CIN is building its unique personality as a cross-cultural and cross-sectoral platform for innovation composed of more than 100 cultural innovators from over 30 countries of the Euro-MENA region. We built our network to promote cultural experimentation and innovation across borders, as we see creativity as a fundamental component of change.
Since 2012, we have implemented more than 30 projects (from media, to arts, to social entrepreneurship, to active citizenship, to peace work) in 13 countries which have contributed to change and innovation in local societies. More than 2000 people have participated in our public events, and our messages have reached more than 30 000 people online. Along with the projects we have different programmes of activities and CINLab is one of them. This year, Sofia is hosting CINLabs.
From 4 to 9 June 2015 Sofia is hosting CINLabs – the annual work meeting of the Cultural Innovators Network (CIN). It will gather 40 CIN members to participate in two professional workshops, to develop concepts for new CIN projects and coordinate their implementation.
This year the training is focused on the following topics:
- Culture in public vs. non-public spaces, led by the expert Valeri Gyurov (Transformatori Association);
- Development and sustainability of social innovation, led by the expert Yuryi Vulkovski (Reach for Change Foundation).
Besides the expert training, CINLabs participants will have the opportunity to meet local organizations and art groups working in the same fields, with whom to share knowledge and experience, as well as to find intersections for possible mutual projects. Destructive Creations, A25 Cultural Foundation, Next Page Foundation, The Red House Center for Culture and Debate are among those groups.
On 8 June from 10 am till 2 pm, the Goethe-Institut Sofia will hold an open meeting with young professionals from Bulgaria involved in the arts and culture area. It is then that the main idea behind Cultural Innovators Network will be presented in public, together with an overview of the specific results from the meeting in Sofia.
The closing of CINLabs Sofia will be held on the evening of 8 June with a DJ party at the alternative art space The Fridge, where all CIN participants and guests from the local art scene will jam together.
More on: www.culturalinnovators.org