15/09/2026
We wrapped up Creative Skills Week 2026 in Brussels last week with a clear conviction: creative skills matter because they give people confidence and agency to shape what comes next.
As curator of Creative Skills Week for the fourth time, ELIA was proud to bring together educators, creatives, policymakers, industry leaders and innovators to look at how creative skills work in practice, across sectors and contexts.
Together with EIT Culture & Creativity, Creative Futures Academy, and materahub, and our hosts ICHEC Brussels Management School and LUCA School of Arts, we programmed three days of debates, case studies and cross-sector showcases that asked participants what needs to change, where change is already happening, and how we move from ideas to action.
The creative and cultural sector and industries have a role in providing space for imagining alternatives and shaping better futures. They provide us the confidence and agency to act, to challenge systems and to make transformation possible.
This is also at the heart of Cyanotypes, the EU co-funded blueprint project that ELIA has been a partner in over the past four years. The CYANOTYPES Creative Agency Competence Framework (https://cyanotypes.website/framework/) offers tools to implement new ways of working, navigate uncertainties, and turn possibilities into action. Navigate the many examples developed through the CYANOTYPES Pilots (https://cyanotypes.website/cyanotypes-pilots/). Keep an eye out on our channels for an upcoming Implementation Pathways publication, which outlines not only policy recommendations but concrete steps to further develop the work between skills, education, industry and policy.
Higher arts education is changing, and so is the wider creative and cultural sector and industries. ELIA wants to help make that change visible, create spaces where our members can experiment and challenge existing systems, and ensure their perspectives are part of the European policy conversation.
CSW2026 was also recognised as an Associated Event of the Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU 2026, placing these conversations firmly within the European policy landscape.
As 2026 is a crucial year for the EU’s next MFF, we are asking our members and the wider sector to take action and make sure culture and creativity have a place in Europe’s future.
Find out what you can do and encourage your network and community to join our advocacy movement: https://elia-artschools.org/page/nameplacefund
Huge thanks to everyone who contributed to , with special thanks to the Steering Group members, partners, hosts, speakers, and everyone who joined us.
We are grateful to the Erasmus + programme of the European Union and the European Commission for their support.
You can view the photo album here → https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjD4Tot
Photos by LyanneArt
