This overview describes tools collected by interviewing different artist-run spaces, collectives and initiatives.

This text talks about the advantages and difficulties of collective efforts and how individuals can take equal, active part in the creation and management of spaces for art.

a ‘how-to’ for artist-run
spaces

At the base of this project stands our wish to come up with tools to empower members of a collective – instead of empowering an organisation to include members. This change of perspective – from an institutional one towards a perspective of people concerned – is part of practicing what might be referred to as the third wave of institutional critique. We started from the often heard complaint that people who collectively govern a space put a lot of effort in but do not get an equal share in return. The return on investment is often experienced as out of balance. In other words, organising an artist-run space is often understood as a draining practice, where the motives were mostly to create a better world by giving a bit of yourself to this practice. We felt the need to provide some collectivising tools to the people involved, the members of a space. When we started watching out for ‘best practices’, it became clear that a lot of practices and approaches exist while not many people are aware of them.

In this article, we describe a number of tools we collected by interviewing different artist-run spaces, collectives and initiatives. They all speak about the advantages and difficulties of collective efforts and how individuals can take equal, active part in the creation and management of art spaces.

We asked, how do initiatives of artist and cultural workers that run a (physical) space collectively empower their members and environment? What are your ‘best practices’? What tools have you developed to operate your initiative in a truly collective way?

Together with them, we co-wrote the following collection of tools for space-bound forms of collectivisation. Further practices will be assembled in the online version of this toolkit.

Providing a good understanding of the concepts and tools of a project to everyone involved is key for any artist-run space. To keep an overview, it helps to look at a project from the perspective of different domains of its working. Here we propose a trefoil of four intertwined domains. Distinguishing your own tools within such domains might help to check whether they cover all aspects and needs.

For our own understanding, we defined the following four domains:

ECONOMIC TOOLS

Rent and membership contributions

Level Five, Brussels

Renting space is a political act! Defend affordable and sustainable renting conditions for everyone. Level Five sets its maximum at 7,50€/m2/month, inclusive. Membership can be added as a contribution for the social cohesion of the space. Level Five’s active members pay €20 per month:

• €5 for administrative, coordinating and location-bound tasks
• €5 for common groceries
• €5 for an artistic programme
• €5 for savings

Solidarity Fridge

Meyboom Artist-run Spaces, Brussels

Buying drinks at gross prices with free delivery and selling them at modest prices. The ‘profit’ goes to the collective – for unforeseen costs such as energy bills. At Meyboom Artist-run Spaces, drinks are sold within the larger community that crosses the space, during public events and to subleasing organisations with proper funding.

Care Web solidarity fund

Level Five, Brussels

Develop a solidarity fund for people in trouble to pay the rent for their studio. Level Five installed Care Web, with a flexible contribution of €30, €60 or €90. It enabled artists to keep their studio during the COVID-19 crisis. The fund was co-sustained by a percentage of the Level Five savings plus, in 2020 and 2021, 50% of Level Five’s artist-run art fair Salon Sale profits and any buffer money that could be found. In the end, Care Web was used 27 times by 11 different people for an amount of €2280 from April 2020 to June 2021. It still exists.

Collective dance floor

Artist Commons, Brussels

A good floor for dance practices is expensive and quite hard to find. Artist Commons bought the material collectively and installed it themselves. They now have proper rehearsal space at the disposal of the dance community. It is suitable to host small audiences and that allows to organise pre-showings, public performances and other events.

Share your stuff

ISO Amsterdam, Amsterdam

If anyone owns something scarce but valuable, share it – if needed for a friendly rent. For example: one of the artists at ISO owns a van. They rent it to other member artists at 40€ per day, which is enough to cover the costs, save for maintenance costs and it’s much cheaper than other options.

Shared video station

Hectolitre, Brussels

Share your video or audio editing hard- and software. At Hectolitre, the owner of such material gives basic instruction and support to other users. The owner can do this because in exchange, they pay a cheap rent for their working space – which in turn becomes a good context to have their professional devices permanently installed.

CULTURAL TOOLS

Space for public
presentations

Meyboom Artist-run Spaces, Brussels

Spaces on the ground floor of the interim occupied Meyboom are free to use for all renters of the building. This brings valuable potentials: the spaces can be used to host public moments, exhibitions, film screenings, etc., or for rehearsal and workshops. Wherever possible, space is given to people in need. There is a shared online calendar for reservations.

Braking through paywalls

Level Five, Brussels

Install a collective computer with access to diverse private accounts for video streaming, libraries etc. ! University libraries have many subscriptions to newspapers and journals whose articles are behind paywalls. If one member is privately affiliated, the collective can make use of their access. That’s how common access is given to information that should be a commons in the first place.

Kangaroo projects

Wanda (no physical space), Flanders & Brussels

Small organisations can benefit from a ‘kangaroo’ relationship to bigger ones. One of Wanda’s members has a mentorship at Argos as their intern and can make use of Argos’ spaces. Argos’ partnership with Wanda is part of their commitment to connect with the city by making their infrastructure and staff available to groups in need. It fits the aim to make Argos’ space more accessible by sharing agency. Other institutions may offer similar opportunities.

Visitors programmes

Level Five & Cas-co, Brussels & Leuven

Invite groups of (international) curators for studio visits of more than one day! Organising public or professional studio visits provide wide visibility and in depth collaboration between artists and curators. Level Five and Cas-co joined forces to organise with the support of Kunstenpunt such visits under the umbrella of UFO (network of studio management initiatives).

Trust and exchange of knowledge

LookIN’OUT, co-organised by Ad Lib, Brussels

Professional feedback on eye height fosters a culture of trust in the art field. Organise public working moments around projects in development! LookIN'OUT invites artists to present their projects to each other, which enables new contacts and collaborations. Training a mutually supportive yet critical culture is crucial in situations that can otherwise easily create conflics.

A Serious Apéro

Hectolitre, Brussels

Create casual situations where it’s a pleasure to get to know each other’s work. At Hectolitre, Serious Apéros are monthly gatherings for the community where other members get the floor to present their practice. Time and space is given to just this practice, offering occasions for collective reflection and association, while enjoying drinks and snacks.

POLITICAL TOOLS

Consent Over Consensus

Meyboom Artist-run Spaces, Brussels

Inspired by sociocratic principles, Meyboom Artist-run Spaces is working with decision-making ‘circles’ per theme, and working groups for collective projects, using consent-based decision-making processes. While with consensus, one asks “do you agree?”, in consent-based decision-making processes, one asks “do you object?” This makes time-consuming collective processes much easier and faster, as individuals in a large group might consent with something they may not consider optimal but still good enough for the whole.

Codes of Conduct &
Complaints Procedures

OFEN Co-Arts Platform

No group is too small to have a code of conduct and complaints procedure. Take time to work collectively on a code so that you're all on the same page. OFEN Co-Arts Platform shares insights into what to cover in a code of conduct:

• How do you as a collective go against white patriarchal dominance?
• What are your values as a group? (including social responsibilities)
• Individual needs (i.e. quiet, breastfeeding, child care, privacy, confidentiality, social media tagging)
• How will new people be initiated into the group?
• How will you change social norms?
• Complaints procedure – different methods of resolving conflict, sexual harassment, bullying
• Texting and email hours – are you happy to receive work calls, etc. on scheduled days off?

Someone in the group can put themselves forward to be a confidential advisor, and they would be responsible for knowing how to carry out complaints safely. (Tip: use infrastructure already in place in Belgium: Engagement Arts, Podiumkunsten.be, Ombudsvrouw Gender en de Genderkamer, for instance.) Funds can be gathered to put this person through a training course! (Tip: choose someone who isn't bearing the burden of any emotional weightlifting already).

Online Forum

Zonneklopper, Brussels Vorst/Forest

Beyond messaging groups via WhatsApp, Telegram or Facebook, build an online forum to share information, questions, etc. , in an unlimited amount of categories and public or private groups. www.nubo.coop provides many features for such organisation based on open source technology and ethics. In a large community like Zonneklopper’s, where management takes a lot of time, this is an all-round communication tool within the community and its direct networks.

CONTEXTUAL TOOLS

Invisibility for local
empowerment

Zonneklopper, Brussels Vorst/Forest

Organise events for the neighborhood where the usual communities aren’t invited. Zonneklopper organises Sunday afternoons for children. Besides direct information to the neighbors (flyers, word of mouth…) these events are not communicated. The goal of this is twofold:

• As a community, be of value for and in communication with the direct surroundings
• To avoid being a gentrifying factor by keeping this communication invisible to real estate developers and politicians, as well as the wider society in general.

Grow slow and local

M33, Brussels north quarter

In neighborhoods with particular challenges, let a majority of the activities be organised by and for the inhabitants and users of the surroundings. It slows down the creation of a programme and excludes proposals that are not linked to the neighborhood. It ensures that the space grows locally, dictates its own pace, and follows a more moderate and unhurried trajectory. Communicate the activities locally on a small scale, trying to avoid making the neighborhood attractive for developers and politicians. Constructively resisting gentrification may come down to navigating continually between visibility and invisibility.

Positive Discrimination

Level Five, Brussels

Composing the community involves more than selection on the basis of a waiting list. Selection of a new member may also be based on:

• their urgency
• the suitability of the available workspace for various art disciplines
• a medical indication
• diversity of disciplines
• diversity of artists

At Level Five, studios are generally assigned to candidates with the longest registration period. Depending on the work space, the discipline practiced by the candidate will also be considered. Level Five strives for an interesting mix of disciplines per location, and a mix of beginning and more experienced artists. Sometimes they use a specific allocation for a particular building, for example, because the spaces are suitable for certain artistic disciplines. Within Level Five, there is an ongoing discussion about positive discrimination of artists with a diversity of backgrounds.