DUCT TAPE AND DREAMS

Duct Tape and Dreams is a hands-on mentoring and capacity building programme for emerging artistic collectives. It brings young and committed creatives on a nine-month developmental journey, providing them with necessary tools and expertise to build a sustainable future in the independent cultural sector.

All participants will get a tailored expert coaching throughout the whole programme and access to our capacity building activities, an opportunity to peer learn and attend TEH conference in Leipzig with 350+ creatives and a chance to win a money prize through our newly initiated award: The Philippe Grombeer Award of 5000 euro.

What do we offer:

A tailored coaching from a peer organisation who has gone through the same process in the past and has similar interest
A possibility to have a curated workshop at your centre based on your needs
Travel support to visit the mentor’s centre to gain hands-on experience and knowledge
Visibility through a programme publication featuring all participants
Travel and accommodation support to attend TEH conference in Leipzig with 350+ creatives
Access to a vibrant and diverse community of like-minded kick starters from across Europe and beyond
A possibility to win The Phillipe Grombeer Award!

About the Award!

Philippe Grombeer Award has been established in the memory of Philippe Grombeer, the founder of Trans Europe Halles and Les Halles de Schaerbeek in Brussels. The first edition of the award is being launched this year collaboratively by TEH and Les Halles de Schaerbeek.

Philippe Grombeer defined himself as “a cultural transmitter, a spur to cultural action”. He also possessed a rare gift in spotting and promoting young creatives troupes. With Trans Europe Halles turning 40 years old we would like to commemorate our wonderful founder and capture his spirit by offering this award to one young emerging cultural collective who is at the start of their journey and have successfully completed our Duct Tape and Dreams Programme.

The award includes

Financial support of 5000 EUR
Networking and promotion of your centre’s work
Free membership at Trans Europe Halles for two years
Mobility support to attend TEH Camp Meeting in Tbilisi.

Programme outline

10 Feb – Online introduction Q&A session hosted by TEH where participants get to meet each other and their future mentors

13 Feb-10 March – A scoping visit by a mentor to your centre to carry out a detailed needs analysis

13 March-22 Sep – A tailored weekly online coaching

1 April-31 Aug – A short visit to the mentor’s centre

8-11 June –Presentation at TEH Conference in Leipzig where you get to meet and be presented to TEH members

Sep-Oct –Wrap up of the mentoring and deliver short evaluation

5-8 Oct – The winner of the Philippe Grombeer Award comes to TEH Camp Meeting in Tbilisi for the award ceremony.

This programme is for you if:

You are not a TEH member or associate yet
You are an up-&-coming creative space led by youth, underrepresented communities, refugees. advocacy and civil society groups and work with digital cultures, environmental sustainability, democracy and humanitarian response
You are legally established as an organisation
You are repurposing a building for arts and culture
You have a legal agreement – or in negotiation – with the owner of the space about its future use
You are motivated and have capacity to actively participate in the programme and all its activities.

What is expected from you as a participant

If your cultural centre is one of the four lucky ones selected for the programme, you commit to:

Actively participate and engaged in the programme
Attend TEH Conference in Leipzig and present your centre to TEH members there
Deliver a short-written evaluation about the process, including visual documentation

After completing the programme, you are also welcome to become TEH full or associate member!

How to apply

If you want to join the programme, fill in the registration form here by 31 January 2023!

After the application round closes, the selection committee that will evaluate all the application and we will announce the results in early February. Only four participants will be selected.

Inspiration from the previous years

Duct Tape and Dreams Programme originated in 2017 and was originally called TEH Startup Support Programme. Its main purpose was to support emerging artistic collectives on the borders of Europe in the regions that might have less favorable environment for such initiatives to grow and develop. We have run this programme for four successful years and have supported 13 young creative collectives across Europe.

You can read their stories here!