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Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
News article28 April 2022Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture

New Pact for Skills partnership set up to promote skills in cultural and creative industries

Today, with the support of the Commission, a large-scale skills partnership for the Cultural and Creative Industries ecosystem was set up. The partnership aims to establish a shared model for skills development in Europe to pool resources and engage in concrete upskilling and reskilling initiatives in the cultural and creative industries.

The partnership will promote learning opportunities and ‘on the job' training to strengthen the resilience of the sector and equip its professionals with the skills they need. There will be a particular focus on digital, green, entrepreneurial and technical skills as well as on arts and crafts. The partners involved have agreed on commitments and indicators to improve skills intelligence, new training programmes and the number of people trained. For instance, the partners will promote the mutual recognition of training paths across EU countries.

Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, said: “Enhanced skills for cultural heritage professions, linking past to future knowledge, innovation and transformative power is key. Through this partnership, we will be joining forces to make skills the cornerstone of change to give people all over Europe new perspectives.” 

Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, said: “During the COVID-19 pandemic, cultural and creative industries have been hit hard, they lost valuable employees and professionals. Creative and culture professionals are the driving force of the creativity in the ecosystem and they need the right skills for green and digital transitions. This cooperation is key to increase cross-sectoral innovation in a diverse cultural and creative industries ecosystem.” 

Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, said: “People working in the creative and cultural industries play a key role for Europe's rich and vibrant cultural identity. The partnership will strengthen cultural and creative skills among European workers so they can face the changing labour market with confidence.

This partnership will contribute and complement the support already available to the industry for reskilling and upskilling, including through several EU funding instruments and through the Creative Europe Programme. Following commitments in other industrial ecosystems, this partnership between European umbrella associations, networks, sectoral associations, vocational education and training providers as well as trade union is based on the Pact for Skills, one of the flagship initiatives under the European Skills Agenda for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience. See more information on the EU Pact for Skills.

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