BauTopia 5 Bologna & Prato - the full report

All the event pictures at the event's website: https://bautopia.creativehubs.net/ 

BAUTOPIA 5 - Day 1

Last 27th November we kicked off another ECHN Culture&Creativity Conference, one of the yearly gatherings for our members and the ecosystem! 

This BauTopia5 was launched with the warm words from Andrea Giotti, DumBO's CEO, who was very moved to see the ECHN crowd hosted in their space only a few years after they opened this incredible transformed venue! 

From the Cultural Sector of the Municipality of Bologna, we had the pleasure to be welcomed by Giogia Boldrini, followed by an inspiring speech on 'Climate Challenges for European Cities'

from Anna-Lisa Boni, Deputy Mayor for EU/Recovery funds, climate mission 2030: neutrality and transition, international relations. 

To close the evening on a provocative tone, Bertram Niessen presented "It was yesterday! - Sustainability was Yesterday. We need to build a new cultural framework for the ’20s.”

Bertram is the Scientific director of the cultural association cheFare, PhD UrbEur – European Studies in Urban and Local Sociology. 

This was just the beginning of an intense program, and the launch of another warm event, full of old and new faces! 

"We need imagination spaces as much as we need infrastructure." (Anna Lisa Boni) 

BAUTOPIA 5 - Day 2 - The Official Opening

For the first full day, we had Dubravka Jurisic from Goethe and our partner at Creative FLIP opening the room, followed by Ivan Lopez Garrido from Republikken, and one of the Board of Directors of ECHN. The last words were left to our host Mara Polloni, from DumBO, our main support setting up this event. 

The Inspirational Speech of this morning was held by Martina Aiazzi-Mancini and Dario Marmo, from LAMA Impresa Sociale. They presented a Dimora, the artistic residency of the Montagna Fiorentina, where the aim is to make art in rural areas, including its challenges, impacts and hopes. This is an artistic residency that takes place in the Apennine Mountain in Italy and it’s part of a big cultural regeneration process that wants to rebuild and rethink life in remote areas. 

It was followed by the insightful Panel on Social and Financial Sustainabilty with some case studies from: 

• Roman Luterbacher, from LEEFWERK, presenting their 'The Public’s Content Bureau': daily sidewalk installations which transform passersby’s words into collective artworks, merging voices to create decentralized narratives.
• Giuditta Rossi, co-founder of Bold Stories, introducing Color Carne - an integrated multi-channel campaign to change the perception of the color flesh from pink to all the colors of humanity.
• Tobias Keye, from the Regional Center of Expertise on education for sustainable development, teasing the audience to 'Take back your economy' and showing us the potentials through community based initiatives.  

BAUTOPIA 5 - Day 2 - The First Parallel Sessions 

After being inspired by the first panels of the morning, the participants were then invited to join their group and get their hands on the workshops! 

The sessions were carefully curanted under the topic 'Tools for measuring and understanding impact', and these were the options:

• Designing for a Regenerative Future in Creative Businesses with Doughnut Economics, led by Leekei Tang, founder of ALOE development
• The potential of impact investing for creative hubs and it was hosted by the Creative FLIP team: Joost Heinsius, from the Goethe-Institut, and Isabelle De Voldere and Eveline Durinck, both from IDEA Consult
• CrAFT project – Creating Actionable Futures, presenting the NEB Impact Model in Action: A whole Systems Approach to Urban Interventions Integrating Sustainability, Beauty, and Inclusion, by Konstantina Douka from the University of Bologna
• Social Impact Canvas for creative change makers , facilitated by Pille Pruulman Vengerfeldl, from the University of Malmö 

BAUTOPIA 5 - Day 2 - The Afternoon Sessions 

The second Plenary of the day was another showcase of real examples of what Environmental Sustainability looks like in practice. For that, we welcomed 3 inspiring projects: 

• Raquel Traba Galisteo, from TRIPLE Madrid, told us about their Healthy building coworking space for Impact Projects, and how sustainable principles were taken since the renovation of the building. 
• Marta Lovato, the sustainability manager of Santarcangelo Festival, gave us a glimpse into the ecological transition of events: their experience of sustainability from the organisation to the event-goers. 
• Ville Kurki, from KAAPELI, and Neda Tozija, from TransfoLAB Athens, presented their new EU project that aims at 'Grening the Hubs' and to develop the role of the sustainability manager

BAUTOPIA 5 - Day 2 - The second Parallel Sessions

In the second part of the afternoon, the participants ran again to find their spots in the Parallel Sessions #2, on how to turn 'Green dreams into reality'

• 'Managing Sustainability', led by Marta Lovato (Santarcangelo Festival) and Neda Tozija (TransfoLAB) - where the participants were invited to brainstorm on the role of the Sustainability Manager – its definition, guidelines, expertises and constraints of the emerging position and how this is applied to Creative Hubs. 
• 'Working Conditions': a thread on how can we ensure greening and improving working conditions go hand in hand, Hosted by the Creative FLIP team: Elena Polivtseva, and Joost Heinsius , from Goethe-Institut
• 'More than 100 green cultural dreams' - During this session, the participants played a fictional game to develop together concrete priorities for action and to understand opportunities (and limits) of serious gaming. This sessions was hosted by Sylvia Amann, from the Creative FLIP

BAUTOPIA 5 - Day 2 - The last Panel Discussion  

To finalize the (long) day, one last Panel discussion on Bridging sectors: Creativity, Innovation, and Strategic Partnerships

The keynote floor was opened for Gonçalo Guiomar, from the ETH AI Center, Zürich, where he presented 'Unstable Diffusion: On Cultivating Interdisciplinary Chaos' - a talk on how science, art, and engineering can unite to drive creation across Europe and unfold new languages for collaboration.

There was still opportunity to hear about 'strategic partnerships accross sectors – a creative hub’s journey' from the 10y activity of Dinamo10 - by Joana Carvalho and Fátima São Simão

The last participation was left to one of our cross-innovation ambassadors: Martin Q Larson from Subtopia, where he shared their experience with the Cross Con & Learning Labs on Cross Innovation partnerships. 

BAUTOPIA 5 - Day 3 - General Assembly & Visit to Lottozero 

The last day of this year's Culture & Creativity Conference was split between the General Assembly, where our members had the chance to hear about the new funding cycle and the details of the programs for our memebrs, and a long waited visit to Lottozero, in Prato. 

Lottozero is a creative hub and a design studio, with a textile laboratory, a shared studio space/coworking and an exhibition area - they are also one of ECHN's oldest members! The team at LZ prepared a full hands-on experience for the participants to explore this hub: 

- Art Exhibition: The participants had the opportunity to see the Lottozero Kunsthalle, which is the exhibition space where they present the work of artists and designers interested in exploring textile material and languages. There was a remarkable series of handwoven brocades by Graziella Guidotti, textile designer and historian of textile culture, who is considered the greatest living expert on ancient manual weaving techniques in Italy. The series is inspired by a 13h century French troubadour poem and is presented in a new installation, specially conceived for the spaces of the Lottozero Kunsthalle.

- Textile design and sustainability: The visitors also participated in the Refashionized training session, with content and activities focused on sustainable fashion, specifically designed for trainers and youth educators. 

The activity that marked the end of the event was the Lab at Lottozero! 

Everyone was exploring techniques & machines from the Textile lab: this was for many the first introduction to all their possibilities! 

The visitors received detailed explanations on each machine and its functions; from the manual hand weaving looms and the Tc2 digital loom to the sewing and embroidery machines, the knitting machines and much more. 

They were also able to see and experiment the silk-screen-printing process, carding and felting.

Clearly, the tufting gun was the favourite! 

Thank you for the wonderful experience to the whole DumBO and Lottozero team!