Our 2022 annual meeting took place in Turin, Italy, on June 13-15, 2022.
“It was the first time we met the ENCC family in person and it was very important and stimulating for us” - Make Space participant
In spite of a daunting heat wave, the event gathered 79 participants from 20 countries (Italy, Finland, Serbia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Greece, Turkey, Denmark, Czech Republic, Malta, Latvia, Belgium, Germany, Austria, France, Estonia, Bulgaria, Spain and UK). It was the first annual meeting after the pandemic, and there was a sense of relief and relishing time together.
Get all recordings, photos, presentations, websites and tools from the event in our resource base.
The keynote was delivered by Bridget McKenzie from Culture Declares Emergency and Climate Museum UK. She talked about extractive futures vs. regenerative futures and discussed supportive transition, truth-telling through art and education, decolonising and decarbonising culture, culture therapy and care and much more. Watch a recording of her keynote here, or go to our resource base to get all items from the conference.
Two panels addressed the interlocking themes of the conference: sustainability and public space in relationship to cultural centres. Gathered speakers were a combination of ENCC members (NON Riservato network (IT), Cecchi Point/Rete delle Case del Quartiere (IT), Bundesverband Soziokultur e.V. (DE), Le Laba (FR) and experts from the sector and the European level. Highlights from the panels included discussions about awareness and pattern change tools to support a mindshift in the cultural sector.
Consult the programme of the event, including workshops and study visits, here
Menno Weijs & Lorenzo Ricca presented Mediactivism and the Right to the City projects, involving digital public spaces and Torino as a case study in the Mediactivism project. Leandro Pisano brought a counterpoint in highlighting rights not only to the city but also to non urban areas, and questioned the “development” paradigm in “territorial development”. Irina Suteu from NON Riservato brought a critical look at urban regeneration vs participatory processes. Giorgio Bacchiega brought a European perspective from AMATEO network, connected with work on the peripheries of Milan. The network took stock of emerging paradigms and questions about arts and sustainability to be addressed in future debates.
I was interested in making new connections, learning and sharing around important topics. The conference even exceeded expectations! - Make Space participant
The UPgrants award ceremony was a moment of emotion and sparkles. Théo Majcher from ENCC member Alter Ego X (FR) announced the winners of our microgrants scheme for innovation and sustainability in cultural centres. Winners had the opportunity to come on stage and briefly present their projects, inviting participants to join the following session, a world cafe brainstorming. There they could further exchange about experiences related to the reduction of our footprint and the potential for change through arts and culture. Connections between winners and organisations willing to work on the topic started to develop thanks to this space for sharing, with new synergies to be developed over the summer
Workshops led by ENCC members Le Laba (FR), La Vénerie (BE) and VTC Margarita (GR) offered tools and practices on sustainability and community development by cultural centres. Le Laba presented a new tool, designed in collaboration with 7 international partners, for festivals to self-assess their sustainability.
"The tour of local cultural centres was very relevant for me, I had the opportunity to meet younger artists and fringe cultural centres on the periphery of Turin." - Make Space participant
Participants braved the heat for a walking visit to local cultural centres in the Barriera di Milano neighbourhood: PietraTonale, Vernicefresca, La Scimmia in Tasca, Via Baltea and Ventunesimo. We were struck/interested by the public space and the demography of the volunteers, with young and senior generations working and creating side by side.
The last day of the conference was dedicated to a crash course in EU funding led by Mathilde Sallez of La Saline Royale (FR). Mathilde presented best practices and practical tips in regard to 3 main funding schemes: Creative Europe, Erasmus + and Interreg. Based on the rich experience of her organisation, she went deeper into the meaning of cooperation, defining what kinds of project are supported by the EU and a few common misunderstandings in interpreting EU funding calls. Participants were then split into small groups to imagine a project and create a pitch. Each group pitched their work to the audience and received some first feedbacks .
Many thanks to Cecchi Point and Vittorio Bianco of Rete delle Case del quartiere for co-organising, to Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo for sponsoring, to all of our speakers and members who participated in the keynote, panels and workshops, to the organisations and artists who hosted the inspirational study visits.
This event is part of the ENCC CUBE 3-year project, co-funded by Creative Europe.
