Monday, 7 September
DAY ONE
WHY CREATIVE SKILLS MATTER
At LUCA School of Arts, sessions will explore creative confidence as a driver of innovation, competitiveness, societal resilience, and Europe’s capacity to navigate uncertainty. With an immersive and interactive exhibition inspired by CYANOTYPES, keynote plenaries, high-level dialogues, and networking moments.
The programme is currently fully booked. In case you didn’t secure a spot in time, you can join the waiting list below.
*All session times are listed in Central European Summer Time (CEST)
12:30
Registration opening
Venue: LUCA Entrance Hall
13:00 – 14:00
Immersive Opening: CYANOTYPES Creative Agency Clinic
Venue: LUCA Entrance Hall + Exhibition Space
How can you prepare for the challenges that lie ahead? Are you addressing the right problem? Do you have a strategy, but not yet a clear pathway for implementation?
Begin Creative Skills Week by stepping into the CYANOTYPES Creative Agency Clinic, an interactive exhibition inspired by four years of experimentation across Europe and beyond. Through real-life implementation stories and hands-on exploration of practical tools, participants discover new ways of approaching the challenges they face in their own organisation and professional practice.
Moving through a series of interactive consultation stations, visitors will explore how creative competences and creative agency can help reveal new perspectives, strengthen collaboration, navigate complexity, and turn ideas into action. Along the way, they will meet the people behind the CYANOTYPES Pilots – real-life implementations of the CYANOTYPES Framework – exchange experiences, and discover practical approaches already tested across higher and vocational education, SMEs, cultural organisations and creative ecosystems across the globe.
The Creative Agency Clinic creates the shared experience that sets the stage for the Opening Plenary, inviting participants to move from individual challenges to a wider conversation about Europe’s future, innovation, and the role of creativity in shaping change.
14:00
Opening Plenary & High-Level Policy Debate
Venue: LUCA Auditorium + live streamed
Europe’s future competitiveness, democratic resilience, and innovation capacity increasingly depend on the ability to navigate complexity, imagine alternatives, and act collaboratively across sectors.
This opening debate positions culture and creativity not as peripheral sectors, but as strategic drivers of innovation, adaptability, and societal transformation.
Through keynote contributions, pilot showcases, and policy dialogue, the session explores:
- Why creative agency matters beyond the Cultural and Creative Sectors and Industries (CCSI)
- How culture contributes to innovation and competitiveness
- How policy can better connect strategic ambitions with real-world learning ecosystems
- Why adaptability and creative confidence are becoming core capacities for Europe’s future
Speakers:
- Lars Ebert, Secretary General, Culture Action Europe
- Gerin Trautenberger, Board of Creative Pact for Skills and President of CreativeFed
- Willem-Jan Renger, System Designer & Education Strategist, HKU – University of the Arts Utrecht & CYANOTYPES
- Charlotte Gimfalk, Managing Director, YNFT – Screen Skills Committee Sweden
Moderated by Barbara Revelli, Head of Programmes, ELIA
The session will close with a musical performance by Clare Sands a sixth-generation fiddle player and bilingual singer from Cork, Ireland
16:00 – 16:30
Coffee break
16:30 – 18:30
The Irish Case: High-Level Debate
Venue: LUCA Auditorium + live streamed
Hosted by Creative Futures Academy (CFA), as a recognised Associated Event of the Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2026.
Moving from the European to the national perspective, this high-level dialogue explores how Ireland is positioning creative skills, micro-credentials, and flexible learning models within wider innovation, education, and economic strategies.
The session examines:
• New models of investment in creative education and skills
• Creative competences as drivers of innovation and competitiveness
• Flexible learning pathways and micro-credentials
• Measuring cultural value beyond GDP
• Building stronger links between higher education, research, industry, and policy.
Segment 1: The Story of CFA: Investment, Foresight and Impact
- Louise Allen, Director, Creative Futures Academy
Segment 2: Impact on Creative Practitioners, wider enterprise and the public sector
Case Studies by:
- Jennie Moran, Artist and Programme Lead, Professional Certificate in Creative Hospitality (NCAD/CFA)
- Robert Power, Artist, in conversation with PJ Mathews, Director of CFA at UCD
Panel Discussion: The Wider Impact of Design and Creative Skills across Sectors. With speakers:
- Martin McGinn, CFA Arts & Health Lead, and Service Design Graduate, CFA at NCAD
- Shane Casey, Creative Lead at Accenture and Speculative Design Futures Graduate, CFA at IADT
- Charlotte Barker, CEO of The Institute of Designers in Ireland
Moderated by Professor Alex Milton, Head of The School of Design, NCAD and CFA Institutional Lead
Segment 3: High-Level Policy Debate, Ireland, Europe and the Future of Creative Education
Panel Discussion: A Model Worth Scaling: Creative Skills and Cultural Capacity for Europe?
Speakers:
- Vivienne Patterson, Head of Skills and Engagement, Higher Education Authority, Ireland
- Sarah Glennie, Director, National College of Art and Design, Dublin
- David Smith, President, Institute of Art, Design + Technology, Dun Laoghaire
- Regina Uí Chollatáin, Principal, College of Arts and Humanities, University College Dublin
Moderated by Barbara Revelli, Head of Programmes, ELIA
18:30 – 20:00
Food for Thought
Venue: LUCA Garden
Hosted by Creative Future Academy (CFA), as a recognised Associated Event of the Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2026.
Networking reception hosted by Jennie Moran with live musical performance by Clare Sands celebrating contemporary Irish creativity and cultural connection.
