The partnership circle
The partnership circle
Wawer Cultural Center (Warsaw, Poland) (Applicant and coordinator)
Consorzio Cagliari Centro Storico – Centro Commerciale Naturale (Cagliari, Sardinia)
Interfolk together with Middelfart Municipality and Volunteer Center Middelfart (Middelfart, Denmark
Benefits of working with foreign partners to achieve the project’s goals
Each organization brings a completely different type of expertise and experience to the project – Interfolk – extensive knowledge in the field of building inclusive communities, Wawer Cultural Center – a large number of innovative cultural activities building the local community, and CCN – knowledge and experience on how to build a great cooperation network between business and culture and activities supporting the community.
Hence, thanks to participation in the project, all organizations will receive powerful inspiration and a lot of new knowledge about the best practices applied by Partners in local communities and about activities improving the quality of life of local communities.
Wawerskie Centrum Kultury (WCK)
is a public cultural centre in Warsaw’s district of Wawer, we offer plenty of educational workshops and events in the fields of culture, art, theatre, science and ecology. We are testing now some innovative concepts of local citizens involvement like Local Activity Spots and the concept of storyteling to strenghten local identity and include migrants and refugees. We have the experience in some Erasmus+ Projects from Key Action 1 and we bet on international and intercultural developement of our organisation.
Wawerskie Centrum Kultury (WCK) is a local government cultural institution established in 2014. Our main activities are the creation and dissemination of culture as well as the development of social and cultural activities of the residents of the Wawer district.
- In activities for adults, we focus on cultural education, developing interests, cultivating artistic passions and social activities.
- For adults and seniors, we offer art classes (painting, drawing, handicraft, dance, theater, photography) and section-related activities related to their interests.
- We conduct lectures (scientific, travel, health or ecology), workshops (handicrafts, dance, art, music), we present performances, films and concerts for adult audiences.
- We run our own theater and cabaret groups and choirs.
- We organize a neighborhood meeting.
- We work closely with the University of the Third Age.
Detailed information on the courses organized is available on the website: https://www.wck-wawer.pl
Finnish Federation of Settlement Houses (Setlementtiliitto R Y)
Setlementtiliitto is a national federation that organises 35 local settlements. The organisation activities include working with the elderly, child and youth work, multicultural work, the development and production of communal forms of housing, different forms of supported housing, community centre activity, providing services for people facing mental challenges, supplying education to 16 community colleges, three folk high schools and two special education schools, various forms of trauma and crisis work, substance abuse rehabilitation services, debt counselling, mediating and victim support.
The settlement movement in Finland has a long tradition of community work. During the last 20 years society in Finland has changed step-by-step and the welfare state is not as strong as it used to be. Settlement houses have created new methods of local democracy.
Supporting and strengthening minorities and vulnerable groups of people are basic tasks in the settlement movement. The organisation is willing to share good practices and keen to learn from others and to develop our methods. Followingly this project is of big interest for us.
The organisation is currently hosting International Federation of Settlements and Neighbourhood Centres (IFS) in their headquarters. It is deeply committed to the international work for social justice, sustainability and human rights, fighting against racism, nationalism and populism.
Interfolk
Interfolk, Institute for Civil Society is a Danish non-profit and non-governmental association and private research institute, founded in 2008.
Interfolk is a member of the Baltic Sea NGO Network; the International Platform for Civic Participation (IPCP); the European Network for Active Participation in Cultural Activities (AMATEO); and the FIRST NETWORK – supporting first-time international project leaders.
The mission is to strengthen lifelong learning activities characterized by personal autonomy, active citizenship, social inclusion and cultural cohesion in liberal adult education and participatory culture in the Danish, Nordic, and European civil societies.
The activities include research, development projects, courses, seminars, debates, and other cultural activities – in a Danish, Nordic, and European context.
For more than 10 years, Interfolk has been involved as coordinator or partner in more than 30 international projects related to informal and non-formal adult learning in the areas of liberal adult education, participatory culture and heritage, close to the subject of the Micropolis Project, like „Bridging social capital by participatory culture”, “Culture Guides for social marginalised”, „Co-creative cooperation in the field of culture and heritage”, “Voluntary culture as leverage of cultural activities in sparsely populated areas”, „Art-based learning and active ageing”, „Boost Social Inclusion in Amateur Arts and Voluntary Culture”, „Develop online tools to assess the added community values of participatory culture”, and many more.
Middelfart Municipality
Middelfart Municipality is a municipality on Funen with approx. 41,000 inhabitants. Located on the west side of Funen with two bridges which connect Middelfart to Jutland. Middelfart is Denmark’s green growth municipality.
As the Funen part of the Triangle area, we are located in Denmark’s entrepreneurial center with more than 400,000 jobs within an hour’s drive. We focus on thoughtful growth with a development-oriented approach businesses within, for example, food, transport and tourism. One modern business life, welfare with citizens at the center and forms of learning that give all children opportunities to learn what they can.
Culture in Middelfart
Everywhere in Middelfart Municipality you will find cultural experiences for the whole family. The cultural offer is wide ranging – from Denmark’s largest one-day festival, Rock Under the Bridge, to one of Europe’s largest ceramics museums, CLAY.
At Middelfart Citys modern waterfront you will find KulturØen. A large cultural center with a cinema, library, concert and lecture hall, café, restaurant and tourist information, and a few meters away is Middelfart’s newly built town hall and town centre, Nytorv. In Harndrup you will find the Humlemagasinet, which, among other things, offers historical exhibitions, a Christmas display and beautiful gardens. In February, there is a winter festival in Strib – a folk festival that has had big danish on the programme.
A living cultural environment – also in the smaller towns. Also in the village of Båring, 15 minutes’ drive outside Middelfart, they can organise a proper party. Twice a year, the music and culture association Bamok holds concerts and parties, where several big names have been on the posters. In Middelfart Municipality’s smaller station towns, there is also a rich life to be had. Large development projects in cities such as Nørre Aaby and Ejby ensure that the cities are full of people who create life. The sea around Middelfart Municipality also offers a wealth of experiences. You can go whale watching, or you can cross the Lillebælt/ Little Belt. 60 meters above sea level when you go bridgewalking on Den Gamle Lillebæltsbro/ the Old Little Belt Bridge.
The micropolis project
From Kulturøen, the culture team participates, which works with a number of different cultural activities and events throughout the municipality. The team organizes, among other things, a large cultural festival once a year in September – together with 6 other municipalities – and coordinate cultural activities for The Climate Summit, an annual event that puts the climate and the climate adaptation on the agenda.
At the town hall is the department for culture and sports, which works with events, leisure activities, NGOs, associations and the development of the local communities throughout the municipality.
Volunteer Center Middelfart
Volunteer Center Middelfart is a non-profit and umbrella organization for the voluntary social associations, organizations, and clubs in Middelfart Municipality. We are one of the 86 local volunteer centers in Denmark and are a member of FriSe, which is the umbrella organization of volunteer centers and self-help Denmark.
Purpose of the organization is to strengthen the cooperation and coordination between the members of the Voluntary Center and contribute to ensuring the dialogue between Middelfart Municipality and the voluntary social associations, organizations and clubs that carry out voluntary social work in the municipality.
Our aims are:
- to support, make visible, coordinate, and inspire the existing voluntary work and help new initiatives get started.
- to mobilize more volunteers and make it easier to become a volunteer and easier for citizens to find support and advice in the many associations.
- To strengthen networks and cooperation across the various associations and between the association and the public and/or other relevant partners to coordinate the work and exchange experiences.
- to draw attention to and debate voluntary social work to ensure and improve the framework and conditions for voluntary efforts.
We believe in…
- that voluntary commitment has a value, because it gives meaning, joy and quality of life for the individual to take personal social and human responsibility.
- that inclusive and responsible community in the local community strengthens participation and opportunities for expression in the voluntary world.
THE CCN
The CCN is a consortium of Sardinian entrepreneurs whose main objective is to support the development of urban centers and activation of local communities in cooperation with local businesses. Thanks to numerous cultural activities and investment and extensive cooperation of entrepreneurs, volunteers, tourists, and people from the association – year by year the Marina district increases its attractiveness not only for tourists during the season, but above all – after the season for residents.
The consortium is involved in organizing great variety of cultural and touristic events (i.e. competitions, local product exhibitions and presentation at national) and international exhibitions and fairs (e.g. in tourist fairs, and slow life); creating an offer and information catalogues of the so-called experimental tourism in Sardinia and interactive applications supporting local cultural and activating activities.
CCN implements numerous activities that unite the local community, strengthen its identity, and activate it to act. Non-formal education of adults is conducted primarily through the organization of numerous events – e.g. meetings with culture, days referring to tradition and training (in. learning to cook local dishes, sommelier training or learning to make jewelry combined with tradition and locally available materials).
Within its CCN district It created a museum of costumes, rituals, jewelry and weapons and a local group of archers.
CCN promotes the idea of slow life in the local community and focusing on the richness of local tradition (practiced through crafts and local traditional products) and the idea of a strong, local community. The main educational objective of CCN is to activate the entire district and all social strata to cultivate their own identity, culture, and relationships, and drawing from them in private and professional life.