Glass Works. Training | Networking | Taking Roots
A special concern of the Bild-Werk is to bring together the potentials of the regional glassmaker heritage and international studio glass. Against this background, and since 2014, a working group from within Bild-Werk Frauenau has been working on a project to counteract the dramatic loss of knowledge and economic decline of the Bavarian Forest region, in which the shortage of young people in the manufactories and the increasing lack of opportunities of young glass makers and technical school graduates are interlinked.
The project aims at the development of competences, and creating networking across various glass regions and glass makers in the fields of art, design, craft and manufacturing. The concept of Bild-Werk is particularly focused on bringing together the knowledge potential of the Eastern Bavarian glass region across borders with the approaches, experiences and contact networks of successful European glass regions and making these potentials available to young glassmakers. At the heart of the project is an intensive, needs-based training program for students and graduates in the Bild-Werk studios and workshops in Frauenau, supplemented by marketing courses on the Bornholm glass island and industrial internships in the internationally successful glass landscape around Nový Bor in the Czech Republic.
Other project topics include the long-term development of a cross-border start-up and networking platform for young glassmakers, a digital handbook for art and craft-based collaborations in glass, a traveling exhibition held in all participating countries and glass regions, as well as discussion and symposium events.
The project was developed in extensive exchange with regional and international actors in education, art and production in glass, as well as with political bodies. In January 2018, an application was submitted for a funding project in the CREATIVE EUROPE CULTURE program of the European Union. The applicant is Bild-Werk Frauenau in cooperation with the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Institute for Product Design, Program for Glass and Ceramics, Copenhagen and Bornholm, Denmark, with the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology of the University of Graz, Austria, the Faculty of Art and Design of Jan Evangelista Purkyně University, Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic, and a total of 23 associated partner institutions. The Free State of Bavaria together with other funding agencies is involved in the co-financing of the Bavarian project part. If approved, the project will run from October 2018 to July 2022, including three six-month training phases.
The project aims at the development of competences, and creating networking across various glass regions and glass makers in the fields of art, design, craft and manufacturing. The concept of Bild-Werk is particularly focused on bringing together the knowledge potential of the Eastern Bavarian glass region across borders with the approaches, experiences and contact networks of successful European glass regions and making these potentials available to young glassmakers. At the heart of the project is an intensive, needs-based training program for students and graduates in the Bild-Werk studios and workshops in Frauenau, supplemented by marketing courses on the Bornholm glass island and industrial internships in the internationally successful glass landscape around Nový Bor in the Czech Republic.
Other project topics include the long-term development of a cross-border start-up and networking platform for young glassmakers, a digital handbook for art and craft-based collaborations in glass, a traveling exhibition held in all participating countries and glass regions, as well as discussion and symposium events.
The project was developed in extensive exchange with regional and international actors in education, art and production in glass, as well as with political bodies. In January 2018, an application was submitted for a funding project in the CREATIVE EUROPE CULTURE program of the European Union. The applicant is Bild-Werk Frauenau in cooperation with the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Institute for Product Design, Program for Glass and Ceramics, Copenhagen and Bornholm, Denmark, with the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology of the University of Graz, Austria, the Faculty of Art and Design of Jan Evangelista Purkyně University, Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic, and a total of 23 associated partner institutions. The Free State of Bavaria together with other funding agencies is involved in the co-financing of the Bavarian project part. If approved, the project will run from October 2018 to July 2022, including three six-month training phases.