Arts School Futures Lab Guidelines

Guidelines

Arts School Futures Lab Guidelines

These guidelines are prepared to help higher arts education institutions raise their futures consciousness with the Arts School Futures Lab approach. The guidelines briefly introduce futures thinking, argue its purpose for higher arts education and present two step-by-step Lab models: one for strategic development, the other for educational programme and curriculum development. Designed in the FAST45 project funded by Erasmus+, the guidelines are freely available for all arts schools to set in motion foresight projects to identify trends, create futures images, and design paths toward preferred futures.

Acknowledgements

These guidelines are prepared to help higher arts education institutions raise their futures consciousness with the Arts School Futures Lab approach. The guidelines briefly introduce futures thinking, argue its purpose for higher arts education and present two step-by-step Lab models: one for strategic development, the other for educational programme and curriculum development. Designed in the FAST45 project funded by Erasmus+, the guidelines are freely available for all arts schools to set in motion foresight projects to identify trends, create futures images, and
design paths toward preferred futures. These guidelines have benefited from engaging in conversations with the FAST45 project partners and the participants of test labs and workshops organized at several European locations during 2021–2022. We wish to warmly thank our colleagues for hosting these labs and workshops at Arts Academy at Turku University of Applied Sciences in Turku, Conexiones improbables in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Film university Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF in Potsdam, Le CEFEDEM Auvergne Rhône- Alpes in Lyon, LUCA School of Arts in Brussels and Ghent, The Estonian Academy of Arts in Tallinn, Uniarts Helsinki and Kulta ry in Helsinki, and Zurich University of the Arts in Zurich. Also, we wish to extend our thanks to all participants and project partners for their valuable comments. Finally, we wish to thank Senior Researcher Maya Van Leemput at the Erasmus Brussels University for taking the time to peer-review these guidelines.
Her critical and insightful comments were extremely beneficial.