Deadline: June 30, 2017
Applications are now open for Tandem Europe – Social Innovation! You and your cultural initiative, organisation or institution can submit your expression of interest. Tandem Europe – Social Innovation is a cross-border learning and doing programme. During their Tandem year, cultural-social initiators from all over Europe kick-start long-term collaboration with a partner from abroad. Together, they design and test new ideas by realising a pilot project for their own local environment.
Tandem offers the space to develop real and meaningful visions by prototyping project ideas and building on new cross-border working relations. It establishes peer-to-peer contacts that are based on mutual societal concerns or cultural and artistic interests. Tandem participants share their enthusiasm for creative discovery across European borders, cultures, sectors and artistic disciplines and embrace the joy of making new things happen together. They join a growing community of cultural-social innovators who are deeply engaged in shaping a common European future, both transnationally and bottom-up.
How it Works
Up to 40 applicants will be invited to the Tandem Europe Partner Forum where they find many networking opportunities and most importantly – their potential Tandem partner. They apply together for the full program with a specific collaboration plan and idea. 12 Tandems are then selected to become part of the Tandem family – benefitting from a broad international network, a placement opportunity in their Tandem-partner city, and financial and mentoring support to prototype their idea and establish a mutually beneficial partnership.
The program includes:
- A 5-day Tandem partner forum including workshops in Bulgaria
- A 5-day kick-off meeting including workshops in Portugal
- A vocational placement of 12 days at individual Tandem partner locations across Europe (self-organised by individual Tandems )
- A 4-day interim meeting including peer-to-peer learning sessions and workshops
- A 4-day final learning and evaluation meeting 11-15 October 2017 February 2018 between February /November 2018 June 2018 November 2018
Benefits
- Participation in a partner forum with up to 40 cultural organisations from all over Europe (one applicant per organisation for the whole meeting, plus one colleague for the last two days of the meeting)
- 2 weeks abroad during a vocational placement at a new partner organisation
- 3 group meetings including peer-to-peer learning sessions, and workshops with experienced trainers on social innovation
- Reimbursement of travel costs and living expenses during project events and placements
- € 5000 start-up funding for testing a shared pilot collaboration idea
- Expert-facilitated mentoring of pilot collaboration initiatives from inception to completion
- A public showcase event to present the outcomes of all pilot collaboration initiatives
- Small-scale follow-up support to scale-up pilot ideas towards broader impact
- Access to a growing alumni network of cultural initiatives in more than 200 cities across Europe and its neighbourhood
Eligibility
- Open to Civil society organisations, public institutions, non-profit initiatives and social enterprises that are engaged with cultural questions and innovation in their societies
- Applicants should be based in one of the 28 EU member states or in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, FYROM, Switzerland, Norway or Iceland.
They are looking for project initiators representing civil society organisations, public institutions, non-profit initiatives or social enterprises that:
- work on pioneering cultural ideas that tackle socio-economic challenges
- explore unconventional ways of working that show potential for real social impact (on a local and European level)
- are highly motivated to extend their cultural work to new working areas which contribute to social and alternative economic innovation processes all over Europe
- develop creative solutions for a sustainable socio-economic development of their communities, cities or regions which are based on local citizens’ needs
- design new cultural formats for engaging citizens in re-shaping social and economic realities of the local environment they live in
- are interested in finding new structural solutions, strategic development opportunities and alternative financing models for their cultural organisations
- are ambitious to engage in strategic and lasting cooperation across national borders
- represent an independent cultural NGO, a non-hierarchical and public institution or a not-for-profit social and/or creative enterprise
- can rely on working structures that show sufficient financial and organisational capacity, are flexible and adaptive, socially responsible and respected in their working field
- are early-to-mid career staff members with some decision-making responsibilities and/or senior professionals who are strategically involved with the core mission of their organisation
- are socially committed, empathic, highly motivated, dynamic, open-minded personalities
- are eager to experiment, ready for structural change, seize new opportunities, have an entrepreneurial spirit and the courage to take risks and fail forward
- have sufficient skills, experience and resources to engage in an intense international learning and reflection process that requires a minimum time investment of 10 working weeks throughout a one-year-long process
- are fluent in English
How to Apply
Fill out the ONLINE application form.
For more information, visit Tandem Europe – Social Innovation.
