Voluntary in Belgrade, a series of get together organised in REX (Belgrade, Serbia) every month, is a project led by two volunteers in REX Through exhibitions, presentations, film screenings, etc. these meetings focus on  the wide range of experiences that volunteers have in Belgrade, as well as their thoughts and impressions on the life in Serbia.

ufaFabrik (Berlin, Germany) has always been engaged on the path of sustainability and green energies. In September, they will organise for the second time a week of workshops and common reflection on the theme “Creative Strategies of Sustainability for artistic and cultural centre in Europe”. This project organised in the frame of Engine Room Europe aims at giving cultural workers new inspirations to build and manage more sustainable centres.

On the  4th of April, a mob of around 100 people broke onto the premises of IZOLYATSIA (Donetsk, Ukraine), crashing the front gates and inflicting other damage to the property with the purpose of putting a halt to an educational event for non governmental organisations.This inherently non-political event was used as an occasion for political actions by protesters, who warned against the spread of new media and new technologies which, according to them, incite violence and insurrection among people.

Transiberica Network, a network of independent cultural centres in the Iberian Peninsula, was officially launched during a meeting organised in ZAWP Bilbao (TEH Member, Spain). This is the result of 2 years of hard work and networking, which Trans Europe Halles supported by sharing its expertise with the founders of the network.

This meeting was also the opportuniy for them to discuss the critical economic situation in Spain, and set up the priorities as well as an action plan for their network.

In the frame of ASEF’s programme Creative Encounters, supported by Trans Europe Halles, Manifatture Knos (Lecce, Italy) will organise a Masterclass residency in September on the role and perspective of public art as a tool for socio-cultural transformation. 9 artists from Asia and 9 artists from Europe will be selected to discuss and try to answer the question: “What is next in art, cities and regeneration?”

In 2013, Bakelit Multi Art Centre (Budapest, Hungary) together with TEH Members Tabacka (Kosice, Slovakia) and Johan Centrum (Pilsen, Czech Republic) will organise an exhibition of 100 posters showing the change of regimes in Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Poland. This exhibition will tour in the 4 countries involved in the project which aims at illustrating the impact of political changes on culture and society.

On the 21st of April, REX (Belgrade, Serbia) will hold a debate on how the public opinion and the institutions treat migrants who pass through Serbia to join Western Europe. For this occasion, REX is looking for activists or artists interested in this topic to participate as an external eye in the debate. A writer will also be hired to produce an essay for their website and the final publication of the project.

Half-way through the tree-years project Engine Room Europe, we asked all the partners in charge to give us the summary of what has been achieved through the programme until now. Discover the results gathered in one report!

In 2013, Antic Teatre (Barcelona, Spain) is turning 10 years old! Do you want to offer them a gift? Participate to the crowdfunding they set up to produce a book in three languages (Spanish, Catalan and English) to describe the story of this centre who has now become one of the main agents in revitalising the Casc Antic neighbourhood of Barcelona. With this book, they also want to show how an independent cultural space is created, developed and established.

From 8th to 10th of March, Workshop of Culture (Lodz, Poland) gathered an international group of 120 cultural operators to work on new models of cooperation in the frame of the International Seminar “Culture for the Eastern Partnership”.

TEH Members Tabacka Kulturfabrik (Kosice, Slovakia) and Bakelit Multi Arts Centre (Budapest, Hunary) also took part to this event.

During the traditional Pancake week, IZOLYATSIA (Donetsk, Ukraine) invited about 60 local artisans and designers to communicate with each other and with the local community, to show their products, techniques and hold free workshops for citizens. An event which attracted the record number of visitors per day – more than 1500 guests in 3 hours.

Former employee of Village Underground (London, UK) is opening Village Underground Lisbon, in collaboration with the original centre in London. Instead of old train wagons, they will use recycled containers from the harbor of Lisbon to build artists studios for up to 70 people. There will also be 2 buses, one for a café and one for a meeting place.

Finland's biggest circus school moved in Suvilahti (Helsinki, Finland), the former power-plant building, making the centre a significant hub for new circus both on an national and international level.

At the end of February, several TEH delegates and Secretary General Birgitta Persson gathered in Mains d’Oeuvres (Saint Ouen, France) to discuss sustainability strategies within the network. This first Think Tank organised outside the annual meetings was very inspiring and the team came out with a suggestion for a definition of what “sustainability” means from Trans Europe Halles’ point of view.

TEH Member Stanica (Zilina, Slovakia) is a prominent centre when it comes to leading centre in the transformation of public spaces into cultural places.  In 2013, they will build a new space using sustainability strategies, in collaboration with STEALTH.unlimited, discovered during their art performance in TEH Member Röda Sten Konsthall (Gothenburg, Sweden).

In 2012, their efforts have also been rewarded with the Bauwelt Advacement Award for the renovation of a synagogue in Zilina. In 2014,  a new cultural centre and international gallery space will be opened in this building. There is only one condition to make this dream come true - to find one million euro.

Another collaboration between TEH Members! Karl Hallberg (Not Quite, Sweden), the so-called rural centre of Trans Europe Halles, is organising a workshop in Manifatture Knos (Lecce, Italy) to build bikes with alternative functions in order to make biking more attractive. It is also for him an opportunity to learn more on how manager Michele Bee and his team run their cultural centre and develop their projects. Different contexts, different points of view: no doubt that this journey will be inspiring for both of them!

Arts Printing House (Vilnius, Lithuania) offers a residency for professional international artists in Contemporary Performing Arts: Contemporary Circus, Theatre, Dance. For the first time, Arts Printing House opens residency to the managers of performing arts: art directors, festival programmers or managers of the field.

Writing creatively requires time and space.
Writing creatively requires training the eye to observe closely what goes on around us.
Writing creatively requires discipline and the fostering a habit.

Far too often, in our everyday lives, the hustle and bustle of work, family and other commitments get in the way of writing. We want to write creatively but it usually ends up at the bottom of our to-do list.

How good would it be then to spend a week away with writing being your chief priority?

"Into the roots" is a hands-on one week course that weaves together ancient philosophy and profound conversations, with foraging hikes and cooking classes. You will delve into the secrets of old medicine, finding out how our ancestors understood nature and how they kept their health. You will hike out to the mountains in search of local wild edible plants, will return to find out how to turn them into healthy gourmet dishes and you will learn about the history of our nutrition and how it all evolved.

Participate to the 14th International Festival for Young Theatre in Kultruzentrum Schlachthof (Bremen, Germany) on the theme: WORLDDESIGNS.BREAKOUT

Delayed fundings, big cuts in the culture budget and a lot of people leaving the country for the former colonies. Portugal is one of many countries that have been hit very hard by the financial crisis. How do they cope with the hard times and is there still hope? Ada Arduini (Interzona, Italy) and Project Manager Maja Lindquist went to Lisbon, to take the temperature of the independent culture scene and see what’s still cooking in the very southwest corner of Europe.

In December, Carl Stenqvist and Linus Lindgren, 24 years old, had the chance to fly in Lodz, Poland, to take part in the 220 Volts! project in Fabryka Sztuki. The first one is studying urban planning, the other one communication, and both of them are volunteers in Mejeriet (Lund, Sweden), another TEH centre.

They tell us the story of their Polish week, and the start of this project which gives young volunteers the opportunity to get a professional training on cultural management through very concrete projects. A professional training, indeed, but also a strong personal experience, as it seems.

OZU (Monteleone Sabino, Italy) starts 2013 with a lot of new workshops in the fields they are mostly involved in: food, writing, dance and music.

Attention! It is still possible to have a 15% discount on the improvisation and choreographic composition workshop, Spazi di vita, by applying before the 16th of February.

During the summer 2013, TEH Member DOM La Cupola del Pilastro (Bologna, Italy) and their theatre company Laminarie will go on a trip overland, similar to the one that Constantin Brancusi carried out by foot from Romania to Paris. This journey is part of a theatre project dedicated to the life of the sculptor. Along the way, the group wants to organise four creative stop-over in other cultural organisations.

Are you willing to host a piece of their journey?

Stanica (Zilina, Slovakia) shortens the distance between TEH Members! Their new initiative, the  “Kunstbus”, brings the participants in a one-day trip to another European country.

On the 9th of December, the bus traveled to Vienna, Austria, where the group had the chance to visit WUK, one of the biggest cultural centres in Europe, but also another TEH Member.

Culture Factory Polymer, the old toy factory in Tallinn, Estonia, has a year round international artist residency program. But their residencies are maybe a bit different from what you already know. Ernest Truely, coordinator of these residencies, invites you to a guided tour behind the gigantic walls of the factory, and introduces the specific rules of the building.

Read them carefully! They might save your life.

Did you ever consider spaghetti as a material for an architecture project? This is one of the ideas IZOLYATSIA had in order to prepare children and adults for their IZOLAB, the first digital studio in Ukraine to be opened soon. Through playful workshops, participants started discovering all the possibilities that the digital technology will offer to them in the future.

The performance festival organized in the frame of VIVA Lab Consenza has now come to an end! On the 8th and 9th of December, some of the most important names of the performance scene were gathered in southern Italy, for an event which was organized hand in hand with the local community of the city. Read the full summary of this project in which Trans Europe Halles was an active partner!

Stanica (Zilina, Slovakia) invited the new TEH Member Manifatture Knos (Lecce, Italy) to take part in their Living Under(ground) project, a creative laboratory focused on public space. Manifatture Knos share the same interest in the reuse of public space for cultural purpose and is part of a program to turn abandoned railway stations into creative centres.

Newest TEH Member DOM La Cupola del Pilastro and Laminarie were awarded the UBU Prize in the “special project” category for their activities in Bologna. This prize is one of the most important award for Italian theater and is voted by 54 top art critics of the country.  

The abandoned railway station used by Johan Centrum for its activities in Pilsen has a new address: Johan Centrum’s proposal to rename the bridge where it is located after Ivan Martin Jirous, the symbol of the Czech underground culture, has been accepted by the city. A very good example of the links that the centre managed to build with the local government, which also illustrates the theme of TEH Meeting 77 to be held in Johan Centrum: “Cooperation, not competition”. 

As TEH’s profile continues to grow, its expertise and support is requested
more and more. The latest addition to this process is a partnership with Viva
Performance Lab, an initiative by the city hall of Cosenza, Southern Italy,
to explore ideas around local arts initiatives, international networking and
building a collective approach to Cosenza’s cultural development.

The bottom-up theme of the TEH Meeting 74 in Gothenburg, Sweden really hit the nail on the core competence of Trans Europe Halles. The network is full of people from all over Europe who are influencing local and regional politics through cultural actions and who know what it takes to reconvert an old industrial building and bring it to artistic and communal life.

During September 6th and 7th the BEEznes conference took place in Łódź, Poland. The conference focused on how to develop corporate volunteering in the cultural sector, by establishing a cooperation between arts, culture and the business sector. This experience was documented, please watch the video in TEH TV.

Trans Europe Halles has been quoted as a good example in a report from the Expert Group on Better Access and Wider Participation in Culture, commissioned by the European Union Open Method of Coordination (OMC). Find out more about this report which supports some ideas which independent cultural centres also stand up for.

Jazz Bez is a Polish/Ukrainian music festival with more than ten year tradition in Lublin (Poland) and will be held for the fifth time. Musicians from all over the world will meet and perform.

The second edition of Antic Teatre’s international cultural exchange programme “cav_a” will take place in Rijeka (Croatia). Cav_a is a cultural exchange programme devised to share, understand and create awareness of contemporary creative performing arts practices in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, and in return learn about such practices in each host country is visited.

During TEH Meeting 74 in Gothenburg, Piotr Kuljeu, from Art Siadziba in Minsk, Belarus got a phone call: he learnt that the KGB closed his independent cultural centre before it was even opened and arrested the volunteers working in it. Piotr decided to shorten his stay in the Meeting and flew back to his country. Shortly before he left, we recorded his statement about the situation in Belarus: Watch on TEH TV: http://www.teh.net/tv/

Kultuuritehas Polymer was selected as a partner for the Dimanche Rouge monthly series of performance festivals. This event with 70 artists from 24 countries was staged parallel in Paris and Tallinn on Oct. 19-21. Performance spaces in Estonia were chosen to emphasize an inspiring axis between the independent centre for non institutionalised art Kultuuritehas Polymer and the state art museum KuMu.

Stanica (Žilina, Slovakia) launched a fund-raising campaign to support the construction of a new exhibition space for fine arts in the Neolog Synagog. And they got the support from the best Slovak football team, MŠK Žilina!

No reeducables is a installation by Francisco Ruiz Infante at Off Limits November 19-23rd inspired by Stefano Massini’s “Mujer no reeducable” that was written in 2007 after the murder of Russian Journalist Anna Politkovskaja. The piece is a series of instantaneous of the Chechenia’s war inspired by the journalist chronicles and a reflection about freedom of speech and journalism. After reading Mujer no reeducable, the visual artist Ruiz Infante proposes us a specific tour of sonorous resonances, images and some slogans.

Subtopia is working with the Swedish Documentary film club Doc Lounge and a number of other partners to present a three days film festival called China Dox. The festival is focused on independent Chinese documentaries and will take place in Stockholm 4-6th November, 2012.

In partnership with Videonale, the oldest European biennale of video art, IZOLYATSIA holds an exhibition (October 13 - December 2) of contemporary video art. It consists of works from the 13th Videonale edition which program was selected from 1776 applications received from 76 countries.

Röda Sten Konsthall proudly presents: Vain Attempts – the first comprehensive solo exhibition in Gothenburg by Nathalie Djurberg and Hans Berg, running October 6 through November 25, 2012.

From 9 to 11 November 2012 Culture Action Europe's Conference and General Assembly takes place in Brussels (Belgium) with the aim to develop the capacity to foster sustainable models for lifting Europe out of its crisis. The contribution towards the conference costs can be lifted under certain conditions.

Trans Europe Halles is involved in a new contemporary art project in Cosenza, Italy, which aims at developing the cultural offer of the city and to professionalise the local cultural workers. From the 1st to the 9th of December 2012, 8 emerging artists from different countries will take part in a workshop with Tania Bruguera and Cristiana Perrella. At the end of the week, they will have the chance to participate to a performing festival to be held in the city centre. Hurry up: deadline for application is 5th of November!

Bossless models and slow food when TEH Leaders Lab, TEH:s Cross-European leadership programme within the Engine Room Europe project, visited Interzona in Verona, Italy October 22–23rd. The topic of the public talk held on October 22th, was "Bossless models and situational leadership underlying collective creative process". The workshop was held by Artway of Thinking and was related to the structure of Interzona, who is built entirely on voluntary efforts.

Thinking globally and acting locally has lead to a round table of Estonian independent cultural practises recently in a symposium „The Hand that Feeds You“. Participants worked on relations between initiatives and their donors but also on the definition of legitimacy in the representation of marginal interest groups, listened to researchers' reports on the historical background of citizen initiatives and struggled to put together a proposition about better inclusion of independent practises in the base legislation of culture.

In 12-14 September, former TEH Communication Officer Plamena Slavcheva was invited to talk during the ENCATC conference in London. This event organised under UNESCO’s patronage focused on new creative ideas to improve cultural management and education at a time where the demand for multidisciplinary competences is increasing. Plamena’s presentation introduced the idea of transculturalism as a way to transcend the traditional concept of culture which still implies a separation between “us” and “them”.

Between the 10th and the 16th of September, the first “Creative Strategies of Sustainability” took place in ufaFabrik (Berlin, Germany), in the frame on Engine Room Europe. During one week, the participants coming from 15 European countries had the opportunity to reflect on their professional practices and on how to make them more sustainable. Goals and actions plans were also set up to prepare for the next workshop in one year!

On September 28-29th, 2012 IZOLYATSIA (Donetsk, Ukraine) presents ZVUKOIZOLYATSIA 2: Outside – an audio-visual event, which is a new attempt of a dialogue between avant-garde music and possibilities of cutting-edge visual technologies synthesised in an industrial space.

A message to those who are in for something really different! You probably missed the Culture Factory Polymer Festival this year, but keep your eyes peeled for this longest alternative cultural event in Estonia, traditionally filling 10 long days with an array of art from insane performances to printing workshops for the elderly. Word is spread mouth to mouth and the impressive international programme comes together only days before the festival starts.

Hungry for a taste of Italia? In November, Ozu (Monteleone Sabino, Italy) organises the 2012 edition of olive picking weekends. Join them for three unforgettable days during which you will discover one of the marvelous hidden corners of Italy, and taste the traditional style of life and the genuine food, while discovering the secrets of their green gold: extra virgin olive oil.

International electronic music and mixed media festival featuring artists from Berlin and Barcelona

And Why John Cage?, produced by Antic Teatre, on tour in Slovakia and the Czech Republic September 27th - October 5th

Antic Teatre and La Central del Circ are looking for artistic project for a creation residence and coproduction.

Tou Scene (Stavanger, Norway) is looking for centers willing to take part in their new European project, “Dancing Cities”. This project will gather twenty performers/artists from four European countries to create a performance dealing with cultural diversity and intercultural tolerance.

freeDimensional, a New York based organisation that advances social justice by hosting activists in art spaces and using cultural resources to strengthen their work, now invites applications for the position of Manager.

La Seconda Luna is a prize-money conceived to publicly acknowledge the value of passion.

From 21st to 23rd of November, the network Banlieue d’Europe organises its 19th meeting in Turin, Italy. During three days, the role of culture faced with the rise of nationalism in Europe will be discussed through workshops, lectures, and an Artistic and Cultural Projects village. The detailed programme will soon be released: keep an eye on their website!

Trans Cultura Foundation (Poland) together with Workshops of Culture (Poland) and partners from Eastern Partnership countries has started the international project dedicated to the building of the new model of culture networking in Eastern Partnership and non – EU countries.

A non-profit initiative, Word Art Collective is curating an art and design exhibition exploring  the theme of European identity. Artists based in Europe are invited to submit their original and digital artwork to the exhibition. The deadline for submission is 14 September 2012.

Great things can be achieved through inspiration and strong will. The founders of Konstepidemin, Robert Jonsvik and Jens Mattiasson, proved this when they took over the former Epidemic Hospital and turned it into Sweden's largest Independent Art Centre.

The old boiler house, which became the Röda Sten Konsthall twenty years ago, has been involved in the urban development of the area where it is situated since its establishment. Involving actively in the very space where the building stands under a huge bridge, The Röda Sten Konsthall is also one of the only spots in Gothenburg where you can actually reach the water. The industrial harbour blocks the way to the river everywhere else in the city.

One of our member centres, Stanica, hosted the Living Underground Workshop and Symposium.

Bojana Piškur, member of the Radical Education Collective and custodian at Modern Gallery Ljubljana, will be participating in the Crossroads East West residence programme in Belgrade from 24 September to 3 October at one of our member centres, the Cultural Centre Rex.

The Bulgarian part of the A-team project was held at Pro Rodopi Art Centre in Bostina between 15 July- 5 August 2012.

We are happy to announce two new residency activities. The Spanish light designer, Laura Murguia and her Slovak guest artists will focus on bringing life and memories back to the deserted Nova Synagoga. And photographer Peter Snadik cannot wait to share his experiences and create new works back in Zilina.

Throughout August, REX is hosting the rehearsals of the play FROGS IN HOT WATER performed by the Spreeagenten theatre company. Premiere of the play is on 18 September at  8 pm. The revivals will be taking place between 19 – 23 September at 8 pm.

"Creative Europe", the European Commission's proposal for its future funding programme for the cultural and creative sectors for the period 2014-2020, proposes an important new focus on audience development in order to foster long-term audiences for European cultural works.

In the frame of European Capital of Culture, NGO Košice 2013 is running an international Artist in Residency programme for emerging artists open to collaboration with local artists.
Deadline for applying: 20th of August

The second edition of the International Clowns Festival took place from the 1st to the 17th of June at Kulturfabrik, Theatre Esch & U4 in The second edition of the International Clowns Festival took place from the 1st to the 17th of June at Kulturfabrik, Theatre Esch & U4 in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.

Do you know any musicians using machines as instruments with connection to Trans Europe Halles? Would you like to play together or work together in any other way?

On July 12th,  there will be a presentation and screening of the documentary "Y yo entonces me llevé un tapón" at Off Limits (Madrid, Spain). The documentary reveals many clues about how "En el balcón vacío" (At the empty balcony) a mythical Spanish movie about the exile, was made.

In June, Stanica (Zilina, Slovakia) organised a Volunteer Day with the aim to involve the local community in Living Under(ground), a programme within Engine Room Europe using creative architecture to explore public spaces. Stanica also offers workshops and artistic residencies until the end of 2013.

Riga, not the first place that springs to mind when you think about an interesting music scene. We beg to differ. Latvia’s capital is booming. The city bursts with music, art and culture. On July 12th, six very different music acts will come to P60 (Amstelveen, The Netherlands) for an evening of high quality Baltic music.

Katharina Trabert, from the Engine Room Europe A-Team project, participated in the conference ”Rural animators- a new profession?” in Crete between June 7-9th. According to Trabert, the artist or cultural worker serves as a rural animator putting his/her skills for potential new sources of income and stronger impacts of his/her work on regional development.

On the 24th of June, Trans Europe Halles sent a protest letter signed by Secretary General Birgitta Persson to the Romanian government and Prime Minister Victor Ponta. The protest letter is one of many letters and strong reactions from all over the world against the emergency bill intended to politically subordinate the Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR) and change its mission.

At the end of June, the founding members of Red TransIbérica (Trans-Iberic Network) met at cultural centre El Hacedor in Burgos, Spain. During the past year, the network has served as a model for the establishment of regional networks of independent cultural centres, and has collaborated with Trans Europe Halles throughout the process.

On the 5–8th of June, the TEH Coordination Office attended the Next Step EU conference in Herning, Denmark, about the new European programme for culture: Creative Europe. It was also an occasion to meet again with the Nordic Advocacy Group to talk about the concrete initiatives that the participants had developed to advocate for independent culture since the end of January. A lot of ideas came up.

The A-Team has been very active this past month!  On the 1st of June, Wilfried Agricola de Cologne presented his final project at NOASS (Riga, Latvia) while UK-based artist Alexia Mellor opened her Unicorn Union in Fengersfors (Sweden) in collaboration with Not Quite.

Göteborg Art Sounds (GAS) is the largest festival in Sweden for art sounds, modern composition, improvisation and electronica. On the 1-3rd June, Röda Sten Art Centre (Göteborg, Sweden) will host the festival's sound installation Nomos II by Gianandrea Gazzola and the concerts by Roberto Dani, Sidsel Endrese and Philip Jeck.

During some warm spring days 10-13th of May, TEH Meeting 73 was held at Tabačka Kulturfabrik, Košice, Slovakia. More than 100 cultural workers, artists and researchers attended the meeting and had the chance to explore the theme of Overcoming Borders. TEH would like to thank everyone who participated in the meeting and contributed to its success! Special thanks to the Tabačka team for the great hosting and organization!

During the TEH General Assembly at TEH Meeting 73 in Košice, Slovakia, Antic Teatre (Barcelona, Spain) and Haceria Artes Escénicas (Bilbao, Basque Country) became TEH Members. Antic Teatre is an independent cultural and social centre for multidisciplinary arts, based in a cultural heritage building constructed in 1950 in central Barcelona. Similarly, Haceria Aretoa works with restored industrial buildings. Haceria is a multifunctional space which functions as a platform for anyone wanting to “make” (“hacer”) and exhibit his artwork.

The Engine Room Europe programme A-Team tackles community issues through creative action. Four artists have been selected to realise four creative processes in partnership with culture centres in Bulgaria, Latvia, Slovenia and Sweden from May till July 2012. The German artist Agricola de Cologne is already working at NOASS (Riga, Latvia) on the theme of tolerance towards minorities in local communities. Follow A-Team´s blog to know more about the project developments!

Within the framework of the Engine Room Europe programme Leaders Lab, Mains d'Œuvres (Saint-Ouen, France) invites you to take part in a workshop on group dynamics and collective decision making on 4th June. This workshop is dedicated to leaders of artistic and cultural structures that wonder how to create a dynamic that allows everyone to contribute to the collective decisions when it is necessary. Find out more at the website of Mains D'Oeuvres!

As part of the Engine Room Europe Programme Living Under(ground), Stanica (Žilina, Slovakia) has opened a call for participation in a workshop on the creation of cultural venues. During the workshop different speakers from Trans Europe Halles will share their experience in cultural centre creation and will discuss the different ways to deal with the subject of architecture of cultural centres, low-cost building possibilities (but not only) and public spaces in which the cultural centre operates. The deadline for applications is on 15th June! To apply click here.

The "International Contemporary and Video Art Festival WATERPIECES", hosted by NOASS (Riga, Latvia), promotes audiovisual arts events in the Baltic countries for 12 years now, representing the fresh material in moving image art. Artists from Latvia, Lithuania or Estonia are invited to submit their film work by 31st June! Follow the link below to learn more about the participation criteria and procedure.

From 12 July until 25 August 2012, Izolyatsia (Donetsk, Ukraine) will hold its third annual artists-in-residence program. The centre is now accepting proposals from artists wanting to explore the notion of moving image via the prism of a determined research theme. Artists working in all media (including performance and text) are welcome to apply. The deadline is on 8th June 2012.

On 31st December 2012, the last night of the year, Interzona (Verona, Italy) will turn twenty and for this reason the centre is planning to show and tell what is going on throughout one year inside the walls of Interzona's Warehouse 22. One year in the life of Interzona could be the working title of this project for the 20th anniversary of the cultural association.

From 7th June till 13th July, Off Limits (Madrid, Spain) will host the exhibition NO Projected Above the Pope by Santiago Sierra and Julius von Bismarck. The artists projected the word NO above the Pope during several of his appearances at World Youth Day in Madrid, 2011. Here, the technique is used to project the message “NO”, which will appear, inevitably and involuntarily, on the films and photos taken by others.

Born out of chance and necessity, TEH Friend Creative Center Carnation (Tartu, Estonia) has the unique capacity to produce and sell the TEH Tartuensis series of sustainable and elegant notebooks that you can now order here. Also special about this offer is that TEH Members get a 25% discount on orders for notebooks. Support your struggling TEH Friend Creative Center Carnation with this unique opportunity! Find out more at the Tartuensis website!

TEH Friend centre Workshops of Culture (Lublin, Poland), together with a team of representatives of the Programme Council, working groups and Congress organizers has participated in elaborating and publishing of the Recommendations from the first Eastern Partnership Culture Congress, held in Lublin, 21 – 23 October 2011.

14 days before all EU Ministers for Culture gather to discuss the proposal for the next EU Culture Programme 'Creative Europe' 2014-2020, the TEH Office invited Culture Action Europe's new Secretary General, Luca Bergamo, for an interview to share his views on what needs to be done to act for culture in Europe. Follow the link to read the interview.

Today, Trans Europe Halles call on all TEH Members, Friends and Ambassadors to support the next EU Culture programme 'Creative Europe' 2014-2020 and to put pressure on their politicians by sending them the statement on Creative Europe (elaborated by Culture Action Europe after input from us and all members) BEFORE 10th May when all EU Ministers of Culture will discuss the proposal for the next culture programme.

Today, the TEH Coordination Office received the sad news that TEH Member L'Avant Rue (Paris, France) is running the risk of imminent closure due to withdrawal of part of its funding. As a compensation the centre will only receive limited funding for specific residency projects. L'Avant Rue is therefore calling for international support. Help by signing the online petition for L'Avant Rue!

The theme of TEH Meeting 73 Overcoming Borders to Independent Cultural Development will introduce the unique geopolitical position of Tabačka and Košice that lie close to three borders and will put a spotlight on independent culture in Slovakia, Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus. Keep on reading to learn more about the meeting's programme and about Košice's multicultural and multilingual identity.

In partnership with Arts Network Asia and Trans Europe Halles, Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) is supporting new artistic and networking collaborations in the framework of the Creative Encounters: Cultural Partnerships between Asia and Europe 2012-2013 programme. Deadline for the submission of proposals will be extended from 30 June 2012 to 31 July 2012. Successful applicants will be informed by 31 October 2012.

If you have experience in volunteering at a cultural organisation, wish to work in the cultural sector in the future and would like to meet like-minded people from all over Europe, participate in professional training and learn how to run cultural projects (both in theory and in practice). Take part in the international Engine Room Europe programme 220Volt! and apply for a training at Fabryka Sztuki (Łódź, Poland). The deadline is on 15th June 2012!

Staff exchanges are taking place across Europe already! Deadline for the next application round is 25th May 2012. Before the TEH Meeting 73 at Tabacka, please make sure your centre has submitted a hosting form (at the bottom of this page) and discuss with your staff if there is anyone within your organization who would like to take part in an exchange. Staff Exchange programme is open to TEH Members only. Don't miss this opportunity to learn and exchange with your fellow Trans Europe Hallers!

Engine Room Europe programme Living Under(ground) attracts new audiences via the public Pecha Kucha Night (PKN) presentations at Stanica (Žilina, Slovakia), starting on the 22nd of June 2012. The event will stage the most creative architecture, design and public space projects and inventive solutions. If you have a suggestion for a great low-fi architectural project to be presented let us know! Between April 30th and May 6th, Stanica will also host a workshop on alternative architecture.

In April 2012 Prac (Bostina, Bulgaria) toured Slovakia with the Bulgarian-Slovak Physical Theatre Project Ball. Prac presented it in Stanica (Žilina, Slovakia) and Tabačka (Košice, Slovakia). In Stanica, the performance was also shot as a videoproject. Ball is a production by Petar Todorov with participation with one of the best Bulgarian and Slovak performers Desislava Mincheva and Jaro Vinarsky. It is a project about the relationship between people and the planet Earth.

The first exhibition at Izolyatsia’s new space MEDPUNKT, entitled Gender in IZOLYATSIA: Seams of Patriarchy and Identity Tailoring will run from 20th April until 8th July. The exhibition is dedicated to the problematics of gender in the Ukrainian context. Avoiding an unreflected enumeration of possible Ukrainian gender stereotypes, the exhibition strives to uncover social and psychological mechanisms of gender construction.

In partnership with the Tartu Artist in Residency (AiR) program, Creative Centre Carnation (Tartu, Estonia) invites artists from a variety of disciplines to apply for residencies in centres across the city of Tartu, Estonia. Applications can be made via the Tartu AiR webpage.

An effective way of reducing the energy consumption is changing the traditional fluorescent lamps to LED lamps. Kaapelitehdas (Helsinki, Finland) have now changed 500 of them. In comparison - the LED lamp needs no ballast and consumes only 22 watts of power. And it's at least 5 times more durable than the traditional fluorescent lamp.

Within the frame of Crossroads East-West and as the part of the project Think about others – think about yourself, supported by Ministry for Human and Minority Rights, Public Administration and Local Self Government, Cultural Centre REX (Belgrade, Serbia) will invite artists, theoreticians, curators, activists and cultural institutions representatives from Belgrade to discuss the art work Gypsies and Dogs by Zoran Todorović. According to some Roma organizations and activists, the work was produced through obvious violation of children’s rights. The debate will be held on April 27th at REX.

Living Underground is a creative laboratory focused on the use of public and cultural space. There will be several residencies between April - November 2012 and two workshops between June - November 2012 at Stanica (Žilina, Slovakia). The aim of the activities is to introduce different approaches to set up (build or renovate) a cultural venue with low-cost building opportunities. The deadlines for participation will be announced soon!

From March 23rd until April 1st, 2012, Röda Sten Art Centre (Göteborg, Sweden) invites you to a group exhibition by young curators from Göteborg, Sweden. Shortly after, between april 14th and May 6th, 2012, the centre will host an exhibition commemorating the 30 year anniversary of education and research in photography.

Beat Initiative (Belfast, UK) organised once again the colorful Belfast's St Patrick's Day Parade which took place on March 17th at Beat Carnival Centre. The event counted with artists working on the floats and costumes and teams working with youth groups and community centres to prepare their participation. Unfortunately, this could be the last event of this type in Belfast as Beat Initiative does not count with the support of the City Council anymore.

On April 20th, 2012, Izolyatsia (Donetsk, Ukraine) opens a new exhibition space MEDPUNKT which will serve as an experimental curatorial platform for young Ukrainian artists. The initiative is the result of the centre's continuous effort to reinhabit the industrial structures of a former insulation materials factory by gradually integrating them into the art-centre’s cultural space.

Kulturfabrik (Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg) has recently devoted itself to reflecting on sustainable development and a continuous improvement of its own practices for minimising its impact on the environment. As a result the centre has developed an Environmental Charter which aims at becoming a global and coherent programme beyond sporadic and disparate activities.

The Opening Concert of VII In-Sonora Festival will be held at Off Limits (Madrid, Spain) from May 24th to April, 11th, 2012. After 7 years evolving as a reference in the field of Sound and Interactive Art, the seventh edition of the festival brings a lot of innovative proposals related to sound art.

Stanica (Žilina, Slovakia) and Tabačka (Košice, Slovakia) together with two other cultural centres in Slovakia started to use recyclable plastic cups, which are washable and can be used permanently. This idea prevents the creation of unrecyclable plastic waste that is usually produced during festivals or other crowded events. Why not follow this example at your centre?

Circus Arts is a circus production company active in Subtopia (Stockholm, Sweden). Their fire circus production The Burnt Out Punks have been touring Europe since 2006, playing for more than 250 000 people in 8 countries leaving blown away audiences behind with their unique mixture of theatre, circus and street art.

Núria Güell, artist in residency at Off Limits (Madrid, Spain), presents her project Aplicación Legal Desplaçada #3: F.I.E.S. For the project, she issued an open call to prisoners subjected to the F.I.E.S. regime (Inmates under Special Observation), inviting them to write a poem, a short story or to make a drawing to illustrate the institutional torture to which they are being subjected. 

On March 3rd, 2012, Bakelit Multi Art Center organises a whole day full of music, dance, theatre, film and open discussions raising attention to music censorship and artist discrimination. The centre will highlight gentle and loveable ways of intercontinental cooperations from Africa to Transylvania. 

On March 3rd, 2012, Konstepidemin (Göteborg, Sweden) will host Jag var på besök i världen (I Visited the World) - singing string quartet Stråf meets the composer Stefan Forssén from Göteborg, Sweden and the Estonian National Poet Doris Kareva. This poetic concert will offer an experience somewhere in the space between jazz, folk and contemporary music. 

Between January 29th and February 29th, 2012, the Platform for Cultural Initiatives IZOLYATSIA (Donetsk, Ukraine) presented 30 works of international artists submitted to the International Triennial of Ecological Posters, The 4th Block, which has been held in Kharkiv, Ukraine since 1991.

In February 2012, TEH Secretary General Birgitta Persson, wrote a letter to the Swedish Minister of Culture to express the network's position on the new 'Creative Europe' Programme by the European Commission. In this letter, TEH also made a statement in support of the we are more campaign.

As a result, the meeting participants agreed on a letter of recommendation that will be sent to several politicians from Germany and Brussels. The message consists of an ongoing support of smaller initiatives, non-profit orientated projects, networks, separated budget lines for creative industries, culture and arts. 

The Staff Exchange Programme is part of Engine Room Europe Project (2011-2014), initiated by Trans Europe Halles. Its aim is to create mobility opportunities for cultural workers and to exchange knowledge through practice-based learning at another TEH Member centre. Laura Gabrielaityte, the international programme coordinator of Arts Printing House (Vilnius, Lithuania) is the first Staff Exchangees who was sent to Subtopia (Stockholm, Sweden) for a period of two weeks in February 2012. To learn more about her first impressions, we invited her for an interview. 

Do you want to participate in the mapping of the processes and projects of intercultural dialogue? Crossroads East West (Belgrade, Serbia) searches for a variety of contributions from different countries in Europe. To find out more about the project, read the interview with its coordinator Nebojša Milikić.

Within the framework of the Engine Room Europe project, the International Cultural Centre ufaFabrik (Berlin, Germany) organises a week of seminar, 10-15th of September 2012 in Berlin, Germany. The theme of the seminar is Creative Strategies of Sustainability for artistic and cultural centres in Europe. 

Trans Europe Halles, a European Network of Independent Cultural Centres, has received a €59.000 Annual Operating Grant from the EC Culture Programme for 2012 (Culture Programme 2007–2013, Strand 2). We are delighted about the fact that this is the largest annual grant ever received by Trans Europe Halles (TEH) from the European Commission, and that TEH scored 91 out of a possible 100 points.

As part of the Engine Room Europe programme European Artist Residencies (EAR), Culture and Arts Projects NOASS (Riga, Latvia) invites visual artists to offer their ideas for the creation of art works in an urban environment. NOASS is looking for artists from all TEH Member centres and Friend organisations are invited to join the project. One of the artistic elements that should be used is water. The deadline for proposals is now extended until 31st May 2012!

As part of the three-year European project Engine Room Europe, A-Team - Artists for Change will realise four creative processes in Sweden, Bulgaria, Latvia and Slovenia, teaming up artists, cultural managers and local mediators who will deal with local community issues. For this project, A-Team searches for artists working in any medium affiliated with TEH Member centres or Friend organisations who enjoy process, research and community-based work and interactive dialogue.

ufaFabrik (Berlin, Germany) presents Music Freedom Day 2012 under the title Hatua kwa Hatua (Step by Step). It will be held on Saturday, 3rd of March, 2012 at 20:00h. An evening will be dedicated to the artists and members of the Cambodian cultural centre Phare Ponleu Selpak (PPS), meaning “The Brightness of Art”.

From February 11th till March 18th, 2012 Röda Sten Art Centre (Göteborg, Sweden) will exhibit a selection of artistic proposals within the Platform #2 - On Notions of Space and Inherent Power Relations. Among the projects that will be presented are Obstruction, an installation by Gustav Hellberg, and Without/Within, a site specific performance by Flytande Galleriet.

The exhibition Permission for the Revolution (Attitudes toward weak censorships and their modes of operation) explores and debates about new forms of resistance by citizens in societies that call themselves or are nominated as democratic. The inauguration will be held at Off Limits (Madrid, Spain) on February 18th and the exposition will be available till March 16th, 2012. 

Sagra delle words (A Festival of Words) is a residential creative writing course which aims to challenge, inspire and transform your writing. The course will be led by Sheree Mack between 3-10th of June, 2012 and will be hosted by OZU (Monteleone, Sabina, Italy).

On December 10th, 2011, Izolyatsia (Donetsk, Ukraine) hosted the photographer Alexander Chekmenev (Kiev, Ukraine) who presented to the Donetsk audience his newly published monograph on life in Donbass. The photos were followed by explanations of the images’ origin and principle of choice. Alexander described the portrayed people, their work, struggle and way of living. 

The cultural centres Z-Bau (Nürnberg,Germany) and A4 - Zero Space (Bratislava, Slovakia), both TEH Members, got recently deprived from their venues. First, Kulturzentrum Z-Bau (Nürnberg,Germany) had to close in October 2011 after the City Council of Nürnberg took over the management of the centre’s building. Z-Bau’s team informed us about the details in a farewell letter which you can read here. In less than a month later, we received similar alarming news from A4 - Zero Space (Slovakia, Bratislava). After a selection procedure for a new manager of the venue, A4 was not elected to stay in the building. For this reason, tomorrow (December 22nd, 2011) there will be demonstrations in front of the Slovakian Ministry of Culture in Bratislava.

SPACES is a project, financed by the European Commission, in which TEH takes part as an associate partner, represented by TEH Ambassador Annette Wolfsberger. The project assembles artists and cultural workers in four Eastern partner countries, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, who aim at reflecting societal issues in the public realm of their city. It will take place from December 2011 to December 2013. To learn more about the project, TEH invited its project manager Ina Ivanceanu for an interview.

The Stockholm conference on the 9th of December was organised by Intercult (Stockholm, Sweden), Riksteatern and the European Commission (Sweden) and  presented prominent speakers such as the Culture Minister of Sweden Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth and Vladimír Šucha, Director of the Directorate-General for Education and Culture in the European Commission. 

During the past month, TEH was represented in Europe and the wider world by TEH Embassadors and the TEH Coordination Office. All four events were different in their scope and thematic although they all emphasized the importance of culture on both local and global level. To share the experience with you, we gathered the impressions that we received from the TEH representatives that were sent to present the network.

How to Disappear in Europe? is a project that brings 27 young European photographers, one from each EU-Member State, to portray an illegal person from their country as a hero. The project is organized in partnership with Melkweg (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) which will present the project´s three months long exhibition at the Melkweg Gallery. The project is currently looking for more European partners among other TEH Members.

The indie festival Mo'Fo’12 is celebrating 10 years of life and independence between 27-29 January 2012 in Mains d'Œuvres (Paris, France). It consists of 3 days of pop, folk, rock, experimental and electro, with more than 20 concerts, showcases, merchandising, public youth workshops, a re-broadcasting of the concerts on a giant screen, restaurant and bar. Mains d'Œuvres was also the host of a Latvian video art screening showed the recent tendencies of Latvian video art. It took place on Friday, November 25th, 2011 and was organized by Inga Lace from Latvia who is currently in EVS Volunteer at Mains d'Œuvres.

On December 11th, 2011, the photographer Aleksander Chekmenev (Kiev, Ukraine) presented at IZOLYATSIA his recently published monograph Donbass, which depicts the lives of coal-miners who work in illegal mines.

For reliable information on the Belarusian cultural reality.

On the October 6th, the European Commission published its proposals for the next generation of the EU Cohesion Policy 2014-2020. The documents cover proposals for Culture Action Europe’s campaign objective on the so-called structural funds, which account for around 35% of the EU budget and which have played a significant role in funding cultural projects in the past and current budget rounds.

Together with its neighbours and friends, Izolyatsia (Donetsk, Ukraine) is developing the Donetsk City Guide for a Japanese Hipster. 

Swedish artists are hereby invited to submit proposals for the Spanish/Swedish collaboration 6 EUROS/100 SEK budget Artistic Practices and Precariousness. Deadline 31st December.

Results of a national survey on programming and audience in The Netherlands

As a member of ICARJ, TEH supports the network in its effort to contribute to the cross-integration of arts, human rights, social justice and development agendas.

A few words on the basics of crowd source funding by Auro Foxcroft, Village Underground (London, UK). Village Underground has used crowd source funding for their public art project The Wall.

Off Limits turns to TEH to help spreading the news about their first collaborative exhibition abroad “6 EUROS/100 SEK BUDGET” Artistic practices and precariousness.

An EVS success story by Stanica (Zilina, Slovakia) & REX (Belgrade, Serbia). Anna Bardyova was sent by Stanica to REX and now she is organising events, presenting other foreign volunteers to Belgrade and REX. With great success she is attracting large audiences and has even the caught the attention of the Serbian media! 

The Wall will be London’s most public gallery.

TEH proudly present its brand new Spanish member Off Limits (Madrid, Spain). Off Limits was unanimously accepted as the 52nd member at the General Assembly in Meeting 72 in Bordeaux, France

The European Union is currently deciding on its framework budget for the period 2014-2020 through a long and complex negotiation process that began in 2010.

On November 9–10th, the participants of Leaders Lab, TEH:s Cross-European leadership training programme within the Engine Room Europe project, met at La Casa Invisible in Malaga, Spain. 

On Sunday, 9th October 2011 the biggest industrial area of the art-center  Izolyatsia (Platform for Cultural Initiatives) hosted more than 160 visitors who came to take part in the discussion on civil society development and opportunities that personal and institutional initiatives could bring to change the urban space.

Cultural centre REX invites you to MICROCULTURES - Creative Ways of Storing Food for Winter Week  (No Preservatives Added)! From 13 till 19 October in the Kalenić open-air market in Belgrade and from 21 - 27 October in the open-air market in Leskovac, Serbia.

The volunteer project by Laznia Nowa welcomes the first meeting with partners and trainers which takes place in Krakow from 12th till 15th October.

Also this year OZU cultural centre (Monteleone Sabino, Itlay) will make its small-scale production of extra virgin olive oil, with the aim of bringing attention to Sabina region, its cultures and traditions. You can take part in the process in November 4-7 and 18-21, 2011. There are a few places still available!

The Cultural Department of the Basque Government has initiated a series of grants and events to support cultural operators, organisations and artists to set up creative spaces in the Basque country. Around 160 people active in the field gathered on 13th October 2011 and spent the day together to talk about the results of this initiative so far and also to discuss if and how to organise themselves as a regional network.

The "Five in One" initiative is an international art project of the Bakelit Multi Art Center which aims to get Czech, Slovak, Polish and Hungarian prosaic and visual artists together for common thinking and working and creating a valuable, high standard show. The premiere will be at Bakelit MAC on 24-25-26th October 2011.

As part of TEH:s three-year network project Engine Room Europe, Stanica (Zilina, Slovakia) hosted a creative laboratory focused on public and cultural space in August 2011. Living (under)Ground includes four month-long projects in residency, with the aim to analyse and improve the architecture and landscape surrounding cultural centre Stanica.

September 25th 2011 is the day for the premiere of the show Chouf Ouchouf in Hangaren by Subtopia situated in Botkyrka, Sweden. Chouf Ouchouf is a performance about challenges in life told with breath taking acrobatics, endearment and joy.

Moving Buildings is an audiovisual festival at P60 (Amstelveen, The Netherlands) with the ambition to close the gap between high and low art. Now you have the chance to participate! Submission deadline is October 10th.

TEH was well represented at Cor Schlösser’s retirement party at Melkweg (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) on September 8th 2011. No less that four Ambassadors were in attendance (Philippe Grombeer, Paul Bogen, Annette Wolfsberger and Sandy Fitzgerald).

On September 15th–16th, TNT (Bordeaux, France) turned into Tabačka Kulturfabrik! Artists, DJ's, performers and staff from Tabačka (Košice, Slovakia) invaded TNT for two days of Slovak culture, food and prices...

TEH interns Plamena Slavcheva and Edith Salminen took part in the panel debate with international speakers to discuss how cultural organisations today engage with their audiences and stakeholders. Mia Christersdotter Norman from Röda Sten (Göteborg, Sweden) and Jouko Astor from Verkatehdas (Hämeenlinna, Finland) took part in the panel. The debate was organised in partnership between link2 and Trans Europe Halles for Kulturnatten (Night of Culture) in Lund.

On 27–30th July, the Baltic holiday resort of Sopot played host to the international conference "Więcej Kultury - We Are More". Inspired by the Culture Action Europe campaign of the same name, this conference provided an opportunity for over 180 delegates to engage with experts, debate, and workshop on the content of the next EU Cultural Programme 2014-2020.

The second Congress of European Production Centers and Platforms, PLATFORMS 2011, held in 2010 within the framework of the EUROPES Festival, took place between 12–14th July 2011 in the auditorium of the Espai Cultural Caja Madrid in Barcelona. TEH Ambassador Sandy Fitzgerald was invited to speak at the congress.

As part of TEH:s three-year network project Engine Room Europe, REX/Fund B92 (Belgrade, Serbia) presented the launch of Intercultural Dialogue programme Crossroads East West with two debates on June 26th and 27th. These debates centred on 'Working Conditions for Cultural Workers' with invited guests from Spain, Slovenia and Serbia.

Link², Innovator for Culture & Creativity in Lund, Sweden, is offering the chance for two cultural operators working in the realm of Neighbourhood and Community Arts to travel to Bordeaux and attend TEH Meeting 72, 27–30th October 2011.

Stanica reports a successful year of co-operation and exchange of European youth volunteers through the EVS (European Voluntary Service) programme. Besides hosting and sending a number of young volunteers, Stanica also attended the European Youth Week in Antwerp, Belgium.

The 11th International Contemporary and Video Art Festival WATERPIECES 2011 will take place between 8–10th September 2011 at Floating Art Gallery NOASS and BETANOVUSS (Riga, Latvia).

Mains d’Œuvres (St Ouen, France) invites you to Open Atelier #1 with CRASlab on September 10th. Experience art and technology in a new mix!

Eija Hirvonen from Ars Häme/Verkatehdas (Hämeenlinna, Finland) reports from the Edinburgh Art Festival in August 2011, where Finnish/British collaboration project Wasp Factories took form.

In September 2011, PRAC (Bostina, Bulgaria) and ufaFabrik (Berlin, Germany) will cooperate for the first time with the support of Goethe Institut-Sofia.

Subtopia's 2 300 sqm large film and television studio “Hangaren in Subtopia” is currently used by many major film and television productions. Most recently, Swedish television SVT and its production of "Helt Magiskt" is being recorded in front of a live studio audience.

TEH Meeting 72, "Neighbourhood/Voisinage", will take place at TNT in Bordeaux, France, on 27–30th October. Register now - deadline is 15th September!

In July, Art Container from Culture Factory Polymer (Tallinn, Estonia) came to organise the 18th Global Art Container event at Not Quite (Fengersfors, Sweden).

Summer is the time for concerts and festivals in Suvilahti, the sister centre of Kaapelitehdas (Helsinki, Finland). This summer was kicked off with a free-of-charge concert with Finnish pop acts on the Helsinki Day,  June 12th. Almost 30.000 people visited Suvilahti during the warm Sunday.

Lublin will host an Eastern Partnership Culture Congress between 21st-23rd October. The Congress will be the first event of its kind in Poland and it is a part of a wider project entitled “Eastern partnership as a cultural product”, which is run by Lublin City Office in cooperation with The Centre for Culture in Lublin and Foundation Trans Culture.

Pekarna Magdalenske Mreže has, in collaboration with MKC Maribor and Maribor 2012, established the new Maribor residency platform – Maribor GuestRoom.

From June 3rd-5th, a meeting to constitute the Network of Independent Cultural Centers of Spain and Portugal took place in Espacio Tangente in Burgos, Spain. 19 centers participated in the encounter, together with TEH Ambassador Xavi Pérez and member of Culturaindependiente.com, José Luís Rodríguez.

The latest addition to the creative hub Subtopia is RättBuss (The Right Bus). A company in form of a large bus that houses bus-clubbing, concerts, art exhibitions and more. RättBuss is "simply the mobile house of culture we all need and always longed for". Look out for the bus in your city this summer!

ZvukoIZOLYATSIA is an experimental audio-visual project created in a dialogue with the space of the former insulation materials plant in Donetsk, Ukraine.

Pro Rodopi Art Centre (PRAC) from Bostina, Bulgaria starts a collaborative project with newly established independent cultural centre "Zahrada" ("Garden") from Banska Bystrica, Slovakia.

In July 2011 Łaźnia Nowa begins with a volunteer project called “Design and implementation of a training programme for volunteers in culture management based on the experience of the members of the Trans Europe Halles network.”

"(Dis)assembled" by STEALTH.unlimited is a project and an exhibition on different ways to imagine the city. Until August 21st, visitors can watch and join in the constructions growing in the yard next to Röda Sten.

"How to give me Utopia" is part of the Engine Room Europe project Building Bridges managed by Mains d’Œuvres (St Ouen, France), working with high school students to develop ideas for the city's development.

Creative Encounters is a new initiative that aims to support collaborative artistic projects in the framework of the Asia-Europe dialogue. Trans Europe Halles is one of the partners promoting this initiative for projects taking place between November 2011 and November 2012.

On May 10-13th, Auro Foxcroft from the TEH Executive Committee attended the network meeting of Red de Centros Culturales de América y Europa (RCCAE) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The theme of the meeting was "Cultural Centres: Information and Communication Technologies".

P60 (Amstelveen, The Netherlands) is looking for partners for the 5th edition of the visual art project Moving Buildings, 10-19th November 2011.

Experience dance, theatre and performance in 4000 square metres at Mains d’Œuvres (St Ouen, France), 17th-19th June 2011. 10 short works, 10 inspirations, 10 ways of breathing the world!

Inspired by Wim Delvoye's witty remark 'Better being a virus than catching a cold', this exhibition, which opened on May 24th, examines alternative methods functioning as strategies of resistance in today's society.

»(Dis)assembled« is a project by STEALTH.unlimited taking place at Röda Sten (Göteborg, Sweden) between 11th June - 21st August 2011. The exhibition is an effort to reclaim imagination in shaping the city around us.

The Ser’p’art Company organises a meeting on Street Arts and Social Art in Capestang, France, 5th-12th June 2011. The seminar will gather around 40 artists from different countries, and includes a round-table talk with TEH Friend organisation ARTfactories/Autre(s)pARTs.

The cultural association and TEH Friend organisation Mecklenburg Inspires invites artists and creatives from all disciplines to stay and work inspired by the beautiful region of the German Riviera (German Baltic Sea).

Izolyatsia in Donetsk, Ukraine and Bakelit, Budapest, Hungary join Trans Europe Halles.

Open call for participants to multidisciplinary workshop at OZU (Monteleone Sabino, Italy) on August 4-6th 2011.

Link up, promote your work and keep up to date with the sector.

Indulge in new perspectives during the interactive lecture Evolving Leadership, mingle with the leaders of 13 independent cultural centres from across Europe and find out what Trans Europe Halles and Lund's new project link2 is all about.

TEH is happy and proud to announce that our new network project Engine Room Europe has been awarded a €960.000 grant from the European Commission’s Culture Programme. Engine Room Europe is a three-year project focused on independent cultural workers and their creative processes. The main objective of the project is to increase the capacity and sustainability of independent culture in Europe.

Influenced by Isaac Newton and his apple, the French countryside and the suburbs of Stockholm, Vifira throw themselves into their most conceptual piece yet.

Marko Brumen from TEH member centre Pekarna Magdalenske Mreže (Maribor, Slovenia) recently participated in the workshop "Making Places for the Arts" in Istanbul. Read Marko's report from the workshop below!

TEH member Beat Initiative in Belfast has recently received news that its grant for The Belfast City Carnival, organised by The Beat for the past 18 years, has been awarded to a commercial events company for 2011. The Beat urgently needs the support of colleagues and friends worldwide.

On March 19th it was three months since the crackdown on opposition protesters in Minsk, Belarus. Many of the protesters are still imprisoned and facing many years in jail. TEH dedicated the day to the Free Belarus Now campaign through events at several member centres around Europe.

In 2011 Poland will start its presidency of the European Council of the EU, which will be associated with a series of artistic events. One of the events happening in Lublin and belonging to the national cultural programme will be a programme of artistic residences called "MINDWARE. Technologies of Dialogue."

Throughout 2010 the identification, cooperation and internationalisation project www.culturaindependiente.com took place in Spain. The project was realised in collaboration with Trans Europe Halles, the international platform Artfactories and a partial funding from the Spanish Agency of International Cooperation for Development.

This summer cultural centre Watershed in Bristol (UK) will host a Digital Storytelling workshop for older learners (50+) with little or no experience of digital media as part of the Grundtvig learners programme. The workshop will take place from Monday 6th - Friday 10th June 2011 and focuses on the topic of love.

Changing Room - Mobility of Non-Artistic Cultural Professionals in Europe is a first-of-its-kind research study by the Sibelius Academy examining mobility issues of the “backstage staff” of European culture within the Trans Europe Halles project CHANGING ROOM.

we are more, the Europe-wide arts advocacy campaign set up by Culture Action Europe, has now launched its manifesto online. With the manifesto, we who value and shape contemporary European cultures call on national governments and European decision-makers to strengthen the recognition of the role of arts and culture in the development of European societies by increasing the support to culture in the next EU budget.

Birgitta Persson, Secretary General of TEH, was invited to present the CHANGING ROOM project at the Culture in Motion conference in Brussels, Belgium on 15 – 16th February together with other projects grantees mostly from the Culture Programme. There was a lot of interest for CHANGING ROOM from other participants, especially the MatchMaker, which is now open source and open to everyone.

On February 13 – 16th, Marian Söderholm from the TEH Office participated in the second edition of To Culture With Love. Management workshop in Potsdam, Germany. TCWLM is an international workshop for European young professionals and students working in the field of arts and culture.

ufaFabrik (Berlin, Germany), REX (Belgrade, Serbia) and Konstepidemin (Göteborg, Sweden) are three of the TEH member centres who will participate in this year's Music Freedom Day on March 3rd. UfaFabrik offer an evening of music, film, readings and talks, all focusing on the history and contemporary life in Cambodia.

This year, OZU (Monteleone Sabino, Italy) will host the Milòn Méla Source's Research Workshop between 30th June – 9th July.

TEH are concerned to hear about the assassination of Guatemalan artist Victor Leiva on February 2nd. There are around 3000 crimes against artists, cultural actors and spiritual leaders in Guatemala yearly.

On 4 -11th February, REX (Belgrade, Serbia) and Swedish initiative Article One presented an exhibition showing the history and contemporary life of LGBT (lesbian/gay/bisexual/trans-gender) persons. Article 1 of the Declaration of Human Rights provides the basis for the exhibition with the same name.

Disturbing the Public Opinion: Art, Culture and Action - Another Possible Image of Iran is presented at Röda Sten Art Centre (Göteborg, Sweden) between 8th March – 3rd April, 2011. The event encompasses diverse forms of expression such as drawing, painting, performance, theatre, film, video, found and altered objects, action, photography, poetry and more.

Cultural workers and their creative processes in focus in a three-year capacity building project dedicated to the sustainable future of the European independent cultural sector.

13 Nordic TEH delegates interviewed about the role of international networking in a booklet which rounds off the project Trans Nordic Net.

On 3rd March 2011, several TEH centres will participate in the global campaign Music Freedom Day. The day is a celebration of musical freedom of expression, and will present concerts and events happening at the same time all around the world.

Röda Sten is proud to present “Testaments Betrayed” - the first comprehensive solo exhibition of Loulou Cherinet in Sweden. Cherinet's photographic and video based work is rich with references to cinema and documentary filmmaking.

Łaźnia Nowa Theatre (Cracow, Poland) present two premieres within the framework of a project dedicated to Sławomir Mrożek. The two new stage productions – “Mrożek Performance” and  “The Fall of the Eagle’s Nest” (Polish: “Upadek orlego gniazda”) will be shown on 27th-29th January.

Swedish circus, variety and street art are part of a growing movement. Audience interest is increasing and more and more venues and festivals present shows of these art forms.  On the 17th -18th of February 2011, the third edition of Subcase will take place at Subtopia (Botkyrka, Sweden).

Subcase is part of Subtopia’s work for supporting Swedish artists and creating possibilities for Swedish circus, variety and street art to tour in Sweden and around the world.

TEH Members, Friends and invited Guests are now warmly welcome to register for TEH Meeting 71 at Creative Center Carnation in Tartu, Estonia.

In December 2010, A4 (Bratislava, Slovakia) was the scene of the 11th edition of NEXT Festival for Advanced Music.

In November last year Tabacka Kulturfabrik (Kosice, Slovakia) hosted four presentations of centres from Trans Europe Halles. Platform Art is a project focused on propagation of independent cultural centres from around Europe. The project started in 2009 with introductions of centres from four countries: Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia.

TEH Solidarity Fund open for contributions. Get your name on the list now!

Belarus Free Theatre’s Natalya Kolyada released on bail

TEH has decided to start a solidarity fund to support Belarus Free Theatre  to continue their work and fight for freedom and justice in Belarus.

10 paintings selected for this year's exhibition, focusing on Ecology and Culture.

TEH invited to share experiences around independent cultural management.

The Diploma is targeted at cultural managers from public and private organizations who are actively involved in the management of cultural and artistic projects in their region, with at least two years of experience.

Pro Rodopi Art Centre (Bostina, Bulgaria) has started a long term partnership with a building, owned by the municipality of Smolyan, 10 km from the village of Bostina.

On the 17 and 18 of February 2011 Subcase will take place in Subtopia.

TEH Meeting 71 will take place at Creative Center Carnation in Tartu, Estonia, on the 14th - 17th of April 2011.

New concept for low cost, low administration study trips.

For all of you seeking arguments for the support for culture in your region, the "Study on the Contribution of Culture to Local and Regional Development - Evidence from the Structural Funds" published by the EC on the 2nd of October, can be worth a scan. According to the study the cultural sector is one of the fastest growing sectors in Europe.

In January 2010, the conference New Times New Models was held at TEH Member Centre Pekarna Magdalenske Mreze (Maribor, Slovenia). Now the book, entitled ”New Times New Models – Investigating the internal governance models and external relations of independent cultural centres in times of change” has been published and is available online.

As mentioned in TEH Newsletter #7 2010, TEH Delegate Katharina Trabert from OZU (Monteleone Sabino, Italy) joined freeDimensional's Intersecting Networks Meeting, "Creative Resistance" on Wasan Island in Canada this summer. After the meeting, work groups were formed to continue the concrete work initiated during the meeting. The International Coalition for Arts, Human Rights & Social Justice is one of these groups.

TEH Member and pop/culture/media venue P60 (Amstelveen, The Netherlands) presents Moving Buildings in cooperation with its Dutch and international partners. The theme of this 4th edition of Moving Buildings is "Aliens in My Space". Between Thursday 25th of November and Saturday 4th of December, international artists will present their huge moving visuals on the theme. The art works will be projected on the front of P60 in the city centre of Amstelveen.

CASCAS is a European project involving four partners. The purpose is to champion intercultural understanding and provide professionals in the fields of street art and circus the opportunity to explore different cultural contexts. They will share models of good practice, make new connections and challenge accepted wisdom. The project revolves around four partners and countries; TEH Member Subtopia (Stockholm, Sweden), Circus Development Agency (UK), MiraMirO (Belgium) and The Circus Information Center (Finland).

During the period 14th October – 10th November 2010, TEH Member Pro Rodopi Art Centre (Bostina, Bulgaria) toured the United States with Chick with a Trick, an international theatre performance for children and parents, with great success.

TEH Friend Centre LXFactory (Lisbon, Portugal) would like to invite you to be part of a joint European cultural agenda. To let everyone in Lisbon - inhabitants as well as visitors - know what’s going on all through Europe in terms of cultural activities and programmes, LXFactory will reserve one or more walls in their centre to fill up with information of the cultural activities/initiatives happening at your centres.

TEH Friend organisation ARTfactories/Autre(s)pARTs (St Ouen, France), together with VIESÀVIES, invite you for a two-day international meeting with creators within visual arts, literature, theatre and cinema, who haved lived through strong experiences. The meeting, taking place 9th-10th December 2010 in Arras, France, will study French experiences and meet Argentinian artists who are exploring the innovative field of the relationship between audiences, art and society.

Intense, inspiring and important - a few words from the participants' evaluation after the last training workshop within the framework of the CHANGING ROOM mobility pilot project. Between the 27-29th of October people working with community film and media met at Subtopia (Stockholm, Sweden) to share knowledge in the field of process oriented media production, community work through filmmaking and participatory video projects.

Between the 17-19th of November, the Intercult conference Re:Imagining Cultural Space took place at Orionteatern, Stockholm, Sweden. TEH Secretary General Birgitta Persson and TEH Ambassador and CHANGING ROOM Staff Exchange Manager Annette Wolfsberger participated in the panel "Agents of change: Practice despite policy?". TEH Marketing Manager Anna Weitz took part in the Nordic Lab that was held during the last day in her capacity as Trans Nordic Net project Manager.

On October 7th in Brussels, Culture Action Europe launched the Europe-wide arts advocacy campaign we are more.  The TEH Coordination Office was present both for the launch and the conference and General Assembly that followed. As a founding member of Culture Action Europe, TEH intends to work closely with our members and Culture Action Europe to support the campaign.

Does your organisation need a tool for online communication and matchmaking? Are many of your members on Facebook? Then we have good news for you! Following the requests from several cultural associations, TEH has decided to release the open-source code with which the CHANGING ROOM MatchMaker was created. The application is called Facebook4org and it has been developed especially to facilitate online communication inside organisations and networks.

Intercult in collaboration with Culture Action Europe and Orionteatern presents Re:Imagining Cultural Space on 17th - 19th November at Orionteatern, Stockholm, Sweden - an international conference and lab on the policy and practice of flexible art spaces and cultural organisations in Europe.

YEAH! Young EARopean Award is the new European competition for creative minds and musical ideas that arouse their audience’s enthusiasm for music with imaginative and innovative productions.

On 14th – 18th October, TEH Member Interzona (Verona, Italy) was invited to INDEPENDENTS, a section of the ArtVerona Contemporary Art Fair created by Fuoribiennale, where independent cultural centres and non-profit spaces had the chance to show how they work and experiment with contemporary arts.

Röda Sten (Göteborg, Sweden) held a seminar on the 18th of October to present their pilot study on volunteers in the cultural sector, and the recently published report ”Volunteers, commitment and cultural organisations”. Marian Söderholm from the TEH Coordination Office was there.

On the 15th and 16th of October, Łaźnia Nowa Theatre (Cracow, Poland) re-opened after an extensive renovation. The new repertoir is full of exciting performances and premieres.

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