Next Generation of Cultural Spaces
Next Generation of Cultural Space (NGOCS) re-imagines the usage of historical spaces, reviving them through cultural activities to create safe spaces where non-dominant youth culture, queer communities and other marginalised groups in Eastern & Southern Europe can thrive.
NGOCS is a project by Space of Urgency, Tresor Foundation, United We Stream, Act4culture (CCIU Georgia), Basis Vinschgau Venosta and Bam-C (Balkan Advanced Music Conference). Throughout the year 2022, the project is supported by the European Cultural Foundation.
More info on www.nextgenofcultural.space
Problemfields
Imperialism, authoritarian governments and right-wing extremism are on the rise, evidenced by violent attacks on queer communties with casualties in the Tbilisi, Kiev, and Belgrade Pride events 2021. Besides these aggressive acts, the pandemic has led to closure of our cultural spaces and disruption of creative ecosystems that have served as the last remaining safe spaces for these communities, now posing an existential threat for the underrepresented.
Proposed solutions
The NGOCS project aims to build a transnational alliance that supports the local positions of the spaces, e.g. by improving collaboration with relevant stakeholders, rethinking business models and increasing international visibility and solidarity. Concretely in 2022, NGOCS is highlighting the development of new cultural spaces by Bam-C in Sarajevo and by Bassiani in Tbilisi. In addition to physical conferences in Sarajevo and Tbilisi, we host 3 online community calls throughout the year.
Space of Urgency’s role
Space of Urgency organizes regular community calls with a broad network of independent cultural spaces. The community call aims to ignite a robust, transnational artivist alliance between Berlin, Sarajevo, Tbilisi and many other spaces and communities from Southern and Eastern Europe. This alliance will support the shared development of impactful tools for spaces that enhance self-reliance in times of crisis. The community calls contribute to a how-to guide on generating independent, political culture spaces in Southern & Eastern Europe, to be delivered at the end of 2022.
