moezeumcafé, Vijverhofstraat 29, 3032 SB Rotterdam

N.B.: dit programma vindt plaats in het Engels.

Starting this September, engage and (A)WAKE invite you to a series of training sessions focused on creating a more ethical arts sector, bringing together national and international experts.

In recent years, we cultural practitioners have taken various actions to enhance the ethical nature of our daily operations, including implementing a fair practice code, promoting good governance, and establishing codes of conduct. It has become the usual collection of policies and intentions.

Meanwhile, we continue to use social media, ticketing platforms, Spotify, and other digital tools that, behind the scenes, are less innocent than their convenience suggests. While we curate programmes, these companies invest nonchalantly in military start-ups and colonial settlements.

So the question arises: how do we become less complicit or, more simply, less dependent as organisations, and as cultural workers? Or, if it's not too much to ask, how do we actively minimise harm—including, where relevant, complicity in human rights violations? What does good commissioning, or safe(r) space, mean in a world that reveals increasingly violent tendencies?

Like many of our cultural counterparts, we're wrestling with these questions daily. Therefore, we are organising three training sessions this September, bringing together national and international experts. Together, we will zoom out to gain a better understanding of the broader landscape, and then zoom in through practical workshops. Let us start the cultural year well, in search of better alternatives. Less as isolated islands, more in support of each other.

Starting in September. Limited space. Three Wednesdays from 15.00-18.00 in moezeumcafé. Details to follow soon.

Wednesday 10th of September
Training #1: Internal Systems

A hands-on workshop on the digital tools we rely on daily. From Google Drive, to Instagram and Spotify. How can we organise ourselves more consciously? What are the alternatives?

Wednesday 17th of September
Training #2: Social Safety

As safety is under pressure in many forms, we will work on developing a new code of conduct. Not one focused on the individual, but on the collective meaning of the 'institute' in today's society. What role can institutions play in this, and what role is there for artists?

Wednesday 24th of September
Training #3: Complicity & Solidarity

What role do cultural institutions play in systemic structures? How can we practice solidarity without descending into cynicism? And where, exactly, do our rights and room for negotiation lie?