TWINNING PROGRAMS
Londa, Toscany
September 11 - 15th 2025
Future Divercities twinning programme
Creative exchange with Destil
December 2022 - July 2023
Creative FLIP
In partnership with:
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Destil creative hub, Tirana (Albania)
From 11th-15th September 2025, we traveled to Londa, Tuscany as one of the selected hubs in the Future Divercities’ twinning programme.
Curator and co-founder of Culture Hub Croatia Jasmina Šarić visited LAMA’s new art residency located in the Montagna Fiorentina with the aim to develop a collaborative art program.
The initial concept was to investigate underused space, which is not empty per se but lacking in purpose and meaning. The project challenges the usages, looking at adding new ecological value and meaning. The exchange aimed to investigate the idea of rethinking spaces and places through relational and generative mechanisms, leveraging the role of artists as key actors for social and civic change and increasing the perception of art and its value in regenerative processes and community building.
A dimora residency invites artists to create a piece of work that solidifies the relationship between the urban and natural environment and the people who inhabit it, with the goal of fostering strengthened and shared cultural identities for the area.
The exchange included site visits, meetings with artists and local community and participating in final preparation and inauguration of the newly produced works by artists Andrea Grasselli, Chiara Gambirasio, Gaia Coals, Martina Cioffi and Samuel Rosi.
Residency management, rural ecosystems, production of art in public space and community based practices were some of the topics discussed. We also exchanged our experiences in balancing the different perspectives and expectations of various stakeholders, while exploring the in situ methods of adding ecological and cultural value to different public spaces, fostering innovation in site-specific, socially engaged art.
The visit set ground for the continuing collaboration of hosting one of A dimora’s artists, Chiara Gambirasio, in Prostor in November. Chiara Gambirasio was selected due to her playful and imaginative approach to the site and artistic interventions that blend in the environment they are built in. Her project will serve as a bridge to build synergies with Prostor and its surroundings.
This twinning programme is organized with the support of European Creative Hubs Network and in the framework of Future Divercities project, co-funded by the European Union.
CHC and Destil initiated the twin hubs exchange primarily to focus on the topic of entrepreneurship in the cultural and creative sectors, and to inspire and empower each others’ communities, especially women artists and creatives. During the exchange we would like to explore and imagine a more structured way to connect the inspiring women artists in our community, provide them with the opportunity to become residents in our hubs with the aim to build their capacities and resilience and increase visibility at the regional level. We will bring together inspiring entrepreneurs from Albania - community members of Destil together local creative community in Split interested in learning and launching a creative businesses.
In May 2023, CHC hub manager and community member travelled to Tirana for a study visit of Destil creative hub, presentation of CHC to Destil’s community and discovery of the local cultural scene. We also had a working session focused on the programmes for entrepreneurs which Destil is implementing, brainstorming session on specific topics we want to address through the future art&business residencies in our hubs, ways to connect artists from both countries and initiate new collaborations, as well as the organizational aspects and financial scheme needed for implementation of the residencies.
In July 2023, on the occasion of Prostor's second birthday, Destil hub manager and community members Thurje Handmade are travelling to Split for a study visit and the final event. The public event is imagined as a creative encounter between Albanian artists and the local community, to showcase their practices, create new collaboration opportunities and brainstorm together on the needs and potentials of both of our communities, in Croatia and Albania.
Twin hubs is made possible thanks to the Twin Hubs Exchange Programme in the framework of the Creative FLIP project co-founded by the European Union and project partners: the Goethe-Institut (Lead partner), European Creative Hubs Network, IDEA Consult, 3s Unternehmensberatung and Intellectual Property Institute Luxembourg.
