TEH78 Meeting in Plzen “Cooperation, not competition!”
The TEH78 Meeting “Cooperation, not competition!” took place at JOHAN Centrum in Plzen, Czech Republic, on 9-12 October 2014. The meeting’s motto reflected the local context. Until recently, JOHAN Centrum - a TEH member centre and TEH78 Meeting host - had been one of the few independent cultural initiatives in the city. In 2015, Plzen was designated European Capital of Culture, which led to the emergence of more civil society organisations working in the cultural field. The theme emphasised that sustainable cultural development in the city would depend on cooperation rather than competition: both among independent cultural actors and in their relationship with public institutions.
The four-day TEH Meeting in autumn 2014 combined the General Assembly – during which six new TEH members were voted into the network – with eight thematic workshops framed as a training programme for members. The focus was on strengthening organisational capacity, sharing practical tools, and reinforcing collaboration across the network.
The 8 thematic sessions were:
- Dr. Spreadsheet or how to learn to stop worrying and love finance!
- Managing and innovating business models of cultural organisations (University of the Arts London)
- Crowd coaching, sharing knowledge, solving problems, create new ideas (Creative Plot, Lund)
- How to draft, start and run an artist residency (Res Artis)
- Theatre in management, games as a means to team building and conflict resolution
- Art map - mapping of art as a never-ending quest
- Animation as an instrument of contact
- The moving station and the public space: possible transformations of the train yard and its surroundings
The programme addressed both the internal sustainability of cultural organisations and their relationship to public space, communities and artistic production. Financial literacy, business model innovation and alternative income strategies were discussed alongside participatory methods, residency development and spatial transformation.
An Action Lab format within TEH77 Meeting encouraged TEH members to reflect collectively on the sustainable future of the network, particularly in scenarios without EU funding. The lab created space for strategic discussion on long-term resilience and cooperation beyond project-based financing, and discussed:
- TEH membership and the need to be better matched for joint international projects
- core TEH projects, and further possibilities for projects in the intersections of arts and education
- TEH Academy
- TEH Coordination Office, and whether it can run only from TEH memership fees
- new income sources for TEH network
A TEH project outcome presentation was delivered following the completion of the Creative Business Models project. The results were later consolidated in the 2015 publication Creative Business Models research report, providing TEH members with practical insights and case studies for strengthening financial and organisational sustainability.
