Espronceda is proud to be a partner in Professional Media Presence (PMP), a four-year European cooperation project (2023–2027) supported by Creative Europe. We are delighted to share the launch of its Digital Toolkit: Forms of Presence, a resource born from three years of shared learning, artistic exchange and collective reflection across Europe.
About the Project
Professional Media Presence responds to the growing influence of media in shaping artistic identity, addressing challenges such as misinformation, precarity and the constantly shifting digital tools artists are expected to navigate. By equipping artists with digital skills and fostering cross-border collaboration, the project strengthens cultural resilience and diversity across the continent.
Between 2023 and 2025, PMP organised five online seminars, workshop weeks and artist residencies for collaborative creation and skill-building, connecting artists from six EU countries — Finland, Croatia, Italy, Malta, Slovakia and Spain. In total, 113 artists across different artistic fields and career stages have taken part, with a strong focus on inclusion: the project prioritises artists facing barriers such as disability, health issues, economic hardship, social or political challenges, geographic isolation or cultural difference.
The project is structured around five core themes: Media & Art, which explores how media shapes artistic expression and cultural narratives; Online Media & Digital Storytelling, focused on creating and sharing digital stories effectively; Social Media & Media Readership, addressing audience engagement and responsible media use; Future Media, examining emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality and their ethical applications in art; and Media & Professional Identity, guiding artists in building an authentic online presence.
The consortium behind PMP brings together Turku University of Applied Sciences (coordinator) and Lapland University of Applied Sciences (Finland), Youth for Equality (Slovakia), Espronceda, Institute of Art & Culture (Spain), Perypezye Urbane (Italy), Culture Hub Croatia and Prisms (Malta).
About the Toolkit
Forms of Presence is a set of signposts from artist to artist. Rather than offering a single, prescriptive model, it draws together the perspectives of residency artists and invited professionals to reflect the diversity of realities artists face across different European contexts.
The toolkit comprises artistic forewords and eleven articles, spanning themes from artistic identity in digital environments and institutional definitions of the “professional artist,” to precarity and invisible labour, media ecosystems, community-building in the attention economy, art and media activism, hydrofeminist perspectives on media and ethics, the ecological cost of digital overproduction, AI as a creative tool, professional branding, and inclusive practice from the perspective of an artist with Down syndrome. The publication also includes case study interviews with inspiring artists from across the project.
As contributor Tianjun Li writes: “The Forms of Presence aren’t a complete map, but rather a set of signposts I wish I’d had earlier.”
Forms of Presence is part of a wider learning environment that also includes podcasts and a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course). Together, these resources support artists in strengthening their media literacy, developing digital storytelling skills and building an authentic, sustainable professional presence.
We hope you’ll find this a useful tool and a source of inspiration. Dive in, and learn from the artists.
Click here to access the eBook.
Watch this space! Translated versions of the toolkit in Finnish, Slovak, Italian, Spanish and Croatian will be published in the coming months. More info: https://pmpproject.turkuamk.fi/articles/toolkit/
Espronceda’s Role in PMP
As a partner in the consortium, Espronceda has led the project’s Future Media strand from the outset. In March 2025, Espronceda organised the online seminar and the following workshop dedicated to Future Media, bringing together artists to explore emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality, with a particular focus on their ethical applications in art and media. Espronceda also hosted the Barcelona artist residency that followed, where two artists further developed the methods and materials created during the workshop into a section of the toolkit.
Beyond this thematic strand, Espronceda is also responsible for curating PMP’s forthcoming exhibition, bringing the project’s outcomes into a shared public and artistic space.
Next Steps
As the project moves into its final phase, the next milestone for PMP will be an exhibition (online and physical) bringing together the work and reflections developed throughout the residencies and workshops. More details will be announced soon — stay tuned.
