectors in a VET environment as a first choice for multi-discipline training, upskilling and reskilling
  • Develop a co-creation process involving local communities, cultural and creative professionals and policy makers and to generate scalable solutions to local challenges
  • Establish Living Labs to support local communities, professionals and VET learners to conduct research and develop innovative products and services
  • Build and launch a Knowledge Creative Platform dedicated to supporting the creative and cultural sectors
  • Develop a financial model that combines public and private funding and income-generating activities to promote sustainability and transferability of the solutions identified.

PARTNERS