Welcome to the Train the Trainer program from the penguin project.
In this training program cultural workers are accompanied for a year whilst they develop new ways to understand their motivations, context and ability to influence their working culture towards a fair and rewarding relationship of mutual growth.
The Penguin Project proudly announces the completion of our inaugural Train the Trainer programme! We initiated this training to foster human-centered practices in the independent culture sector, addressing the impact of working in this creatively rich environment on the emotional well-being of cultural workers. Bringing together a select group of 11 cultural workers, leaders, and managers, we guided them in becoming Penguin Trainers and facilitators. Now equipped, they fly to the future to enhance awareness and abilities, promoting sustainable working environments across the cultural community. We hope that after the program our graduates will stay in contact with the penguin project and - through working with various cultural centres - contribute to a more sustainable working culture throughout the independent cultural sector.
Now the training programme is complete, our trainers have with them a unique “penguin” approach to personal leadership and organizational culture. Grounded in values such as trust, respect, dignity, creativity, and courage, our trainers employ methods that blend metaphors, movement, and creativity with organizational theory, leadership, and real-world practice. This fusion of art and science, encompassing feeling, knowing, and doing, is at the core of the penguin approach. Equipped with these ideas and methods, our trainers are ready to conduct their own workshops. And they are not alone. They form a community of trainers, supported by an online platform for continuous learning and mutual support. Let's delve into this program and meet our inspiring trainers!
Opening workshop
Florian Cope-Ladstätter
Prepared himself for the challenge of the penguin project by doing a PhD in social sciences and also working in Die Bäckerei - Kulturbackstube for eight years. He loves his little son Rowan, reading books, but also rockclimbing for some reason. In the penguin project he is responsible for idea and concept development, field research and for all the beautiful words you are reading here.
Shawn Antoni Wright
Studied fine arts in Wales while earning his money by laying train tracks. He has learned about the relationship between structure and movement during a life of martial arts, from which he draws from until today. After working in China as an Art Director in the comercial sector he decided to move to Czech Republic to work for indipendent art and culture to find more meaningful way to controbute. Five years and many Budweisers later he then followed his girlfriend to Innsbruck and found a job in Die Bäckerei - Kulturbackstube where is supported the brand development and design. In the penguin project he is responsible for idea and concept development, Strategy, communications, field research and for the beautiful design and illustrations you are looking at.
Jana Ryšlavá
Freelance artist based in Czech Republic. After graduating from the SEAD Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance, she devoted herself to teaching at Janáček’s Conservatory and developing the movement approach of AcroPartnering. She uses it to research different approaches of dance and circus and connect the circus and dance community. She believes that dance belongs to public spaces to open dialog with our audience. As the founder of MOVE Ostrava, she curates the MOVE Fest festival. “For me, the Penguin project is actually psycho hygiene for cultural workers. My focus is in the body and also the connection of art and creation.
Margit Liebhart
Is a partner at the Salzburg office of Trigon Entwicklungsberatung. She has been working as an organisational development consultant since 2010 and will contribute her rich experience in this field to the penguin project. Margit thrives for accompanying people and groups through developmental journeys along their real questions. This urge to get to the bottom of things and start working from there is what connects her to the penguin project. Together with her partner she has four kids and their house is full of life. Balancing out the different nourishing aspects of life is what she enjoys most these days.
Iveta Koblic
Iveta Koblic is an psychiatrist and psychotherapist. During the medical studies, her interest moved from natural sciences to human psyché and she also found her passion in dance. Bringing these areas together, she trained in Gestalt therapy and dance movement therapy, discovering the bodymind complexity and interconnections, which create an essence of her approach to different activities in the field of mental health, ranging from clinical work to providing lectures, workshops and even a bit of artistic work. She likes to move on the borders of different professional environments and cooperate in interdisciplinary teams, finding fresh inspiration and enrichment for her work and life. She is also a proud mother of two teenage boys, who are teaching her extra lessons in human relations and mental health every day.
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The Penguin Project is implemented thanks to support from the Erasmus+.