BECC kick-off seminar 2020

General

BECC 2020: Working with hyperdiverse audiences: needs, challenges and opportunities

This seminar, originally scheduled for spring 2020, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 crisis, and rescheduled in 2021.

These recent years have been tumultuous for societies across Europe: we have been facing social, environmental, political, and economical crises, but also a crisis of solidarity. As communities are getting reshaped, polarising discourses are mainstreaming discrimination, exclusion and racism into everyday political debate.

In the heart of communities across Europe are cultural and community centres: places where people encounter culture and art, but first and foremost, where they meet each other and share their interests. In these turbulent times, it has become crucial for community workers and culture professionals to develop and refine skills allowing them to understand the complex realities of their neighborhoods, and to seize those realities as opportunities. It is obvious that to build connections that link different people, regions and ideas, we have no other choice than to challenge our own opinions and learn to think differently.

This year we will dedicate the BECC programme to the cultural centres and organisations working with emerging or changing hyperdiverse communities, who need support in re-thinking or even re-defining their role in these communities. By hyperdiverse, we understand communities that are made up of many different nationalities, languages, cultures, age groups, gender identities and social-economic backgrounds, with their own different interests and levels of access to culture.

BECC 2020 was prepared by the ENCC in collaboration with trainers Dagna Gmitrowicz (PL/DE, Erasmus+ Agency trainer, Facilitator and certified Art-Therapist) and Matteo Negrin (author, musician and cultural manager).

For this 2020 session, thanks to the support of the EU Commission programme Creative Europe, the ENCC was able to invite 13 colleagues from 10 European countries for an 8-months-long learning journey with two main activities: the online group kick-off seminar, and the individual mobility programme.

The five-day online seminar empowers participants in their process-oriented learning journey. The additional online study visits will help participants learn about the local cultural context in Italy.

BECC as a learning experience

by Dagna Gmitrowicz

I invite you on a self-directed learning journey, which starts with your selection and will end at the evaluation phase of this project.

I will offer you different tools and support your self-reflection, self-assessment and self-empowerment in the context of your professional development. Moreover, I will stimulate the group process by underlining the importance of a learning community and stimulating creativity grounded in micro-interactions. You can expect individual work, small chats with me, work with your peers and within the whole group.

Working with hyperdiverse audiences

by Matteo Negrin

Starting from an analysis of concrete cases and best practices, I will try to explain reasons and strategies for overcoming the liturgies of cultural consumption, suggesting times, ways and spaces favorable to the interception of new audiences. I would like to overcome the traditional concept of “audience” by redesigning the role of a subject who is no longer passive, but an actor we would like simply call as a citizen.

BECC Seminar Trainers

Dagna Gmitrowicz

I am a visual artist, facilitator, coach, therapist and process designer who creates meaningful learning spaces at conferences, workshops and in my workshop. I strongly believe in, and support a collaborative work culture, using the potential and strengths of everyone and tapping into the collective creativity of the group. Recently, I’ve created new methods supporting the empowerment of people from less privileged groups. In particular I worked on two methods: ‘visual conversations’ for the Sparkcatcher project and ‘street stimulation’ for Occupy Learning.

I have worked, among others, with Erasmus + National Agencies, Euroguidance, Bundesvereinigung Kulturelle Kinder und Jugendbildung (BKJ), Cabuwazi pedagogical circus, the ENCC and other NGOs from all over Europe. I work and live in Berlin.

I also co-manage my own cultural foundation in Poland.

Matteo Negrin

I am an author, musician and cultural manager. I plan and implement innovative devices for the development and engagement of new audiences.

I am also a lecturer and a professor. I have published for Gruppo Sole 24Ore, and I also write for Corriere della Sera. I am president of the Agenzia per lo Sviluppo Locale di San Salvario – Casa del Quartiere (member of ENCC). I am also the director of Lavanderia a Vapore, a regional choreographic residency that is a member of the European Dancehouse Network.

Since 2018 I have also directed Piemonte da Vivo Foundation, a government institution for the promotion and development of performative arts.

Programme

BECC 2020: Working with hyperdiverse audiences
Programme of the seminar

Monday 07.12
09.15-09.30 Wake-up Session

09.30-11.00 Introduction to the Seminar
Experiencing Diversity Within our Group: BECC participants as an example of a diverse community

11.00-12.30 Keynote Speech
This must be the place: mapping the context of hyperdiverse public
Introduction to study visits

12.30-14.30 Lunch

14.30-15.30 Study Visit: Polo del 900
Exploration phase: What does 'hyperdiverse audience' mean, and what competencies does it require in the cultural sector?

15.30-16.00 BECloserCommunity Rooms

Tuesday 08.12
9.15-9.30 Wake-up Session

9.30-10.00 BeCloserCommunity Altogether

10.00-11.00 Ongoing Self-Diagnosis of Your Organisation: Presentation of the participating organisations, part 1

11.00-12.30 Inspiring Talk by Zita Holbourne:
How to advocate for minorities through cultural institutions
Open session moderated by Matteo Negrin

12.30-14.30 Lunch

14.30-15.30 Study Visit: Lavanderia a Vapore
Exploration phase: How have the 'designated sites' of culture changed?

15.30-16.00 BECloserCommunity Rooms

Wednesday 09.12
09.15-09.30 Wake-up Session

09.30-10.00 BECloserCommunity Altogether

10.00-11.00 Ongoing Self-Diagnosis of Your Organisation: Presentation of participating organisations, part 2

11.00-12.30 Inspiring Talk by Ricky Seabra:
Title to be confirmed
Open session moderated by Matteo Negrin

12.30-14.30 Lunch

14.30-15.30 Study Visit: Casa del Quartiere di San Salvario
Exploration phase: Is participation one of the keys to bringing new organisational models into being? Is it giving rise to new forms and institions generated "from below"?

15.30-16.00 BECloserCommunity Rooms

Homework: Evening of individual reflection

Thursday 10.12
09.15-09.30 Wake-up Session

09.30-10.00 BECloserCommunity Altogether

10.00-12.30 Sewing Your Own Suit:
What is needed to deal with the hyperdiverse audience in your organisation?
Competence assessment

12.30-14.30 Lunch

14.30-15.30 Study Visit: Laboratori di Barriera
Exploration phase: What models are there for cultural promotion and cooperation? How are the needs of hyperdiverse audiences determined?

15.30-16.00 BECloserCommunity Rooms

Friday 11.12
09.15-09.30 Wake-up Session

09.30-11.00 Individual path of Learner
Competence assessment

11.00-12.30 Exchange matching

12.30-14.30 Lunch

14.30-15.30 BECC technicalities

15.30-16.00 BECloserCommunity Altogether
Evaluation and closing session

Speakers & Study Visits

BECC 2020: Working with hyperdiverse audiences
Speakers

Zita Holbourne

Zita Holbourne is a trade unionist, community & human rights campaigner and activist, an author, visual artist, curator, poet, vocalist and writer. She is the Co-Founder and National Chair of Black Activists Rising Against Cuts (BARAC) UK, established in 2010 and campaigning against the disproportionate impact of cuts and austerity on black and minority ethnic workers, service users and communities and on the wider racism and injustice they & other deprived communities face. She is also the National Vice President of the PCS Union and Joint National Chair of Artist's Union England.

She works with unions across Europe and Internationally to campaign for migrant and refugee rights and against racism and other forms of discrimination. She also campaigns around the links between climate change, migration & refugees & spoke at COP21 in Paris.

She is part of the UNESCO Coalition of Artists for the General history of Africa and in this role promotes African history through the arts to counter racism and injustice.

Her artistic work has been featured at the Tate Modern, V&A, Stratford Picture House, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Goldsmiths Women's Library amongst many other venues both nationally and internationally.

Zita won the positive role model for race award at the National Diversity Awards 2012. In December 2019 she received a lifetime achievement award for Equality Champion by the Legacy Gala and Awards. She has been nominated by the BLAC Awards for a special recognition award for community activism.

In August 2020 Zita gave the International Slavery Museum's annual Dorothy Kuya Slavery Remembrance Lecture, to mark UNESCO Slavery Remembrance Day, which has previously been given by Ndaba Mandela, son of Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King III, son of civil rights leader Martin Luther King.

Since 2019, she has been a special adviser to the ENCC on our diversity project. Read more about her.

Ricky Seabra

Ricky Seabra is a multimedia storyteller, designer and researcher born in Washington in 1964 with a BFA in Communication Design from Parsons School of Design (NYC) and a Masters in Design Research from the Design Academy Eindhoven (NL). In his performances he combines design and activism to speak of politics, memory and poetics. He has created several shows with directors Andrea Jabor (BRAZIL) and Dirk Verstockt (BE) and has lived in Washington, New York, Amsterdam, Rio de Janeiro, Crato, and Brasilia where he currently lives.

Between 2012 and 2017, Seabra lived in Crato in the Northeast of Brazil where he directed the Historical Museum of Crato. The Museum was in ruins and closed for 8 years when he started to work there. He slowly opened 5 of its 9 rooms and transformed it into a cultural centre that opened at night offering movies, art exhibitions, design, and language workshops. He was also Coordinator of Historical Heritage of Crato and used the museum as a headquarters to fight for the preservation of the old houses of the city including houses in the art deco style of the 20th century. He believes in the reconstruction of the built heritage as it was done in post-war Europe.

It was in this context that he learned of the existence of the extinct Kariri language (the language spoken in the region before the Portuguese arrived). Fascinated by endangered languages and believing that the saddest thing that can happen to a culture is the loss of its language, in 2014 he embarked on a quest to understand how many words remained in the Kariri language basing his research on a 300 year old Grammar and Catechism written in Kariri by a Jesuit priest. Seabra now dreams of reviving the language. In 2020 he released an online dictionary of the Kariri language. Two tribes related to the Kariris that lost their languages (and only speak Portuguese) are now using the dictionary to help in the effort to revive that language.

BECC 2020: Working with hyperdiverse audiences
Study visits

Polo del 900: The biggest italian cultural center dedicated to the ‘900

The Polo del ‘900 is a cultural center opened to citizens and addressed especially to the young younger generation and new citizens. At the Pole you can deepen your knowledge, read, study, understand, remember, travel, socialize, let yourself get inspired, challenge yourself, find new solutions and open yourself up to new questions. At the Polo del ‘900 find their place 19 participating authorities that represent a solid reference point in the historical, social, economic and cultural research of the twentieth century and in the preservation of the value of resistance, democracy and freedom. In Turin, hosted in the Juvarra’s complex of Quartieri Militari, the Polo del ‘900 articulates in the buildings of San Daniele and San Celso, in more than 8.000 square metres. Polo del ‘900 hosts a museum, areas for events, exhibitions and performance, a library, educational rooms, a children area, conference rooms, an outdoor cinema and a minicinema. The concentration and integration of the archives and the libraries, the different experiences and the partner authorities’ skills, the willing of connection between memories and the present, history with the major topics of modernity, make the Polo del ‘900 an innovative subject addressed at everyone who desire to be closer to the major topics of the twentieth century and of the current ages.

Lavanderia a Vapore: Centre for Dance Residencies

The Lavanderia a Vapore in Collegno, the only centre for dance residencies in Piedmont, is a member of EDN – European Dancehouse Network, the prestigious European network of dance houses. Lavanderia a Vapore focuses on carrying out research into dance and its culture, establishing links that start with its surrounding region and branch out internationally. It is a centre in which dialogue between past and present is vibrant and evident, and stems from an unceasing commitment to contemporary creation and experimentation. Performances, artistic residencies, training programmes and multidisciplinary projects breathe life into the diverse spaces of what was once the laundry of Italy’s biggest psychiatric hospital. One of the centre’s key features is its relationship with local residents and the public: Lavanderia a Vapore is an experimental venue, which has gained international recognition for its innovative audience engagement policies. Many of its projects are designed for the communities with which the Lavanderia partners, and are intended to stimulate cultural debate at a local level. Moreover, the Lavanderia a Vapore season is part of Scena Ovest, a joint initiative designed to promote a Multidisciplinary Theatre showcase across the metropolitan area of Turin, together with Cirko Vertigo in Grugliasco, the Maison Musique auditorium in Rivoli, the Rivolimusica season and the Teatro Concordia in Venaria Reale.

Casa del Quartiere di San Salvario: Neighborhood House in San Salvario

The Casa del Quartiere was established in order to answer to one of the needs expressed by the associations and active citizens of San Salvario, a city neighbourhood that lacks adequate spaces for social, cultural, and animation activities. The project envisages activities for the promotion, information, and accompaniment in initiatives that have an impact on the social, cultural, and economic development of the neighbourhood; it is implemented through the establishment of cooperation networks between associations and citizens. By gathering and coordinating the propositions submitted by associations, informal groups, and private citizens, every year a program is defined with the stable activities for citizens, composed of counter service, spaces for listening and orientation, courses, laboratories, and workshops. In addition, the program includes events and unplanned initiatives: public presentations, meetings, shows, and evenings in support to projects. Moreover, the Casa represents by now a point of reference for the inhabitants of San Salvario, an open social space, a natural meeting place. These are the criteria that guide the choice of activities: cultural, social, and economic accessibility; the attainment of all the user targets; economic and managerial sustainability; quality; consistency with spread needs and interests; and the ability to also get immigrant citizens and the weaker layers of society involved. The project includes the operating management of the structure: planning and coordinating services and activities, organizing and managing the Casa’s spaces and times, providing counter service and support for the use of the spaces, providing personnel to the structure, and planning support to the involved associations. The beneficiaries of the project are citizens, informal groups, and associations from Turin. Currently, the Casa involves over 200 bodies, associations and informal groups in a year; about 2,700 people participate in continuous activities. It is estimated that about 70,000 persons come to the Casa every year.

Via Baltea - Laboratori di Barriera: Community Hub in Barriera di Milano

Via Baltea - Laboratori di Barriera is a Community Hub managed by the cooperative Sumisura s.c. – Risorse per l’Ambiente e la Città, in collaboration with Sumisura, a local social promotion association. Laboratori di Barriera promotes active citizenship, solidarity and citizen participation to guarantee social impact to projects and initiatives aimed at local communities, with the experimentation of new circular subsidiarity relationships between cooperation, associations and public institutions; Via Baltea - Laboratori di Barriera manages the social and cultural activities of the Social Bar, aimed at neighborhood and its inhabitants. Laboratori di Barriera aims to be able to integrate commercial and production activities with particular attention to the aspect of sociality and the construction of solidarity and quality relationships.One of the main threads is production and self-production: Laboratori di Barriera promotes recycling, self-repair, saving consumption, exchange.

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European Network of Cultural Centres

BECC as a learning experience

Working with hyperdiverse audiences

BECC Seminar Trainers

Zita Holbourne

Ricky Seabra

Creative Europe Programme of the European Union

Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo

An Invitation to BECC Inspiring Talks...