BAUTOPIA is a dynamic event series, held annually, designed to facilitate the sharing of innovative engagement strategies, enhance visibility, and foster collaboration among creative hubs in Europe.
It is always produced as a collaborative effort of ECHN and one or more of its member hubs, who host the event in their respective city.
All CCSI professionals from around Europe, or even beyond, are welcome to join!
BAUTOPIA is a dynamic event series, held annually, designed to facilitate the sharing of innovative engagement strategies, enhance visibility, and foster collaboration among creative hubs in Europe.
Participants discuss and exchange ideas usually over three carefully programmed days, touching on topics including CCSI recovery, resilience and freedom of artistic expression, sustainability of hubs and creative professions, participatory creative and artistic practices, the impact of new technologies - and many other relevant fields of exploration.
Each BUATOPIA brings together between 100 and 500 professionals and participants, and presents a multitude of programs - from keynote lectures and panel discussions, over workshops, guided tours, special networking formats parties and artistic interventions.
Depending on the year, there is always a guiding topic of interest which frames the conversations taking place at the event. Each year, the event may take a different form or scale: from a Hubs Meetup (small-scale, up to 100+ participants), over a Conference format (middle scale, 200+ participants), all the way to the form of a Culture & Creativity Festival (large-scale, 500 participants).
In the literal sense, it means something like building a place (from the German word bau + the Greek word topos). And then there is the notion of utopia, hovering above it all. And for the most part, this is exactly how we feel when organizing and attending these events, as well as running our network, in itself a utopian and symbolic space which we built together.
Hubs are about place making, and as such create what was once not there, or used to be something else a long time ago. They are optimistic in their nature, aspiring to connect people, incite common action and move the ecosystem of culture and creativity forward, through constructive action and learning. Be it from the very local level of, for example, a village in north of Spain, to the very high level of Brussels decision-making, which shape the frameworks in which all of us operate.
It is about building structures, building competences and knowledge, building personal confidence and organizational capacities for better, shared and more open cultural and creative spaces and communities. All of this, and of course much more than that, can be recognized in the era of the eponymous Bauhaus movement, which has shaped some of the most progressive initiatives in European art, design and education of the 20th century, with its reflections still shining strongly over us.
Hence, we are building with BAU!
And it is definitely not just BAU (short for “business as usual”)
Last but not least,, we are also consciously nod to the New European Bauhaus initiative, with whose principles and focuses we aim to align when programming our flagship events, among which BAUTOPIA holds a unique position.
BAUTOPIA usually takes place once a year. It is always produced as a collaborative effort of ECHN and one or more of its member hubs, who host the event in their respective city, or village. The program is commonly co-curated and co-produced, and provides important local leverage for the hosting organization(s), who welcome hundreds of creative professionals from around Europe, showcase their spaces, initiatives and work, and engage their wider creative communities.
It is a chance to address the burning issues of the CCSI ecosystem, but also to touch on topics that our members, and their respective communities feel are important at that particular moment. European stakeholders, policy makers, as well as representatives of local municipalities and relevant ministries, are also always invited to attend or take an active part in the program.
BAUTOPIA also hosts annual ECHN General Assembly, working part of the program open to ECHN members only, when important issues within the network are discussed and reported on, and acts as an open platform for guiding the development of the network
All CCSI professionals from around Europe, or even beyond, are welcome to join our BAUTOPIA conferences and festivals, which take place every second year. You can register as a representative of an organization, or also as a student, freelancer or an independent artist, practitioner or a researcher.
The events are a meeting point and melting point for artists, professionals, practitioners, stakeholders, students, or anyone interested to join the conversations about the state and the future of the wider CCSI ecosystem of Europe.
On the other hand, every other year we produce a BAUTOPIA Hubs Meetup, a more intimate affair for 100+ members of ECHN, and other program participants. These are intended to closely bond the peer community of European hubs, discuss practical issues, explore new initiatives and constellations, and address key topics relevant to our sectors.
Of course, all ECHN members are encouraged to join, and are eligible for financial support to attend the events.
We align with a wide range of partners in the hosting city, and produce a number of satellite programs and events, thus attracting both the professional and the general audiences. You can always expect inspirational keynote lectures from some of the leading creators, researchers and managers, as well as a multitude of panels, workshops, participatory sessions, performances, exhibitions and music programs.
You are also able to connect with hundreds of professionals working in complementary fields to yours, and broaden your professional and organizations network, contributing to the internationalization of your, or the activities of your hubs and organizations.
Our programs offer everything from inspirational keynotes to practical workshops, with the idea to broaden and transfer knowledge and experiences, to share stories of success and failure, and share good practices and useful methodologies among professionals who often face similar challenges in their work. Of course, we do not forget to have fun and create engaging events for more informal connections, such as parties, guided tours and communal meals.
Our members reconnect with their peers and strengthen the already existing affiliations, often bringing them to a new level after BAUTOPIA, via p2p exchange program we are conducting, direct exchanges or specific project collaborations.
ECHN members are also invited to co-curate the BAUTOPIA programs and propose their own interventions, or parts of the program, which are in line with the topic of the current edition, thus creating a true peer-led process and a sense of shared ownership among the members.
Besides the inspiration and knowledge shared, as well as many new connections and alliances created during the BAUTOPIA events, we are carefully documenting all interventions, and producing learning outputs published under the principles of Creative Commons, and available to anyone, at all times.
These may include lecture recordings and transcripts, critical texts relating to the topics covered at various BAUTOPIA editions, or practical toolkits which help ECHN members, as well as CCSI professionals in general - navigate the changing landscape and challenges for the European cultural and creative ecosystems.
You can find all of the BAUTOPIA publications on the ECHN’s homepage -
in the Tools & Learning section.
Each regular ECHN member organization, with membership paid for the current year, is eligible to register for any of the BAUTOPIA events, and receive support for travel and costs and subsistence for one representative per event.
Once a BAUTOPIA event is announced, ECHN members are the first to know, and the first with a chance to pre-register.
