THE PENGUIN PROJECT
In "The Penguin project", together with Shawn Wright and Florián Lanstädter, partners from the Innsbruck cultural center Die Bäckerei , we have been dealing with the question "How can workers (not only) in the cultural sector keep their spark?".
Not only in culture, but also in other sectors in which people put their soul and emotions into work or creation, there is great enthusiasm and a great investment of their own energy. However, it burns out after a shorter or longer period of hard work, and with it the enthusiasm of its wearer. That is why we have invested our own energy in several years of research, a series of interviews and workshops, and we believe that together we have developed an original and effective approach to solving the problem of how to maintain joy and spark in your work commitment in the long term.
THE SPECIFICS OF THE SECTOR
Work in the cultural sector (and generally in the non-profit sector) almost always has two faces:
On the one hand, cultural workers are enthusiastic, full of enthusiasm, loyal and deeply identified with their work. Contributing to meaningful community service is a great need for many people working in this industry.
On the other hand, we often experience disappointment when we encounter the limits of our actions and realize that not every obstacle can be overcome with enthusiasm. Burnout is a big challenge for many people in the nonprofit sector, and it's not easy to overcome.
MISSION OF THE PENGUIN PROJECT
The mission of "The Penguin project" is to support workers in culture with tools tailored to them. Thanks to them, cultural institutions (and the workers themselves) can find a sustainable approach to the energy of your employees. Our goal is for cultural workers to develop a reflective relationship to their work and learn to work with a fine line between motivation and burnout .
TOOLS
We have named our approach "from the heart to the brain, from the brain to the hands" and we have developed several metaphors for it, which we provide as tools for reflection.
These metaphors act as a catalyst that helps in the translation from the emotional plane to the rational one.
I'm more like a penguin on land in my work,
or like the one in the water?
Metaphors work on both an individual and corporate level:
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Using them, individuals can simply assess their relationship to work and find out where and how they "recharge" and what, on the contrary, takes away their energy.
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At the organizational level, metaphors provide a basis on which teams can reflect and change their organizational culture.
Metaphors work on both an individual and corporate level:
-
Using them, individuals can simply assess their relationship to work and find out where and how they "recharge" and what, on the contrary, takes away their energy.
-
At the organizational level, metaphors provide a basis on which teams can reflect and change their organizational culture .
THE ROLE OF MOVE OSTRAVA
MOVE Ostrava introduced an important element of movement and a focus on physical well-being into the project. Jana Ryšlavá and Iveta Zedková led, for example, a workshop focused on embodied learning and dance therapy. It revealed to the team the potential of using bodies as sensors to tune in to what lies beneath the surface, deep within our minds. Furthermore, under their guidance, the so-called Movement toolkit was created, which together with other practical materials can be found in the project's online educational platform Learning platform .
TRAIN THE TRAINER PROGRAM
In 2023, we organized the first year of the Train The Trainer program for 11 cultural workers from 8 countries of the European Union. During this ten-month "course", participants acquired the skills and mindset necessary to support sustainable working conditions in the independent cultural sector. The program focused on the development of practices oriented to human needs and the search for ways of establishing the emotional well-being of workers in creative environments.
The basis of this program is the fusion of art and science , the emphasis on the emotional dimension , the acquisition of knowledge and the ability to transform it into practice . Graduates of the program are now equipped with the necessary knowledge to implement workshops and methods to raise awareness of this issue.
PARTNERS
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or OeAD-GmbH. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.