CCB Magazine

For about two years now, the weissensee school of art and design berlin has been running seeKicks, a programme to support students with their innovative and entrepreneurial ambitions. We spoke to Joe Lockwood and Anastasia Zagorni, who, together with Birgit Effinger, are responsible for the conceptual design and implementation of the programme, and asked them what it is all about.

Interview Boris Messing and Jens Thomas

CCB Magazine: Hello Joe and Anastasia. Together with Birgit Effinger, you are the people behind seeKicks, a programme which supports students of the weissensee school of art and design berlin in founding their own creative enterprises. But, before we talk about that, please tell us a little bit about yourselves. Who are you and what is your professional background?

Anastasia Zagorni: I wrote the proposal for the seeKicks programme, which has existed for more than two years now. I have a technological background and was working in business development for the Fraunhofer Institute before I finally came to Weissensee in 2016, where I started DesignFarmBerlin with Carola Zwick and Olaf Bach. DesignFarmBerlin has a specif­ic focus on design­in­tech and it supports projects and ventures at an early stage. Ecological issues play a role in the award of scholarships, but also design­relevant aspects in combination with techno­logical and socio­political issues. We’ve been doing this for six years. But then we decided to extend the opportunities in the field of art and design. And so seeKicks was born.

Anastasia Zagorni (Photo: © Heike Overberg)

Joe Lockwood: I’ve known Berlin for 30 years – and recently returned and joined seeKicks. Before that, I was at the Glasgow School of Art, where I co­founded the Innovation School. My early career was in the film industry. Then I took a sideways step to work at the interface of higher education, gover­nance, industry and civil society – and collaboratively developed programmes of research and teaching in design inno­vation that ultimately led to the estab­lishment of a new school at the Glasgow School of Art. In particular, I was working on the role of art and design in societal transformation.

CCB Magazine: What is seeKicks, what’s the concept?

Anastasia Zagorni: I would say seeKicks is a platform for various innovation and entrepreneurship activities in the context of art and design. It unites initiatives, research and support activities within the weissensee school of art and design berlin. But it also works on the outside as a point of contact for collaborations in the area of entrepreneurship and research. This would be my definition. What would you say, Joe?

Joe Lockwood: I agree. I would add that it’s also a platform to essentially bring people and projects together. The platform includes different formats that enhance the opportunities to collabo­rate, but also strengthen the skills of the students of art and design and their confidence in their respective ventures. The other part of the platform takes a wider approach looking at the impact of art and design on society and at the accompanying economic and techno­logical conditions. We help the students to prepare to go into the real world and do more than just design a chair or paint a picture. We ask: What is the role of artists or designers who want to change something? This is what we’re trying to find out with them. And for this you need practical resources, access to networks, access to cash, and access to knowledge.

CCB Magazine: Who funds seeKicks?

Anastasia Zagorni: seeKicks is part of EXIST. This is an initiative of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action that has existed for almost 25 years and is intended to support knowl­edge transfer, entrepreneurship and innovation through higher education in Germany. seeKicks is part of “Realising potential”, a programme within the EXIST initiative which is about shaping long­term structures to embed a culture of entrepreneurship in higher education in order to promote business and the economy. We are one of two art schools in Germany to be part of it.

CCB Magazine: In the German funding structure, the field of art is usually assigned to the non-profit sector, while design is assigned to the for-profit sector of the economy. Why don’t you make a distinction there? And there are already numerous accelerator and support programmes in the area of business funding like Reactor Berlin, GWA (a start-up workshop in Adlershof) or Vision Health Pioneers – to name just a few. What distinguishes seeKicks from these?

Joe Lockwood: That’s right, we do not a priori assign design to the business sector and art to the non­profit sector. And you are right. There is a plethora of start­up and scale­up programmes across the city and beyond. What makes us different is that we offer alternatives to those art and design entrepreneurs who are not guided by the logic of growth at any cost and the idea of “winner takes all”, but who want to question the status quo. We offer alternatives that open up more inclu­sive spaces – spaces to experiment, to collaborate and to develop an alternative business culture. In short, less unicorn and more zebra. It is about bringing together creative entrepreneurship and studio practice in such a way as to enable work that can shape society – both in the non­profit and for­profit sectors.

CCB Magazine: seeKicks has different formats like DesignFarmBerlin, seeUp, Start-up Studio, SprechenÜber etc. This is rather confusing. Could you clarify these formats, please?

Joe Lockwood: (laughs) This is the nature of an art school. Especially at Weissensee, which has a way of initiating lots of differ­ent kinds of projects. All these initiatives come together now under the umbrella of seeKicks. Start­up Studio, for instance, helps the students to evaluate their start­up idea and provides ideas for new business models. SprechenÜber is about creating new learning formats that can help the students to work with others, to navigate complex contexts and to build networks – useful skills for life! Anastasia already mentioned DesignFarmBerlin. And seeUp addresses students and grad­ uates of all disciplines; the programme helps to build a bridge between studies and professional practice and supports graduates in taking their first concrete steps in the world of work. All these ini­tiatives were developed in the art school five to six years ago to help us to analyse and to understand the role that art and design can play in practice or as an agent of transformation within society.

Anastasia Zagorni: All these initiatives are elements of this bigger platform, one could say. And, by the way, not all of them are visible to outsiders. Some initiatives are too small to be presented publicly and are targeted at only a few participants. Nevertheless, all of these elements play a crucial role in our desire to help students find their way from university into the real world. To sum up: with seeKicks we are trying to unite all these different elements and provide the students with options and opportunities.

Birgit Effinger (Photo: © Heike Overberg)

CCB Magazine: What about the subject of sustainability in all these initiatives? Does it play a role in the choice of participants for the programme?

Joe Lockwood: Sustainability in the sense of understanding how we can shape a new kind of economy plays an increasing­ly important role. We have many projects that address different aspects of the interface between people, technology and the environment. So, sustainability in the sense of the wellbeing of people and the planet is of great importance to seeKicks. It can be understood as an attempt to practise entrepreneurship and innovation in new ways that are less extractive and more regenerative and inclusive.

CCB Magazine: How exactly do you help the students to found their businesses?

Joe Lockwood: On the one hand, we help on an individual level. But we also do workshops on how to present a portfolio, or to pitch an idea etc. And we also try to bring people together who want to work together. Part of this is talking about the form of the organisation. So, does my company need to be a classic capitalist model, for instance, or can it be organised differently? Moreover, we have tutors and coaches from outside the university who provide specialised knowledge.

Anastasia Zagorni: We also have calls from students who want to work with us on a particular venture where we offer our help for six months. We do these calls on a regular basis.

CCB Magazine: You just said, Joe, that some creatives are imagining an economy that is not based on growth. On the other hand, creative entrepreneurs don’t want to be a non-profit organisation either. They want to earn money. In sustainability research, there has been a fundamental dispute for years about whether sustainability has to mean radical renunciation or can be based on green growth. What kind of possible business models are being taught in Weissensee? And how can one reconcile these seemingly conflicting views about business?

Joe Lockwood:Building on the answer earlier, we try to evaluate which of the participants already has experience with other business models that they want to share. And then we look in our network for tutors or coaches who can maybe do a session or a workshop talking about different models like a coopera­tive or what is referred to as the welfare economy. We also build partnerships with other universities for example the University for Sustainable Development in Eberswalde – so that students can access expertise on business models and alternative forms of governance etc. and perhaps work towards joint projects that can develop and test such models.

Anastasia Zagorni: There are many players in the market who evaluate and test models that are not centred around the idea of growth. We think designers and artists should take a more active role in the development of such models. In other words, in the end it’s not just about bringing a product to market, but also about new organisational and networking models, as well as equitable and inclusive work practices. We want to facilitate this thought process with our formats.

CCB Magazine: Last question: How many of the alumni of the weissensee school of art and design berlin who founded a creative company during or after their studies are still on the “market” after five years? In other words, how many actually manage to establish themselves economically?

Anastasia Zagorni: I can only give you a rough estimate. But first of all, what does “on the market” mean? Some students intend to stay self­employed and not go further. And then there are those who want to establish a small or even larger company. As for the last group, I would say more than 50 per cent make it. After all, most of the ventures are not about fast growth. Instead, the entrepreneurs take time to grow their companies slowly and organically.