Our new trans-continental peer learning program will take ECHN members from Germany and Croatia - to Taipei and New York City, building new bridges in the fields of creative glass making and independent publishing.
Today’s creative and cultural sectors face rapid change, from globalisation and digital transformation to socio-political change. To navigate these effectively, there’s a growing need for skills in resilience building, international collaboration, and global cultural engagement. International Peer Creators is a global training and mentoring initiative designed to address this urgent need.
Building on its annual pan-European mobility calls through the P2P Exchange and Staff Exchange programs, ECHN recently launched a new call aimed at connecting leading European CCSI professionals with their peers worldwide. International Peer Creators is a unique program aims to bridge learning and knowledge exchange with cultural diplomacy, in a moment in which meaningful global cultural connections seem to be more important than ever. The program was open to all European-based creative and cultural professionals and actors, but the priority was, naturally, given to the members of our network.
Among the many received applications, two had stood out, proposed by ECHN members from Germany and Croatia, and were finally selected to participate this year, based on their proposed programs of the exchanges and their relevance to the mission of ECHN and this particular program.
The first exchange will see Culture Hub Croatia from Split, travelling to New York for a week of knowledge exchange and collaboration with UrbanGlass and KEEP Brooklyn. The aim is to explore the advanced glassmaking practices, studio management, and educational models relating to the artisan approach to glass making. The visit will include a public meetup to present Culture Hub Croatia, showcase its activities, and highlight the ECHN network, while fostering dialogue with the local creative community and developing strategies for long-term collaboration to support emerging glassmakers in Croatia and the establishment of similar structures which could support the artisans working in this field in Croatia in the long run.
In the second exchange, C*SPACE from Berlin will travel to Taipei for a week of collaboration with Nowhere Bookstore, focusing on translocal cultural hubs, diaspora engagement, and co-creation of sustainable, community-driven initiatives. The visit will feature participatory events, zine-making, and dialogue with local creatives, aiming to strengthen Europe–East Asia networks, explore innovative hub models, and empower Chinese-speaking diaspora communities as active contributors to collaborative cultural practices.
Both exchanges will take place in the second half of 2026, which means you will be hearing and reading more about them on the ECHN social media and the website between August and October. We congratulate all of the selected hubs and their hosts, and wish for their collaborations to be fruitful, and lead to long-lasting affiliations and projects!
