A programme for young cultural operators
LIGHTS ON is a funded staff exchange and training programme for young professionals under 35, working in cultural centres and other cultural organisations in Europe. The ENCC has been running this type of programme since 2008. It offers participants an international work experience and a European perspective and helps them acquire new competencies and skills that are crucial for their work with their audiences and the broader community.
LIGHTS ON 2023: SUSTAINABLE CRISIS MANAGEMENT
This year, LIGHTS ON will look at the crises affecting cultural centres - and communities at large. These crises are multiple and crosscut geographical, social, personal and sectoral boundaries. How do we cope with them? Are there common strategies to be used? Which factors can we weigh on? Are crises necessarily bad? What is the role of socio-cultural organisations in this context, and how do crises influence their relationship with local communities? How to move from crisis management to (systemic) change?
ENCC will take time to explore these questions and analyse the realities participants are living in, creating a safe space for peer-to-peer learning and support. The 5-day training will take place on 8-12 May, 2023 in Ostend, Belgium, hosted by ENCC member De Grote Post. Exchanges between participants will happen between June and November 2023.
Read the full call for applications, including a detailed calendar and testimonies from alumni of the programme.
Apply using this form before January 20th, 2023.
Reasons to participate
How the programme works
LIGHTS ON is a capacity-building and process-oriented programme that unfolds over about 8 months. During this period, you should plan to be absent from work for about 12 days. The programme is largely funded by the ENCC. Your organisation covers only subsistence costs for the staff exchanges and if it is not a member of the ENCC, your travel costs to the launching seminar.
A 5-day launching seminar, held in a different European city each year, is your first opportunity to meet with all the LIGHTS ON fellows and mentors. The seminar focuses on cultural management, professional self-development and soft skills, through a mix of training, workshops, coaching, peer-to-peer learning, and study visits to local networks and organisations.
During the months following the seminar, you will travel to another participant’s organisation for at least 7 days, and host a participant in your organisation for the same amount of time.
From the moment of being selected to participate in the LIGHTS ON programme, up to project evaluation (about 8 months later), you will be supported and mentored by your programme trainers and the ENCC office. This makes LIGHTS ON a self-designable process, in which you can choose to pursue certain learning paths or research areas over a longer period of time, according to your needs and time capacity.
At the end of the LIGHTS ON programme, we'll ask you to make a small report on your experience. This is an important moment for you to give the ENCC feedback, but also to evaluate the impact of the programme on your organisation, and get your co-workers involved in new perspectives and projects.
Applications for LIGHTS ON 2023 are open until January 20th, 2023. Download the full call for applications, then go to the application form.
Find more information here.
