Common Spaces: a new chapter for TEH to face global challenges together
Big news from Trans Europe Halles: "Common Spaces" project is officially launching! With support from the EU-funded "European Networks of Cultural and Creative Organisations" programme, this ambitious new project will run from 2025 to 2028, equipping grassroots cultural spaces including Trans Europe Halles members with the tools, skills and connections to face today’s challenges head-on and drive meaningful change in their communities.
At its core, "Common Spaces" project is built around the values which have been the strength of TEH: community, solidarity, radical democracy, exchange, and sharing. Based in spaces suffering from climate change, wars, inflation, energy crisis, underinvestment in cultural infrastructure, TEH values can transform those spaces into shared resources for all to stay sustainable, resilient, engaged and forward-looking: our members, the communities around them, especially the most vulnerable, governments and policymakers, artists and cultural workers.
Trans Europe Halles has grown a lot in scope, expertise and influence, and Common Spaces is the next step in this transformation, to become
- a stronger resource centre
- collaboration platform and
- social and urban transformation force.
Common Spaces makes the best use of data and technology to enhance knowledge exchange and sharing between members to build their skills and capacities, grow their expertise to accelerate the green transition of cultural heritage buildings and cultural infrastructure, to be the frontrunners of social transformation, building a diverse, engaged and democratic sector, as well as political transformation (at a local level, through decentralised approaches, and at a macro-level, through the improvement of our advocacy and policy capacities).
Common Spaces marks the transformation of TEH from a European network to an international one. We’ll develop new alliances with global civil society-led cultural organisations, develop communities of practice, membership, promote our expertise and learn from global partners. Learning from the existing, commoning our resources and sharing them, while creating a constellation of global alliances to advance our priorities: green transition, social inclusion, and democratic engagement: this is the ethos of this project.
What will Common Spaces do?
We aim to create a space where grassroots, non-governmental cultural organisations in Europe and beyond can come together to share, support, and collaborate. Building on the work we’ve already started, this means strengthening international connections through dialogue, artistic exchange and sharing skills and knowledge.
We’re focusing on regions that need solidarity the most — Ukraine, the South Caucasus, Central Asia and MENA countries — by forming working groups through TEH East and Mediterranean Hubs. Together, we’ll build partnerships that foster creativity, cooperation, and shared purpose across borders.
We want cultural spaces to lead the way in making cities greener, fairer, and more sustainable. This starts by equipping cultural workers with the knowledge and skills to launch community-led, low-cost and accessible green initiatives, whether it’s retrofitting heritage buildings or rethinking how we use public spaces.
We’ll also push policymakers to adopt flexible regulations that support these grassroots efforts and advocate for better public investment in energy transitions for cultural and heritage buildings. Culture has a huge role to play in tackling the climate crisis, and we’re ready to lead by example.
Cultural organisations are the beating heart of democratic participation, youth engagement, and social innovation. Through this project, we’ll gather and share the tools, methods and resources cultural spaces need to strengthen their role in society.
Stay tuned for more!
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