Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EPIC-WE (Empowered Participation through Ideating Cultural Worlds and Environments: youth imagining, creating and exchanging cultural values and heritage through game-making)
Reporting period: 2023-03-01 to 2024-02-29
The EPIC-WE project addresses several specific needs within the context of game-making, cultural participation, future opportunities for youth, and democratic empowered participation:
1. Game-making: The project recognizes the untapped potential of game-making as a practice within Cultural Heritage Institutions and Creative Industries to stimulate cultural participation and empower youth engagement. By exploring the cultural significance of games and their impact on societal values, EPIC-WE aims to navigate the dual nature of games as both potential disempowering and empowering cultures. Through research and innovation, the project seeks to equip the domains of culture and games with frameworks and resources necessary to understand and harness games and game-making as valuable components of cultural heritage and empowered participation.
2. Cultural participation: Cultural Heritage Institutions face challenges in engaging young people with cultural heritage and European values due to the lack of accessible and attractive participatory models. EPIC-WE proposes the concept of Cultural Game Jams as a novel approach to bridge this gap, inviting young people to take up game-making as a form of culture-making in turn becoming active co-creators of culture. By contributing with participatory cultural-creative models and methods, the project aims to create inclusive and empowering cultural ecosystems.
3. Future opportunities: With young people preparing to enter a competitive economic market seeking transferable creative, cultural and critical skills. By engaging youth in Cultural Hubs and Cultural Game Jams, EPIC-WE aims to provide young citizens with opportunities to gain cultural-creative imagination and competencies that tackle cultural and societal challenges with curiosity, creativity, agency and imagination – what we call Empowered Participation.
4. Democratic participation: European organizations often overlook youth as co-creators of their futures in cultural and societal domains, leading to disengagement and a lack of participatory models. EPIC-WE advocates for the integration of youth perspectives in quadruple helix innovation systems, where CHIs, CIs, HEIs, and youth collaborate to co-create cultural value and drive societal change. By embracing youth as equal collaborators, the project aims to foster a culture of democratic participation and empower young people to shape Europe's future.
To achieve this, the project explores the potential of cross-sector co-creative partnerships in culture, creative industries, research, and higher education to include youth 1) as empowered culture-makers through their participation in culture and their game jamming with cultural heritage, 2) as empowered co-creators of cultural innovation through their partnership with experts and professionals from culture, creative industries, research and higher education in Cultural Living Labs, 3) as empowered game-makers through their participation in Cultural Game Jams and their creation of games through and for culture.
More specifically, EPIC-WE targets the following four objectives:
ASSESS. Explore the potential of games through/for culture and game-making as culture-making to empower youth and contribute to the strengthening of European values and cultural participation.
INNOVATE. Develop and validate a framework for cultural game jams and cultural hubs in quadruple helix ecosystems.
TRANSFER. Produce accessible resources that enable organizations to replicate the quadruple helix cultural game-making ecosystem across Europe.
SCALE. Equip quadruple helix actors with knowledge, skills and policy instruments to exploit the potentials of cultural game-making with youth for the benefit of European society
1. Game-making: The project recognizes the untapped potential of game-making as a practice within Cultural Heritage Institutions and Creative Industries to stimulate cultural participation and empower youth engagement. By exploring the cultural significance of games and their impact on societal values, EPIC-WE aims to navigate the dual nature of games as both potential disempowering and empowering cultures. Through research and innovation, the project seeks to equip the domains of culture and games with frameworks and resources necessary to understand and harness games and game-making as valuable components of cultural heritage and empowered participation.
2. Cultural participation: Cultural Heritage Institutions face challenges in engaging young people with cultural heritage and European values due to the lack of accessible and attractive participatory models. EPIC-WE proposes the concept of Cultural Game Jams as a novel approach to bridge this gap, inviting young people to take up game-making as a form of culture-making in turn becoming active co-creators of culture. By contributing with participatory cultural-creative models and methods, the project aims to create inclusive and empowering cultural ecosystems.
3. Future opportunities: With young people preparing to enter a competitive economic market seeking transferable creative, cultural and critical skills. By engaging youth in Cultural Hubs and Cultural Game Jams, EPIC-WE aims to provide young citizens with opportunities to gain cultural-creative imagination and competencies that tackle cultural and societal challenges with curiosity, creativity, agency and imagination – what we call Empowered Participation.
4. Democratic participation: European organizations often overlook youth as co-creators of their futures in cultural and societal domains, leading to disengagement and a lack of participatory models. EPIC-WE advocates for the integration of youth perspectives in quadruple helix innovation systems, where CHIs, CIs, HEIs, and youth collaborate to co-create cultural value and drive societal change. By embracing youth as equal collaborators, the project aims to foster a culture of democratic participation and empower young people to shape Europe's future.
To achieve this, the project explores the potential of cross-sector co-creative partnerships in culture, creative industries, research, and higher education to include youth 1) as empowered culture-makers through their participation in culture and their game jamming with cultural heritage, 2) as empowered co-creators of cultural innovation through their partnership with experts and professionals from culture, creative industries, research and higher education in Cultural Living Labs, 3) as empowered game-makers through their participation in Cultural Game Jams and their creation of games through and for culture.
More specifically, EPIC-WE targets the following four objectives:
ASSESS. Explore the potential of games through/for culture and game-making as culture-making to empower youth and contribute to the strengthening of European values and cultural participation.
INNOVATE. Develop and validate a framework for cultural game jams and cultural hubs in quadruple helix ecosystems.
TRANSFER. Produce accessible resources that enable organizations to replicate the quadruple helix cultural game-making ecosystem across Europe.
SCALE. Equip quadruple helix actors with knowledge, skills and policy instruments to exploit the potentials of cultural game-making with youth for the benefit of European society
The main achievements of the EPIC-WE project is
1) on the macro level the “EPIC-WE Quadruple Helix Cultural Innovation Ecosystem”,
2) on the meso level the “EPIC-WE Cultural Hubs” brining the macro level to life, and
3) on the micro level the “EPIC-WE Cultural Game Jams” for the co-creation of games through/for culture.
Combined, 1-3 delivers a transferable framework for young people, cultural heritage institutions, creative industries, and higher education institutions to work closely together to foster cross-sector cultural innovation by bridging the domains of games and culture as well as to establish new forms of transformative partnerships in cultural research and innovation. This framework, along with accompanying methods and resources, will be transferable and openly available to sectors and organisations across Europe.
1) on the macro level the “EPIC-WE Quadruple Helix Cultural Innovation Ecosystem”,
2) on the meso level the “EPIC-WE Cultural Hubs” brining the macro level to life, and
3) on the micro level the “EPIC-WE Cultural Game Jams” for the co-creation of games through/for culture.
Combined, 1-3 delivers a transferable framework for young people, cultural heritage institutions, creative industries, and higher education institutions to work closely together to foster cross-sector cultural innovation by bridging the domains of games and culture as well as to establish new forms of transformative partnerships in cultural research and innovation. This framework, along with accompanying methods and resources, will be transferable and openly available to sectors and organisations across Europe.
The results and impact of EPIC-WE materialises from the project’s development and delivery of cultural innovation ecosystems, cultural hubs, cultural game jams and young people’s creation of games through/for culture.
Combined, these innovations play a pivotal role in enhancing the innovation potential, growth and cultural-societal contributions of Cultural Heritage Institutions, Creative Industries, and Higher Education Institutions, while empowering young individuals across these sectors and beyond. EPIC-WE cultural hubs and cultural game jams positions game-making as a form of culture-making, which holds potentials for empowered participation, cultural belonging, and cross-sector co-creation with young people.
Underpinning the significance of European culture, cultural heritage and values, EPIC-WE delivers adaptable and executable frameworks, methods, and resources for empowered participation in the domains of culture and games. Through cultural hubs, cultural game jams and games through/for culture, EPIC-WE enhances knowledges, practices and competencies across the sectors and for young people.
The project delivers substantial results and impact through its specific outcomes:
1. Evidence of the impact of cultural game jams on European cultural heritage: EPIC-WE Cultural Game Jams showcase how young people can utilise cultural heritage as engaging game-making material to create games for culture. Positioning game-making as a form of culture-making, EPIC-WE Cultural Game Jams facilitates empowered participation, inclusion and belonging for diverse youth in the domains of culture and games.
2. Evidence of the cultural innovation potential of games through/for culture: Young people’s games through/for culture exhibited in cultural heritage institutions and published online at the EPIC-WE Resource Site, showcase the empowering and innovative potential of new cultural-creative games wherein young people reimagine possible cultures and futures in conjunction with cultural heritage.
3. Evidence of the power of cross-sector collaboration in cultural hubs: EPIC-WE brings together Cultural Heritage Institutions, Creative Industries, Higher Education Institutions and Youth Citizen to innovate, co-create and investigate together. Positioning cross-sector co-creation and empowered participation at the heart of cultural innovation, EPIC-WE Cultural Hubs showcase the power of quadruple helix cultural innovation ecosystems enacted in Cultural Hubs and through Cultural Game Jams.
By engaging youth as partners in cultural hubs and creators of games through/for culture in cultural game jams, EPIC-WE empowers them to envision themselves as future cultural-creative citizens, in turn fostering more empowering and diverse game-making and culture-making environments.
Combined, these innovations play a pivotal role in enhancing the innovation potential, growth and cultural-societal contributions of Cultural Heritage Institutions, Creative Industries, and Higher Education Institutions, while empowering young individuals across these sectors and beyond. EPIC-WE cultural hubs and cultural game jams positions game-making as a form of culture-making, which holds potentials for empowered participation, cultural belonging, and cross-sector co-creation with young people.
Underpinning the significance of European culture, cultural heritage and values, EPIC-WE delivers adaptable and executable frameworks, methods, and resources for empowered participation in the domains of culture and games. Through cultural hubs, cultural game jams and games through/for culture, EPIC-WE enhances knowledges, practices and competencies across the sectors and for young people.
The project delivers substantial results and impact through its specific outcomes:
1. Evidence of the impact of cultural game jams on European cultural heritage: EPIC-WE Cultural Game Jams showcase how young people can utilise cultural heritage as engaging game-making material to create games for culture. Positioning game-making as a form of culture-making, EPIC-WE Cultural Game Jams facilitates empowered participation, inclusion and belonging for diverse youth in the domains of culture and games.
2. Evidence of the cultural innovation potential of games through/for culture: Young people’s games through/for culture exhibited in cultural heritage institutions and published online at the EPIC-WE Resource Site, showcase the empowering and innovative potential of new cultural-creative games wherein young people reimagine possible cultures and futures in conjunction with cultural heritage.
3. Evidence of the power of cross-sector collaboration in cultural hubs: EPIC-WE brings together Cultural Heritage Institutions, Creative Industries, Higher Education Institutions and Youth Citizen to innovate, co-create and investigate together. Positioning cross-sector co-creation and empowered participation at the heart of cultural innovation, EPIC-WE Cultural Hubs showcase the power of quadruple helix cultural innovation ecosystems enacted in Cultural Hubs and through Cultural Game Jams.
By engaging youth as partners in cultural hubs and creators of games through/for culture in cultural game jams, EPIC-WE empowers them to envision themselves as future cultural-creative citizens, in turn fostering more empowering and diverse game-making and culture-making environments.