Initiatives INITIATIVES is a program that will inspire and empower you to create your own initiative and to find new connections in the city to be able to do so.

How can you start your own initiative?

An initiative is a collective term that includes a wide range of different organizational forms.
The lifespan of an initiative is variable, from an incident to an eternal project where each time others take over and develop the project further, taking into account the values with which it was originally set up.
The program provides a good reflection of which ones are currently active in our environment.
What are the references for new initiatives? Is there a vast practice? What can we learn from the people who did it before? The initiatives that have experience have experienced how you get through the first struggles?
You have to learn how to set up an initiative, what the possibilities are, but also what problems you might encounter. How to find and get help and financing.
How do you continue an initiative, how do you keep it fresh and alive?
How do you find your audience? How do you attract an audience? How do you connect?
How to honor the wishes of your audience and develop the content (and context) of your initiative?
How does your initiative relate to other ones and to more formal institutions?
What are potential obstacles for initiatives?
Our aim is to inspire and empower people to start their own initiative or to connect to one.

Here you find our programs so far and a link list of Rotterdam based initiatives and a booklist.

download our initiatives check sheet

Events we organized

Panel Talk 1 about starting an initiative

APRIL 12th 2022

WORM

Main Hall – Boomgaardsstraat 71, 3012 XA Rotterdam

The first session is a panel talk to define what an initiative can be, share some of the history of initiatives and different insights on how to start an initiative.
We have invited 4 speakers, being Daan den Houter on behalf of Pension Almonde & Bcademie, Kamiel Verschuren on behalf of various inititatives in Charlois like Foundation B.A.D etc., Laura of Queer Rotterdam and Joana from KONTRA.
Janpier Brandt, the director of Worm will have a small presentation about Worm and share why Initiatives are so important for Worm and the City.

Pension Almonde was a temporary home for modern city nomads, adventurous sleep-over guests and orphaned neighbourhood initiatives. An experiment for the future city in 53 houses in a street in Rotterdam that will be demolished. The project itself is termanated but its spirit is continued in other new projects.

Kamiel Verschuren is part of Foundation B.a.d which is an artists’ initiative in Rotterdam, that began in 1987 when a group of art students occupied a decommissioned bathhouse. He also is involved in neighbourhood initiatives & projects like Charlois aan het Water and Veerpont Zuid and Stichting Nieuwe Ateliers Charlois ao.

Queer Rotterdam is a platform that aims to connect, support and activate queer people from Rotters and beyond. They organize a big variety of low key social events that queer people can attend. Board game nights, “safer-space” parties, movie nights, workshops, Queer summer, Trans and Non Binary support groups.

KONTRA is a grass-roots project that explores the boundaries between art and activism while seeking alternative ways of art-making, partying and art management.

Worm originated from a number of small artists’ initiatives, it has grown over the past 20 years into an essential cultural hotspot in Rotterdam. Hosts several new initiatives.
Panel Talk 2 Initiaties different sizes and aims

May 24th at ROODKAPJE, Rotterdam
doors: 19.45 / starts: 20.00 – 22.00 / free admittance

This event is a panel talk where we will explore the main differences between having a small scale or a large scale initiative, the benefits and downsides and so on.

We have invited several speakers, them being Constança Saraiva @constancasaraiva on behalf of Conversas Rotterdam @conversasrotterdam , SERÉ @__se.re on behalf of the EUC Collective @collxctive.euc , Sander Zweerts de Jong on behalf of the Buitenplaats Brienenoord @buitenplaatsbrienenoord and Anne Kolbe on behalf of SCHANDE @schande_lifestyle .

The series INITIATIVES consists of different events, workshops and talks where you hear stories and receive knowledge from different creatives with different perspectives and experiences on what is an initiative, how to start one and what are the (possible) struggles.

Our aim is to inspire and empower people to start their own initiatives and to find new connections in the city to be able do so. But also how can you participate in initiatives, collectives etc.

This event is free of charge, open to everyone (WdKA and non-WdKA peeps) and there is no registration required.

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Workshop: How to start an initiative

Tuesday June 14th 2022

at Business Station WDKA Rotterdam
doors: 14.45 / starts: 15.00 – 17.00 / free admittance

On the 14th of June we will have our 3rd session of INITIATIVES. This event is a workshop where we will learn how to start an initiative. How do you get funding? How do you organize? How can you find a space? How do you involve people? These are some of the questions that we will explore.

This workshop is open to EVERYONE (WdKA and non-WdKA peeps). It will be held at the Business Station on Tuesday the 14th of June from 15:00 till 17:00. There will be snacks and drinks 🙂 No registration is required!

During this series we host different events, workshops and talks where you receive knowledge from different creatives with different perspectives and experiences surrounding how to start your own initiative, what are the challenges and so on.
Our aim is to inspire and empower people to start their own initiatives and to find new connections in the city to be able to do so.
Research Talk: alternative ways of being together, while organizing within an initiative

We want to look into means of countering neo-liberal capitalist values through self-organized initiatives.
Why is it necessary to self-organize? Should this be part of the academy’s curriculum? What is the value of initiatives?
The series INITIATIVES consists of different events, workshops and talks where you can receive knowledge and brainstorm with different creatives with diverse perspectives and experiences on what is an initiative, how to start one and what are the (possible) struggles.
Our aim is to inspire and empower people to start their own initiatives and to find new connections in the city to be able do so.

Resources we found

Initiatives in Rotterdam
List of different cool initiatives that we have collected and that you can get inspired by:
Reading material

– 90 over 80 tien jaar beeldende kunst in Rotterdam Patricia van Ulzen, 2000 Stichting Kunstpublicaties Rotterdam, ISBN 9789056621650

– An Activist Neuroaesthetics Reader, Warren Neidich (Ed.), Archive Books ISBN: 9783948212841

– Also-Space, from Hot to Something Else How Indonesian Art Initiatives Have Reinvented Networking Reinaart Vanhoe, 2016 Onomatopee Eindhoven ISBN: 9789491677595

– Anarchic Agreements, A Field Guide to Collective Organizing Kinna, Ruth & Alex Prichard & Thomas Swann, Seeds for Change ISBN: 9781629639635

– Art and Solidarity Reader Radical Actions, Politics and Friendships Valiz, Amsterdam 9789493246027

– Artist-Run Democracy: sustaining a model Jim Ricks, 2021 Onomatopee, Eindhoven ISBN 978-94-93148-73-4

– Artist-Run Europe: Practices/Projects/Spaces Gavin Murphy 2016 Onomatopee, Eindhoven ISBN 978-9491677564

– Artist-Run Spaces: Non Profit Collective Oraganizations in the 1960s & 1970s Gabriele Detterer (Editor, Contributor), Christophe Cherix (Contributor) 2013 JRP | Ringier, Geneve ISBN 978-3037641910

– The Autonomous City: A History of Urban Squatting Alexander Vasudevan 2017 Verso Books 9781781687864

– The Autonomous Life? Nazima Kadir 2016 Manchester University Press 9781784994112

– Beelden stadsverfraaiing in Rotterdam sinds 1940 Siebe Thissen, 2016 Jap Sam Books Rotterdam ISBN: 9789490322625

– Beweging tegen de schijn R.J. Sanders 1987 Huis aan de drie Grachten Amsterdam ISBN: 9789063881429

– Building Human Relations Through Art Seda Yildiz ed. Onomatopee ISBN: 9789493148826

– The Civic Empowerment Toolbox – Action Design for Urban Futures Ben Schouten, e.a. Jap Sam Books Prinsenbeek ISBN: 9789492852717

– Collective Eye in conversation with ruangrupa: Thoughts on collectivity Dominique Garaudel ao. DISTANZ Verlag ISBN: 978-3954764662

– Counter Culture Trough the ages Ken Goffman, Dan Joy 2006 New York Random House ISBN: 9780812974751

– Cultural Revolution? Challenge of the Arts in the 1960’s Moore-Gilb Bart 1994 Routledge London ISBN: 9780415078252

– Designing for Society Products and Services for a Better World Nynke Tromp, 2018 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc London, ISBN 9781472567987

– Designing With and within Public Organizations André Schaminee, 2018 BIS Publishers Amsterdam ISBN 9789063694975

– Documenta fifteen Handbook, Ruangrupa 2022 Hatje Kantz Berlin ISBN 978-3-7757-5282-4

– Dromen van een metropool de creatieve klasse in Rotterdam, 1970-2000 P. van Ulzen, 2007 Nai010 Uitgevers/Publishers, Rotterdam ISBN 9789064506208

– Entreprecariat everyone is an entrepreneur nobody is safe Silvio Lorusso, 2019 Onomatopee, Eindhoven ISBN978-94-93148-16-1

– Gehavende Stad muziek en literatuur in Rotterdam van 1960 tot nu Erik Brus,2012 Fred de Vries Lebowski Publishers, Amsterdam ISBN 9789048815043

– Glossary for Cognitive Activism (3rd E), Warren Neidich, Archive Books, ISBN: 9783948212889

– Het Grote Micro Art Initiatives Onderzoek + Enquête in MetropolisM 15-01-2020 online

– Housing the Co-op A Micro-political Manifesto Sascha Delz, Rainer Hehl, Patricia Ventura Ruby Press, Berlin ISBN: 9783944074313

– In these circumstances – On collaboration, perfomativity, self-organisation and transdisciplinarity in research-based practices P. Hoegen; L. Mestre eds. Onomatopee ISBN: 9789493148857

– Initiative A Proven Method to Bring Your Passions to Life (and Work) Joshua Spodek, 2019 Greenwich Lane Books Vancouver ISBN: 9781733039901

– Interbellum Rotterdam. Kunst en Cultuur 1918-1940, Marlite Halbertsma, Patricia van Ulzen, 2001, , NAi Uitgevers Rotterdam ISBN 9056622250

– De ‘kunstmatige gemeenschap’ van Claire van der Mee op Platform BK link

– Making Matters A Vocabulary for Collective Arts Janneke Wesseling, Florian Cramer Valiz Books Amsterdam ISBN 978-94-93246-11-9

– The Making of a Counter Culture Reflections on the Technocratic Society and Its Youthful Opposition Theodore Roszak, 1995 University Of California, San Francisco ISBN: 9780520201224

– Mobile Autonomy. exercises in artists’self-organization beyond individualism. Nico Dockx ao. Valiz books Amsterdam ISBN:9789492095107

– Opstand van de Homo Ludens Constant, 1969, Paul Brand Bussum

– The Outsiders guide of Rotterdam Liza Enebeis & Karin Mientjes 2010 Willem de Kooning Academy

– Organize Your Own: The Politics and Poetics of Self-Determination Movements Anthony Romero (Editor) 2016 Soberscove Press Chicago ISBN: 978-1940190112

– Participate! Portraits Of Cities And Citizens In Action M. Van Der Veen ; Jw Duyvendak, 2021 Nai010 Publishers Rotterdam ISBN: 978-94-6208-631-9

– Plan and Play, Play and Plan Defining Your Art Practice Janwillem Schrofer 2018 Valiz, Amsterdam ISBN 9789492095404

– Provo kantekeningen bij een deelverschijnsel F.E. Frenkel, 1967 Polak & Van Gennep, Amsterdam

– Radical Housing: Art, Struggle, Care Edited by Ana Vilenica Network Cultures Amsterdam link to page

– Rebelse plekken over municipalisme en commons Walter Lotens 2019 Gompel & Svacina Bv Turnhout ISBN: 9789463711487

– The Responsible object a history of design ideology for the future Marjanne van Helvert, 2016 VALIZ Amsterdam ISBN 9789492095190

– Rondos – A Black & White Statement King Kong Records incl: Art In Revolution Calls’ 2009 King Kong Records Rotterdam KKR 008/009

– Siasat a short tactical guide for artist run initiative Ruangrupa 2011 download PDF

– Taz The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism
Hakim Bey, 1985 2003 Autonomedia New York ISBN 9781570271519

– Theorie van de kraal, kapitaal – Ras – Fascisme Willem Schinkel Rogier van Reekum, 2019, Boom, Amsterdam ISBN: 9789024426492

– Post-Precarity Zine: Toolbox for Beginning Artists INC Zine #2 Network Cultures link to download page

– Van Amen tot Zekveld over beeldende kunst Gepke Bouma, 1994 Stichting Kunstpublicaties Rotterdam ISBN: 9789075282023

– De verbonden stad Luud Schimmelpennink Mindlift Publishers 9789492079046

– Voeten in de aarde Roel van Duijn, 1984 Meulenhoff Amsterdam ISBN: 9789029019064

– Zeggenschap zonder bezit Woonwerkpand Tetterode Marianne Theunissen, Mikel van Gelderen Tetterode Amsterdam 9789464022216

This programme has been developed by Sadie Girigorie, Kiril Katsarov, Carlota Garcia, Janey de Jong, Hans Beekmans, Fabienne Hendriks.