Prostor/ Culture Hub Croatia - Trans Europe Halles

Culture Hub Croatia (CHC) is a non-profit organization officially founded in January 2017 in Split, Croatia. CHC is using education, culture and creativity for development of local communities through transmission of knowledge and European expertise and through promotion of art practices. The organization is active in the fields of cultural heritage, visual arts, performing arts and interdisciplinary cultural-artistic activities. All their projects and initiatives are based on partnerships. They consider the cultural and creative sector as an important tool for development and cross-sectoral innovation. Their mission is to create and nurture a space for common dialogue and exchange of ideas among motivated, creative individuals who want to make a difference in their community by implementing innovative interdisciplinary projects. CHC, as a platform, acts as facilitators in making those ideas come true through mentorship, networking, partnerships and collaborations at the national and international levels. All their international partnership projects bring value to the local community and members who are directly included in their implementation. Through these partner projects they address topics such as social inclusion and intercultural dialogue and promote education, culture and creativity as tools for development.

What makes the organisation unique?

Since July 2021 CHC manages a creative hub PROSTOR in Split - an independent, people-centered space located in the ground floor of the famous, and one of the two largest modernist apartment buildings in Split, built in the 70s in Spinut neighbourhood. It is a space for creative freedom and expression, addressing contemporary social challenges, enabling collaborations, facilitating interactions, providing opportunities for learning and growing together, establishing dialogue and embracing diversity. It is a response to the lack of spaces for creativity, unequal opportunities to space, marginalization of culture, the lack of openness and transparency, insufficient culture of sharing and unrecognized potential of the cultural and creative sector. It consists of an info point, co-working space, meeting rooms and event space, gallery, open studio for artists, living room with library and artist residency. Most of the space is modular - adaptable to different needs and types of events. Apart from artist residencies and exhibitions, PROSTOR hosts a wide range of gatherings, workshops and events on a weekly basis. The yearly programme is based on specific topics defined for each year and it is co-created with the community. For example, at the beginning of each year, CHC launches a call "Adopt the Space" which allows anyone from the local community, especially artists and other civil society organizations to propose activities they wish to implement in PROSTOR, under the condition that all activities are free for public and participatory in nature. In their work, CHC often steps out of their space into the neighbourhood, by engaging with its environment through participatory projects and artistic interventions in the public space.