Creative Skills Week 2025 (CSW2025), hosted in Prague, once again confirmed its role as the central European platform for shaping the future of skills in the cultural and creative industries (CCIs). Bringing together policymakers, educators, researchers, and practitioners, the event explored how competences, networks, and innovation can drive transformation in the cultural sector against the backdrop of green, digital, and social transitions.
For Creative FED, participating in CSW2025 was not just about being present but about advancing our mission: strengthening skills development, building resilient networks, and fostering innovation within Europe’s CCIs. Throughout the week, our team and members engaged across multiple sessions of the CSW2025 Programme, contributed expertise through EU-funded projects, and reinforced Creative FED’s role as a key voice in Europe’s skills ecosystem.
The week began with an internal Creative FED meeting, where we aligned our diverse project activities and governance priorities. This space for coordination proved essential in ensuring that our contributions throughout the event were coherent and strategically connected.
From there, attention shifted to the CYANOTYPES Training—a cornerstone of the week, where Creative FED played an active role as part of the CYANOTYPES consortium. The training brought together educators, policy shapers, and intermediaries to test future-oriented competences through peer-matching, co-design, and scenario-building. This work is central to Creative FED’s belief that CCIs require adaptable and anticipatory skills frameworks in order to thrive in times of uncertainty.
The work continues: Help us shape the future of skills in the Cultural and Creative Industries by contributing to the Cyanotypes Continuous Skills Intelligence Gathering: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScreqzC2neqJSMlMkE0-PJxqlhoENhHchtNUDlgzNsETpU78w/viewform
Wednesday marked the beginning of the main conference programme, where Creative FED was visible in several sessions. At the Opening Plenary, our presence underlined the importance of placing culture at the heart of policy debates on resilience, public value, and transformation.
Later, Creative FED Coordinator Nerea Rojas presented the Creative FED White Paper on Strategic Cultural Autonomy during the session "Micro-Credentials: Recognition of Skills in Transition" – a publication developed in collaboration with nine EU projects (CRAFT-IT4SD, CREDEX, CYANOTYPES, GreenCCIrcle, Label4Future, MOSAIC, PACESETTERS, SACCORD, and STARTS). Among other things, the White Paper, the first draft of which was developed within the framework of the #SDECE2025 - Strategic Dialogue on European Creative Economy and Cultural Autonomy, positions
micro-credentials not only as tools for lifelong learning, but also as strategic levers for strengthening Europe's competitiveness, sustainability, and cultural sovereignty.
Furthermore, the White Paper highlights the urgent need to integrate the recognition of skills, innovation ecosystems, and cultural policy into a comprehensive European strategy. By defining cultural autonomy as both a political priority and a practical concept, the White Paper calls on EU institutions, national governments, and industry associations to jointly establish a skills-based foundation for strengthening Europe's cultural resilience, fostering cultural transformation, and promoting its international leadership in the cultural sphere.
During the session “From Green to Just Transition” on the same day, the importance of the GreenCCIrcle project was also highlighted. This project is very significant for Creative FED. As part of the project, we provide free training courses through the GreenCCIrcle Academy, develop sustainability tools for creatives in the HUB, and test solutions in local living labs across nine countries to promote sustainability in CCIs.
Furthermore, Gerin Trautenberger, Creative FED Board Member, spoke in the session "CYANOTYPES for Societal Transformation" to further promote and apply the CYANOTYPES framework, thus embedding cultural competencies in broader societal and innovation programs.
Thursday’s sessions further reflected the breadth of Creative FED’s engagement. In the panel on “Regional Skills Ecosystem Partnerships”, our team highlighted how building alliances at local and regional levels can reinforce the European skills agenda, embedding competences into territorial development strategies. The **SACCORD workshop** within this session, organised by Creative FED, was impressive proof of how we are helping to build bridges between local and European competence ecosystems.
42 training providers, creative hubs, policy actors, education institutions, cultural organizations, etc. exchanged learning experiences on how to join forces for re- and upskilling on local level. By presenting real-life examples of creative skills alliances and engaging participants in challenge labs, the session highlighted Creative FED's role in fostering trust, collaboration and practical knowledge sharing between different actors – from training providers and creative hubs to policy makers and cultural institutions.
This work directly supports Creative FED's mission to strengthen local skills partnerships as a basis for long-term capacity building in the cultural and creative industries and to ensure that creatives across Europe have access to relevant, future-proof learning opportunities.
Creative FED also played a role in the session “The Future of Craft: From Tradition to Innovation”, in which we participated as part of the CRAFT-IT4SD project, which supports the dissemination of information on how craft traditions can be linked to sustainability and innovation.
There were many other agenda items and meetings in which we were directly or indirectly involved through projects such as the Creative Pact for Skills. We followed all contributions and discussions closely in order to provide the best possible support for the cultural and creative industries and to align our internal strategy accordingly.
To implement this directly, the last day of CSW2025 emphasised Creative FED's strategic orientation and project leadership. Our Advisory Board Meeting focused on governance and the federation’s role in shaping the skills agenda at European level, while the CRAFT-IT4SD consortium meeting provided space to deepen collaboration with partners and plan next steps for embedding innovation and sustainability into the crafts sector.
Across the week, Creative FED’s participation demonstrated how our federation brings value not only by contributing to individual projects but by weaving together a wider narrative: one that connects cultural skills development to competitiveness, sustainability, and societal resilience. By engaging in policy debates, supporting training programmes, and leading communication and dissemination, Creative FED amplified the voices of its members while helping to set the European agenda on creative skills.