How do we create a shared space? How to build a safe space where everyone can feel free, share, learn, and experiment? How to form a community space that is supportive, gives room for your ideas and empowers you to organise your own projects?
In order to answer these questions, the Shared Spaces project gathered a consortium of organizations from 4 countries: Sweden, Poland, Spain and Germany. Together, they conducted research within their communities and with other organisations dedicated to that goal. The target: a diverse audience. Young and old, locals and newcomers, all are welcome!
In a culmination of this project, all partners gathered for a training course from May 24th to June 1st, with the aim of sharing results, methodologies and practices among each other and with external participants interested in creating their own shared spaces.
The location of Orrefors in Sweden was a great choice, this small town used to prosper thanks to the local fine glassmaking industry and has been struggling to adapt to the closure of the factory a few years ago. The town now has to reinvent itself, through tourism, culture, art, etc. This kind of transition can be a challenge for a community, and as such it is important to foster engagement and participation, to help local projects and give opportunities for cultural life to persist and develop. This is what Goodness of People, the Swedish partner of the consortium set out to do and why they invited us there.
The program started with some icebreakers and team-building activities. Interestingly, we realised that despite there being only 4 countries represented by organizations in the project, there were more than 10 different nationalities and origins among our members!
As part of the program, many different subjects were explored, from intercultural sensitivity and communication to conflict management and design thinking, exploring all aspects of how to create a shared space that would be safe and welcoming for all. Workshops were highly participatory, and inputs by all participants contributed to the quality of the sessions! Creativity was encouraged to find the best way to open such spaces, and participants got to propose their own sessions to the rest of the group, with both practical activities to implement with their organizations and theoretical workshops to introduce more subjects and aspects of community work.
Throughout the week, we got the occasion to enjoy the nice weather by having most of our sessions outdoors, and to enjoy the surrounding forests and lakes between sessions. A brave group of participants even decided to meet outside every morning before breakfast for some sportive activities and reflection. During these self-organised free-time activities, the group of participants we formed became more of a community and felt the benefits of a functioning shared space, unconsciously putting into practice all the results of the project!
Through the mix of shared research and first-hand experience of what a shared space could and should be, what mechanisms can be used to achieve that goal and what benefits it brings, we can say that this mobility was a great success! But it’s far from the end of the project, now all the partner organisations with help from participants are organizing follow-up events and setting up spaces to further apply, improve and disseminate what we have learned through this project!
If you come and visit CGE in the future, feel free to bring us something to share: Your ideas, your curiosity, your enthusiasm and your wishes! Those are the main ingredients to create together the shared space you’d love!
Antonin Maquin
This project (Pr. Nr.: 2023-1-SE02-KA210- YOU-000160073) is funded by the European Union through the Erasmus+ program. Its consortium is assembled by Culture Goes Europe e.V. from Germany, Goodness of People from Sweden, Logos from Poland, and Fedelatina from Spain.
