Finding and Taking Chances

Pilot Runner: Hogeschool Utrecht (Netherlands)

This Open Pilot, hosted by Hogeschool Utrecht in the Netherlands, focuses on Finding and Taking Chances. The pilot supports alumni and recent graduates who already have creative skills, but need stronger entrepreneurial competences to position themselves, generate income, and develop a viable path in the creative field.

The pilot creates a compact learning and mentoring space where former students can strengthen their confidence in navigating the professional market, connect with like-minded peers, and better understand how to find their place in a productive and commercially viable environment.

Aims of the pilot

The pilot aims to improve the entrepreneurial skills of former students and help them find a better position in the working field. It also supports the start of a network of like-minded alumni who are entering, or have recently entered, professional creative practice.

The CYANOTYPES Framework will be used to provide structure and align the pilot with existing curriculum. The main competences identified are:

D1 – Financial and Economic Literacy
D2 – Planning and Management
D3 – Valuing Ideas
D4 – Opportunity Management

The intended outcome is a basic entrepreneurial skill set that helps former students become more ready for the commercial market.

Activities undertaken

The pilot is aimed at alumni and recent graduates who have entered the working space and have the creative skill set to be productive, but lack the skills to generate sufficient funding for their development in the creative field. Secondary stakeholders include potential audiences and target groups, creative agencies, event organisers and local industry.

The expected number of participants is 8 per session. Activities include three one-hour training sessions and two half-hour mentor sessions. The curriculum is planned to be completed before the end of May, sessions will be planned in early June, and evaluation will take place at the end of July 2026.

Outcomes and early learning

The pilot is expected to help alumni recognise that personal development continues after graduation and that entrepreneurial learning can strengthen their transition into professional creative practice. After the pilot, an evaluation will monitor which elements work best and what needs improvement.

If successful, the curriculum could be offered as a lifelong learning course or integrated into bachelor studies, creating a stronger bridge between formal education and early professional development.

Adding value

The pilot is valuable because it responds to a common but often under-supported transition point: creative graduates may be skilled makers, but still need help turning opportunity, value and planning into a sustainable professional direction. Its strength lies in offering a small, focused and mentor-supported route into entrepreneurial confidence without overwhelming participants.  

Possible policy recommendations

This pilot suggests that education institutions and regional creative economy actors should support post-graduation entrepreneurial transition programmes for creative alumni. Policy support could fund short lifelong learning formats, alumni mentoring, and connections with creative agencies, event organisers and local industry. This would help recent graduates turn creative ability into sustainable professional practice and reduce the gap between degree completion and viable creative work.

Website: https://www.hu.nl/