On the Move regularly commissions researchers to investigate different themes closely related to the network’s activities and the work carried out by its members. Reflecting on transversal concerns and key areas of artistic and cultural mobility, the network tries to establish a clearer picture of current movements and trends while formulating policy recommendations.
As part of its multiannual programme co-funded by the European Union, On the Move is publishing the third edition of the Cultural Mobility Yearbook. This Yearbook is conceived as a way to delve into the numerous calls and resources that On the Move collects and promotes on a daily basis. John Ellingsworth extracted data from the OTM website in order to analyse and identify trends, building context around emerging and more familiar issues in the mobility field.
With training and professional development as its framework, this publication looks back on activity in 2023 in order to get a picture of where the international cultural mobility sector stands today, and a sense of where it might be heading next. Along the way, it also checks in on trends in digital mobility (the focus of the 2022 Yearbook) and environmental sustainability (the focus of the 2023 Yearbook).
In the second section of the Yearbook, two writers give a personal perspective on the subject of training and professional development. In a first article, Birgitta Persson reflects on the changing face of international collaboration, sketching five key challenges for the field to consider, ranging from the importance of local learning and cross-collaboration to the impact of AI and new technology as it reformulates the ‘live’. In the second, Vânia Rodrigues questions internationalisation in light of the green transition, highlighting a need for ‘unlearning ways of doing which are tied to colonialist and mercantilist legacies’.
This Yearbook and its findings related to training and professional development and cultural mobility informed the Cultural Mobility Forum that was held in Caernarfon, Wales and online on 25–26 April 2024, with the support of the European Union and in collaboration with Culture Funding Watch and HowlRound.
