Artist sought for Participatory Project at Nekkersdal Community Centre
Nekkersdal Community Centre in Laeken is looking for an artist to work co-creatively with local residents. During some nomadic years, due to renovation plans, Nekkersdal Community Centre will be located in a different neighbourhood in Laeken. Here, we want to immediately get to know local residents and bring new and old audiences closer together.
Co-creation with the neighbourhood
Nekkersdal Community Centre will be moving into some neighbourhoods where how things work is not always known. Through an artistic journey, we aim to discover talents, connect residents with one another and with the community centre, as well as enhancing residents’ well-being. As an artist, you will therefore develop an artistic project with local residents and new friends of Nekkersdal. This is done co-creatively: local residents and people present in that district become co-proprietors, sharing in the concept and its development. The project needs to match the needs and desires of this target group. As an artist, you will provide a clear artistic vision during the process.
In the coming weeks and months, Nekkersdal Community Centre will be going on expeditions in a range of districts to determine the neighbourhood where you will be working.
What will you do?
As an artist, you will design a co-creative trajectory:
- You will work with the target group towards a powerful artistic end result that is supported by them.
- You will engage with the target group and various neighbourhood partners yourself. Together, you will go through all the facets of co-creation: from idea to process to end result, where the input of participants and partners is essential. Your presence will play an important role in this.
- Along with the community centre’s sociocultural worker, you will generate involvement on the part of the target group and partners, and act with respect for the participants.
- You will pay special attention to those whose voice is not always heard and will actively seek out their voice.
- You will work within the specified budget.
About Laeken
Laeken is part of the City of Brussels. It is a borough of contrasts. Quiet, yet vibrant. Urban, yet not hip. New middle class and generational poverty. Laeken is a patchwork of associations and cultural identities. The population density is high, with many children and schools, but there is little space to play.
About Nekkersdal Community Centre
Nekkersdal Community Centre has many faces. It is the after-school programme for your children. The neighbourhood kitchen where you make new friends in all languages. The sewing studio where you upcycle old bath towels. The hangar where you come to party at night. The abandoned attic where you take up residence. The consultation office where your baby is weighed. The garage gate where you pick up a food package.
Nekkersdal Community Centre is also the bench where you stop for a chat. The neighbourhood project that comes with coffee and tea to ask for your participation. The little square where the basketball ring is occasionally repaired. Nekkersdal Community Centre is something different for everyone: a second home, a maze, a surprise, a meeting place, but also a ruin. This is why we are leaving, so that everything can be refurbished and rebuilt.
In the meantime, our caravan will move through the city. Our base of operations will be the office space on a second floor between Pannenhuis and Belgica. We will not be sitting there, fortunately; we will be visiting some friendly community centres and looking for new collaborations. We are organising activities at schools, squares, cafés, parks, and pavements. We believe Nekkersdal can be more than a building – a second home without a roof. We will give ourselves a few years to discover this, and when our new building is finally finished, we will return with everyone we met along the way.
Budget
There is a total budget of €19,500 for the project. This includes all the costs.
Timing
- Register using the registration form (NL, FR or EN) by Sunday 18 August 2024.
- Initial selection based on motivation and portfolio/video/image: during the week of 2 September 2024
- Second selection: in the week of 23 September 2024
- Jury interview: week of 21 October 2024
- Working period: February, March, April and May 2025
Deadline
18.08.2024
Contact person
Timo Vantyghem, timo.vantyghem@vgc.be, 0490 477 198
