Approach & Method
This toolkit was prepared by a team that has run creative hubs, experienced entrepreneurship, supported creative, green and social entrepreneurs, developed programs, produced information products for these communities, and conducted research, mapping studies, communication activities, trend and ecosystem analyses in these areas.
The first seed of the toolkit was planted with a gap that was noticed during the mapping and training needs analysis conducted within the scope of Inspire Turkey . During the research, it became clear that creative hubs needed not only technical capacity building trainings but also support tools based on longer-term, strategic and intuitive insights into the structural challenges they faced. In particular, recurring problems such as isolation, loss of direction and financial hardship showed that resilience is not limited to moments of crisis; it spreads to daily decision-making, partnership development and team building.
In order to better understand this need, we conducted the research process in several layers. First, we reviewed the data we obtained from the mapping and training needs analysis conducted earlier in the project. We examined in detail the experiences of creative hubs that had closed, transformed, or whose resistance had been tested at different stages. Then, we conducted one-on-one interviews with structures that were still active and had experienced various vulnerabilities in the past. These interviews made visible not only good examples but also patterns such as directionlessness, exhaustion, transformation, and restructuring.
Simultaneously, we held regular meetings with team members who had experience in establishing and operating creative hubs. In these meetings, we brought together field experiences, shared intuitions, and repeated practical observations. In this way, we ensured that the toolkit was not only informative, but also thought-provoking, orientation-oriented, and companion-oriented.
Throughout the process, we reviewed various international toolkits, social entrepreneurship guides, and cultural resilience literature developed in the post-pandemic era. However, most of the existing resources focused on success stories and did not systematically address the insights of failures. To address this gap, we organized creative meetings focused on failure stories and regularly evaluated the direction of the process through an advisory board.
In the final stage, we tested the developed tools within the team, revised them with the feedback we received, and transformed them into a digitally accessible, usable piece by piece structure. The toolkit you find yourself in today was designed as a flexible, intuitive, and context-sensitive support resource suitable for the complex structure of creative hubs.
Limitations
We developed this toolkit in approximately 30 working days, with the aim of strengthening the resilience capacity of creative hubs. We did not aim to conduct academic research; instead, we conducted interviews with the highest variety of structures we could access in the limited time. By filtering the personal and collective experiences of the executive team, systematizing observations from the field, and blending them with practical insights, we aimed to produce content that could meaningfully accompany creative hubs.
This toolkit aimed to move beyond moments of crisis to address resilience as a long-term capacity. However, a comprehensive profiling study that would reveal the detailed anatomy of failure in creative hubs was beyond the scope of this study. Such a study would require a longer-term, multi-layered research process.
Although the cultural and creative sectors have many common aspects, we took into account the structural differences between them. We prepared this toolkit without making a vertical distinction between these two fields, focusing more on the practices of hubs working cross-sectorally. In this respect, it is necessary to evaluate the study not as a completed final product, but as a first version open to development.
Toolkits, including this one, do not provide solutions to multi-layered problems of hubs. Instead, they bring together distilled information, generate thought-provoking questions, and provide meaningful companionship. We designed this toolkit for creative minds who have thought about these issues before and are open to questioning. It would be unrealistic to expect the methods here to solve everything; however, when they come across the right person at the right time, they can provide powerful guidance.
Acknowledgements
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all individuals and institutions who volunteered to contribute to this research process, especially those who openly shared their experiences of failure, which are not always easy to share. We would like to thank all participants of the 8th Kırkikindi event held at Impact Hub Ankara, which allowed us to discuss failure collectively; and Engin Ayaz, Ahmet Onur, Fazlı Öztürk, Selin Saygılı, Zerrin Saygılı, Esra Gönen and Hazan Yılmaz, who sincerely shared their creative hub experiences.
Vehicles
Source
Amir, M. (2023, October 4). The creative hub movement: More than just creativity. Mereka. https://corporate.mereka.io/blog/the-creative-hub-movement-more-than-just-creativity
Ayaz, E., & Erbirer, E. (2017, October 17). Creative hubs: The map and the territory. Medium. https://medium.com/atolye/creative-hubs-the-map-and-the-territory-4615b71c7fd3
Ayaz, E., & Erbirer, E. (2017, 17 Ekim). Yaratıcı platformlar: Harita ve saha çalışması. ATÖLYE Medium. Yaratıcı Platformlar: Harita ve Saha Çalışması. ATÖLYE Medium.
Ars Electronica. (2022, September 8). Directors Talk: Creative resilience for a Planet B [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58xEem-8t7E
Baja, K. (2019). Guide to developing resilience hubs. Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN). https://resilience-hub.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/USDN_ResilienceHubsGuidance-1.pdf
Bernard, S. (2017). Resilience and creative empowerment [TEDx Talk]. TEDxTraverseCity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZVgG1mZMyQ
Brand, R. (2021, March 4). How to nurture flourishing cultural and creative hubs: Lessons from the Netherlands. https://www.pps.org/article/how-to-nurture-flourishing-cultural-and-creative-hubs-lessons-from-the-netherlands
British Council. (2015). Creative HubKit. https://arts.britishcouncil.org/resources/creative-hubkit
BSR Cultural Pearls Project. (2024). Culture for social resilience: The BSR Cultural Pearls guidebook. Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme.
Cantwell, E. (2023, April 24). The creative entrepreneur’s guide to failing fast & forward. https://erincantwell.co/2023/04/24/the-creative-entrepreneurs-guide-to-failing-fast-forward/
Carey, H., O’Brien, D., and Gable, O. (2021) Social Mobility in the Creative Economy: Rebuilding and levelling up? Multiple: Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre and Work Advance. https://pec.ac.uk/research-reports/social-mobility-in-the-creative-economy-rebuilding-and-levelling-up
Cookman, A., & Whyte, G. K. Y. (2020). Integrating individual and organizational well-being. Stanford Social Innovation Review. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/integrating_individual_and_organizational_well_being#
Community Canvas. (2017). The Community Canvas: A framework to help you build meaningful communities. https://community-canvas.org/
Creative Enterprise Toolkit (2nd ed.). (n.d.). Nesta. https://media.nesta.org.uk/documents/creative_enterprise_toolkit_english_online.pdf
Creative Hubs Connect: A platform to network, collaborate and grow. (2024). Nasalia Latiff. https://corporate.mereka.io/blog/creative-hubs-connect-a-platform-to-network-collaborate-
Creative Hubs in Question: Place, space and work in the creative economy. (2019). Gill, R., Pratt, A. C., & Virani, T. E. (Eds.). Palgrave Macmillan. https://dokumen.pub/creative-hubs-in-question-place-space-and-work-in-the-creative-economy-1st-ed-978-3-030-10652-2-978-3-030-10653-9.html
Creative hubs—The future of the creative economy. Milovanovic, I. (n.d.). Medium. https://medium.com/@irenamilovanovic/creative-hubs-the-future-of-the-creative-economy-aafaa6145a97
Culture for social resilience - The BSR Cultural Pearls. (2024). https://nck.org.pl/sites/default/files/media/documents/2024/The%20BSR%20Cultural%20Pearls%20Guidebook.pdf
Culture in times of COVID-19: Resilience, recovery and revival. (2022). UNESCO and Department of Culture and Tourism, UAE. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000381524.locale=en
Dovey, J., Pratt, A., Lansdowne, J., Moreton, S., Merkel, J., & Virani, T. (2016). Creative hubs: Understanding the new economy. British Council. https://www.britishcouncil.ro/sites/default/filescreative_hubs_understanding_the_new_economy_report.pdf
European Creative Hubs Network (ECHN). (2017). How to set up a creative hub. https://creativehubs.net/uploads/Creative-Hubs-Madrid-Toolkit_Final.pdf
Goldsmith, K. (2020, December 30). Fail safe, fail smart, succeed! Part one: Why focus on failure? https://blog.kevingoldsmith.com/2020/12/30/fail-safe-fail-smart-succeed/
Harrin, E. (2021). A complete guide to RACI/RASCI charts. Rebel’s Guide to Project Management. https://rebelsguidetopm.com/a-complete-guide-to-raci-rasci-charts/
Harvard Business Review. (2019, December 17). The tipping point between failure and success (No. 713) [Audio podcast episode]. In HBR IdeaCast. https://hbr.org/podcast/2019/12/the-tipping-point-between-failure-and-success
Hedner, T., Abouzeedan, A., & Klofsten, M. (2011). Entrepreneurial resilience. Annals of Innovation & Entrepreneurship, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.3402/aie.v2i1.6002
Hersey, P., & Blanchard, K. H. (n.d.). Situational leadership: A summary. [PDF document]. https://chat.openai.com/share/file-NkG9LA1LcGWzUYjAtsKyf2
Hordijk, A., & Glad, T. (2021). Social ecologies: The practice of ecosystem-building. Impact Hub Amsterdam. https://amsterdam.impacthub.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Article-Social-Ecologies_-The-Practice-of-Ecosystem-building-Final-11.2021.pdf
Impact Hub Phnom Penh. (n.d.). Doing good, staying well [Toolkit]. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sL5YE7f1-HZArm3uaZI9z4SlGTNo0xZi/view
Kuhlke, O. (2024). Make art as if your life depended on it: Trauma-informed care in the creative industries. Artivate: A Journal of Entrepreneurship in the Arts, 13(1). https://www.artivate.org/index.php/artivate/article/view/228/187
Laloux, F. (2014). Reinventing organizations: A guide to creating organizations inspired by the next stage of human consciousness. Nelson Parker. (Türkçesi: Organizasyonları Yeniden Keşfetmek, Optimist Yayınları, 2016) https://www.reinventingorganizations.com/
Latiff, N. (2024). Creative hubs connect: A platform to network, collaborate and grow. Future of Business Insights/News. https://corporate.mereka.io/blog/creative-hubs-connect-a-platform-to-network-collaborate
Milligan, K., Zerda, J., & Kania, J. (2022, January 18). The relational work of systems change. Stanford Social Innovation Review. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_relational_work_of_systems_change
National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise. (2021). Resilience toolkit – Building better business resilience. https://resilience.nicre.co.uk/
Nesta, Hivos, & British Council. (2020). Creative Hub Leader’s Toolkit. Creative Hubs Academy programme. https://media.nesta.org.uk/documents/Creative_Hub_Leaders_Toolkit.pdf
Nwachukwu, T., & Robinson, M. (2011). The role of diversity in building adaptive resilience. Arts Council England. https://www.thinkingpractice.co.uk/wp-
content/uploads/2016/03/Diversity_and_adaptive_resilience_public.pdf
O’Hara, E., Naik, D., & Gorton, C. (2021). The role of creative hubs in Cornwall & the Isles of Scilly. Falmouth University & Cornwall Council. https://www.falmouth.ac.uk/sites/default/files/download/the_role_of_creative_hubs_0.pdf
Peters, F., Merril, G., & de Nie, H. (2024). Organisational resilience in the Dutch creative industries. Breda University of Applied Sciences. https://verveci.buas.nl/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Revised-article-220224-1.pdf
Pratt, A. C. (2021). Creative hubs: A critical evaluation. City, Culture and Society, 24. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uYzuZq-UERUIF7HpkIXRZmjY1BU3wfkc/view
Recipes for Wellbeing. (n.d.). Recipes for Wellbeing platform. https://www.recipesforwellbeing.org/
Resilient Organisations. (n.d.). What is organisational resilience? https://www.resorgs.org.nz/about-resorgs/what-is-organisational-resilience/
Robinson, M. (2010, July). Making adaptive resilience real. Arts Council England. https://www.culturehive.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Making-adaptive-resilience-real-1.pdf
SISCODE Consortium. (2019). Co-creation for society in innovation and science: Toolbox. https://siscodeproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/toolkit-27092019-1.pdf
Senior, T. J., Cooper, R., Dovey, J., Follett, G., & Shiach, M. (2018). The hub as organisational model in the creative economy: Core learning from the AHRC Creative Economy Hubs Programme (Report 3). Arts and Humanities Research Council. https://discovery.dundee.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/49641781/Report_3.pdf
Social Mobility Commission. (2021, September). Socio-economic diversity and inclusion toolkit: Creative industries. https://socialmobility.independent-commission.uk/resources/creative-industries-toolkit/
Vreeswijk, M. P. (2018, March 26). Setting up and running a successful creative hub. Nesta. https://www.nesta.org.uk/blog/setting-up-and-running-a-successful-creative-hub/
West, T., & Black, L. (Hosts). (2023, October 11). Taking the leap with Kerrie Jones (No. 1) [Audio podcast episode]. In The Good Leader Clinic. Acast. https://open.spotify.com/episode/7LrVVo0eA4OgIwfVfSJrIE?si=PRGB055oSSKTwstwwsQdMQ
Wilujeng, S., Soetjipto, B. E., Pratikto, H., & Syihabuddin. (2021). Failure factors on entrepreneurial resilience in SMEs. European Journal of Business, Economics and Accountancy, 9(1). https://www.idpublications.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Full-Paper-FAILURE-FACTORS-ON-ENTREPRENEURIAL-RESILIENCE-IN-SMEs.pdf
Yang, Y. & Danes, S. (2015). Resiliency and Resilience Process of Entrepreneurs in New Venture Creation. Entrepreneurship Research Journal, 5(1), 1-30. https://doi.org/10.1515/erj-2013-0076
Methodology Note
Development Process of the Resiliency Toolkit for Creative Hubs
Presented by: Duygu Vatan