The final report of this project has just been published. It can be downloaded here.

The STEP project works at the intersection of a number of complementary infinitives and policy developments. This paper offers a way of mapping its fields of operation in order that the project as whole can possess a more informed understanding of its work and to enable partners to situate themselves within the complex matrix of Cultural Marketplace and Training programmes, regulations and developments at both European and National levels.

STEP partners are on the margins of their sectors. They are frequently institutions working against the odds, without secure long-term funding. Some operate as social innovators concerned with the well being of local communities  helping the disadvantaged and excluded to develop employable skills and to become productive citizens. Other partners work as intermediaries or specialist agencies in the complex value chain of suppliers in the cultural industries. Usually the processes of accreditation and validation at the heart of STEP work against these constituents just as the cultural sector labour market often works to exclude those without access to high cultural capital networks.

This complicated weave of pressures, barriers and opportunities poses an analytic challenge as STEP activity crosses a number of terrains usually organised according to convention as discrete traditions. This paper attempts to disentangle this compound mixture of concepts and actions to show where progress is strong, where it is hampered by institutional, local or transnational constraints and where areas of co-operation may lead to greatest change.