i-Portunus

i-Portunus is a project, selected and funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union. It supports short-term mobility of artists and culture professionals.

News

i-Portunus was a short-term pilot project, selected and funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, to trial a mobility scheme in 41 countries directly targeting individual artists and culture professionals (A&CP) active in the Performing or Visual Arts. i-Portunus was managed by a Consortium headed by Goethe-Institut with Institut français, Izolyatsia and Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts.

Between April and September 2019, i-Portunus issued 3 Calls for Applications and received over 2.500 applications from more than 3.000 individuals requesting over 6.000.000 euros of support, hence proving the need for artistic mobility. A team of eight independent experts evaluated the applications. 337 individual A&CP were supported for demand-led opportunities for an amount of 620.933 euros. As a result of the mobility 97% of the selected A&CP acquired new skills/knowledge, 94% developed new audiences/outlets, 94% developed new co-productions/creations, and 49% received a job offer. This is a most impressive impact considering the limited financial support provided by the EU, e.g. only 1.500 to 3,400 euros per individual.

The i-Portunus mobility scheme for artists and culture professionals (A&CP) is at the end of its first piloting phase. During this time, we have tested various aspects of the mobility scheme, both in line with the conclusions of this project’s Analytical Report as well as variations and new ideas, developed in response to needs that became apparent during the pilot. We strongly recommend that the reader refers to this Analytical Report, which contains highly relevant and important information presented with a great wealth of detail, and which also addresses financial and political aspects of the mobility scheme for A&CP, as well as policy recommendations.

The Policy Recommendations are based on the Analytical Report but are supplemented with key findings from the pilot experimentation, as well as consultations with a broad range of stakeholders including a workshop organised in Brussels on 15 and 16 October 2019.

Update on Brexit

The UK participates in i-Portunus as long as it participates in the Creative Europe Programme.

i-Portunus Stories

We exceeded our expectations regarding collaborations with people who are not from the art world. We have gathered a lot of different kinds of materials (video, photo, objects) which we will use for further activities of the project “Y?”. Even though our mobility supported by i-Portunus finished in England, the project “Y?” continues with activities in America, and later again in Europe. We expect to make more contacts, activities, project presentations and interventions in the public space. We will also present our project in Hekler, New York. After New York comes the final phase of the project – production of an exhibition and of an art/documentary film. We were also able to widen our professional networks and got to know new spaces for future collaboration.

Neza Knez, Danilo Milovanovi, Tone Poljanec and Luka Erdani

I reached my objective developing an artistic collaboration with highly professional and international artists. I made my video about « real time composition » and performances, and this will lead me to a next step to go deeper in the subject in order to finalize my movie.

Gilles Toutevoix

The fact that i-Portunus can provide such a generous amount to cover mobility and other life expenses is a unique opportunity. That’s why it went “beyond the objective”, because those two weeks were all about artistic work and not dealing with the stressful part of everyday life, economically speaking.

Karol Tyminski

Some key data from the third i-Portunus call