CreaSus — Sustainability Business Models for CCSIs

WestBIC is an Enterprise Ireland partner providing hands-on startup support, funding readiness and investment preparation for early-stage founders in the west of Ireland.

CreaSus — Sustainability Business Models for CCSIs

At the end of September WestBIC joined CreaSus project partners Fundación Banco Santander (Spain), Bari University (Italy), ENCATC — European Network on Cultural Management and Policy (Belgium), Mosaic (Greece) and Zabala Innovation (Spain), for the second in-person General Assembly meeting in Bari, Italy.

This group’s mission involves analysing the impact of sustainability on CCSIs and considering a fourth pillar of sustainability focused on culture.

The meeting featured in-depth discussions on the CreaSus Self-Assessment indicators that the group will develop to measure sustainability within the creative and cultural industries and create guidelines/actions to help CCSIs enhance their sustainability efforts.

The discussion included a deep dive into the social, environmental and governance challenges facing CCSIs. These indicators are based on the EU EFRAG model but are tailored to be relevant to the CCSIs.

They reviewed what has been created so far in relation to the CreaSus platform, which is being developed by La Tempesta: digital for culture. This platform will be home to the self-assessment test, tools and deliverables such as funding toolkit and business models, for the CCSI’s to access. The platform will also be linked to the CreaSus website and hence be part of the suite of resources developed by the project team.

The partners also welcomed colleagues from Creative Europe Desk Puglia and Consorzio Teatro Pubblico Pugliese, to gain industry insights and get direct feedback on the system of indicators that have been created to date.

Alison McGonagle presented on behalf of WestBIC and shared the approach to the business models that will be created for the CCSIs. She discussed the key factors and variables that will inform the business models. The presentation focused on the importance of aligning business strategies with the SDGs and emerging business models. She highlighted factors such as market trends and the role of digital transformation and collaboration across sectors in driving sustainable growth for CCSIs.

The other partners also presented on their key deliverables for the project such as the funding toolkits, sustainable transformation actions and the CCSI participation process and pilots.

Before finishing in Bari, the host partner DEMDI Uniba brought the partners on a tour of the university and showed the sites of Bari and surrounding areas such as Polignano Mare, where the partners got to enjoy some local gelato and take in the scenic views.

The CreaSus pilot will be launched in Q1 of 2025. WestBIC is excited to continue working on this project, with our EU partners and the CCSIs locally, nationally and globally.

If you are a CCSI interested in taking part in this project/pilot or if you are interested in finding out more about CreaSus, you can email amcgonagle@westbic.ie or check out the website here: https://creasus.eu/

CreaSus is a project co-funded by the European Union, under the Creative Europe programme, designed to guide and support CCSIs to make sustainability a key part of their operations and a competitive advantage. From October 2023 to September 2026, the process will be articulated combining the delivery of outputs such as a specific system of indicators for self-assessment and a toolkit for funding schemes, as well as capacity-building activities and piloting events in Spain, Ireland, Greece, and Italy, among other actions.