IDEA CAMP 2017: Moving Communities

What’s the Idea Camp?

ECF’s Idea Camp is a three-day collaborative working platform organised within the framework of Connected Action for the Commons, a network and action research programme led by ECF together with six cultural organisations from across Europe.

• The Idea Camp 2014 took place in Marseille, France and focused on the topic “Connected Action for Public Space”.
• The Idea Camp 2015 took place in Botkyrka, Sweden under the theme “Build the City”, applying the principles and ethics of the commons.
• The Idea Camp 2017 will take place in Spain on 1-3 March 2017 and will focus on the theme “Moving Communities”.

ECF believes in bold alternatives provided by citizens through their local cultural initiatives. At this time of transition, ECF invests in these local initiatives to help them to become enduring solutions to the challenges facing our continent. Europe as a shifting ‘home’ of changing communities – where people can live together in solidarity, accepting their differences – is an urgent priority in ECF’s focus over the coming years.

Moving Communities

We are living and working in an increasingly complex environment. Across Europe and its neighbouring countries, more and more people are confronted with discrimination and exclusion on a daily basis – whether economically, politically or culturally. As a result, societies are becoming more and more fragmented, extremism is on the rise, and the divisions between people – and between individuals and institutions – are growing ever wider.

Migration, distrust towards traditional institutions and the widening gap between the idea of a democratic Europe and the reality of a divided continent are among the biggest challenges that we are facing at present. These challenges are not new, but they have reached a degree that directly affects existing systems and policies, both at national and European levels.

Entitled “Moving Communities”, ECF’s third Idea Camp will focus on the current positive, radical resistance movements that are daring to counteract anti-democratic practices.

Co-hosted by Platoniq, the Idea Camp will take place in Spain from 1 to 3 March 2017 and will bring together 50 participants whose emerging, groundbreaking ideas demonstrate a firm desire to contribute to fostering political imagination, building bridges and effectively contributing to the development of a society with a stronger sense of social justice. Based on the values of sharing, inclusion and openness, the Idea Camp offers Idea Makers a unique opportunity to meet peers from diverse backgrounds and with different visions from across Europe and its neighbouring countries.

Quick links

• Idea Camp 2017 application guidelines
• FAQ
• About Connected Action for the Commons
• A general introduction to the Idea Camp
• Previous editions: Idea Camp 2014 and 2015
• R&D grantees 2014 and 2015
• Info pack to help us share this call

Important dates

Application process – 2016

• 6 July: Online Q&A session
• 7 September: Online Q&A session
• 20 September: Submission deadline
• mid-November: 50 selected Ideas announced

Idea Camp and R&D grants – 2017

• 1-3 March: Idea Camp in Spain
• April: Submission deadline for proposals
• May: Announcement 25 ideas selected for R&D grants

Guidelines and application

Please submit an idea that fosters the Europe we believe in: a Europe of solidarity and openness shaped and nurtured by people