When I landed in Sardinia my laptop was full of notes and one big idea: VisionArt Hub, a social enterprise that brings visual arts, residencies and nomadic labs to people and places that are too often left out. I knew that I wanted to create something that brings together creativity, social needs, and a hub. What I didn’t know yet was how to build it. Now, halfway through my Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs journey at Mine Vaganti in Sassari, that picture is much sharper and I feel more confident on bring my project further.
The first thing that amazed me was the people. From day one, Barbara and the whole team welcomed me as a colleague, not as a guest. There is always someone ready to answer a question, open a folder of past projects, or explain me something I didn’t know yet. That friendly atmosphere made it much easier to ask questions without feeling timid.
In these first months I learned how a proposal is structured, how work packages talk are built, how evaluators read an application, and how a budget has to tell the same story as the narrative. I drafted sections myself and received honest, structured feedback. Some days it felt like learning a very difficult mechanism, other days I felt I knew how to proceed. I start to understand how an idea turns into activities, results and impact. I also learned how implementation and dissemination works, from a total caos in my head I now can follow the whole path without doubts.
Before, I saw VisionArt Hub mostly as a creative concept. Now I also see what holds it up: timelines, milestones, reporting, dissemination and the financial planning that makes it sustainable. I have been reshaping my business plan with these tools in mind, and it feels more realistic, and more professional.
I feel more confident, but I’m also aware that I still have a lot to learn. Sometimes I need extra time to understand a procedure or a rule, and that’s okay. I’ve discovered that knowing what you don’t know yet is part of being an entrepreneur, I see the experts in the group inventing new strategies every day.
The cooperation is going really well, so for the second half I don’t want to change the plan, just go deeper. I want more hands-on budgeting, more testing of workflows on real projects, and a proposal co-developed with the team. I’m also happy to give something back by bringing my visual communication skills into the host’s campaigns.
I came here with an idea. I’ll leave with a method, a structure, new friends and a network that I hope will last. Thank you, Mine Vaganti, and thank you, EYE!