GLAMMONS Training Workshop in Athens – Cultural Commons in Practice: Tools, Strategies, and Skills
As the GLAMMONS research project approaches its conclusion, we are pleased to share with you the project’s key findings, along with a set of tools, platforms, and manuals developed to support the professional development and capacity building of cultural sector practitioners.
We are therefore delighted to invite you to the GLAMMONS Training Workshop, which will take place on 3 September 2025, 18:00–20:00, at Romantso (Anaxagora 3, 10552 Athens).
The workshop will feature the presentation of:
Code of Conduct – a framework of best practices and ethical guidelines for professionals in galleries, libraries, archives, and museums, grounded in commons-based organizational approaches.
Skills-development Toolkit – a set of practical guides and resources across five thematic areas: participatory governance, funding, collaborative cultural activities, digital skills and evaluation, and participatory exercises with an implementation roadmap.
Rescapper – a free, open-access application enabling users to document personal experiences during outdoor walks using text, images, audio, or video, with all data owned by the user and geo-referenced on a map.
Blueprint for Digital Strategies – a step-by-step guide for developing digital strategies that enable participatory management, communication, co-creation, and data sharing, while ensuring accessibility, autonomy, and horizontal governance.
To attend, please register by sending an email to glammons.pmo@gmail.com. Please note that participation is limited.
GLAMMONS Final Conference in Athens – Commons & Commoning in and for Cultural Production
On September 4–5, 2025, the GLAMMONS project will host its Final Conference at Romantso in Athens. This two-day event marks the culmination of three years of collaborative research into the role of commons and commoning in cultural production. The programme brings together an international group of researchers, cultural practitioners, and policymakers to reflect on how commoning practices shape infrastructures, policies, values, and accessibility in the cultural field.
Over the past three years, GLAMMONS has advanced the understanding of how commons and commoning can transform cultural production. By bridging research, policy, and practice, the project has highlighted new ways for cultural institutions and creative communities to share resources, co-create value, and sustain more democratic and resilient cultural ecosystems. Its findings not only shed light on emerging practices across Europe and beyond but also provide concrete frameworks for policymakers and cultural actors seeking to embed the principles of the commons into their work. The Final Conference brings these insights together, marking an important milestone in reimagining how culture can be collectively produced, governed, and sustained. You can already have a look into our programme:
Day 1 – Thursday, 4 September 2025
09:00 – 09:20 Registration
09:20 – 09:30 Welcome speech
The GLAMMONS project – Vasilis Avdikos, Consortium Coordinator, Panteion University
09:30 – 11:15Networks and Intercommoning – Moderator: Dimitris Pettas
Keynote: Intercommoning for Transformative Resilience: Cultural Infrastructures and Commons-Based Futures – Ana Margarida Esteves (University Institute of Lisbon)
Commons-oriented archives, political subjectivity and participation in urban networks – Dimitris Pettas (Panteion University)
Culinary Commons: The Emergence of Thessaloniki’s New Culinary Scene – Yannis Chinis & Athanasios Kalogeresis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)
Toward a Sustainable Community: A Networked Approach to Cultural Exchange – Haeun Shin (Leuphana University Lüneburg)
11:15 – 11:45 Coffee break
11:45 – 13:30Policies for Enabling Commoning – Moderator: Vasilis Avdikos
Keynote: Spanish and Italian variants on new municipalist strategies to foster transformative commoning – Alexandros Kioupkiolis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)
How to support commons-oriented cultural organisations? Bringing commons and diverse and community economies in a place-based policy approach – Vasilis Avdikos, Martha Michailidou & Vera Fabinyi (Panteion University)
Cultural Infrastructure: A critical framework to implement cultural commoning – Maria Cerreta & Fabrizia Cesarano (University of Naples Federico II; Scuola Superiore Meridionale)
Enabling Commons in Cultural Production: Policies and Governance between Italy and Spain – Giovanna Muraglia, Mariavittoria Cicellin, Stefano Consiglio & Adriana Scuotto (Sapienza University of Rome; Federico II University of Naples)
From Consultancy to In-House: Public–Private Synergies; State Roles in Mobilising Heritage Commons through Greek Smart-City Policies – Margarita Chomatianou (University of the Aegean)
Keynote: Commoning Cultural Production: Cooperatives and Social Economy Ecosystems – Andreas Exner (University of Graz)
Sustaining the Commons: Towards a Diverse Financial Ecology for GLAMs and a Framework for Financial Practices of Commoning – Janet Merkel (TU Berlin)
Volunteering in Cultural Institutions and Commons-Oriented Organizations: Navigating the Gap Between Policy and Practice – Carlotta Scioldo (Erasmus University Rotterdam)
Commons and commoning in Association of Fine Artists of Serbia – Nevena Popovic & Milena Putnik (Association of Fine Artists of Serbia)
Collaborative cultural production and skills development in CCIs: What can we learn from the commons? – Katarina Živanović & Anđela Petrović (Nova Iskra Creative Hub)
16:45 – 17:00 Coffee break
17:00 – 19:00Values & Co-Creation Practices in Commons-Oriented Cultural Organisations – Moderator: Lyudmila Petrova
Keynote: A Commons-Oriented Approach to Cultural Value – Alice Borchi (University of Leeds)
Emerging culture of commons within GLAMs – Lyudmila Petrova & Arjo Klamer (CREARE)
Do GLAMMONS dream of cultural value chains? Emerging desires vs. backward conventions – Michele Trimarchi (Università Magna Graecia di Catanzaro)
Developing artistic careers through commoning practices. A humane economy of independent art spaces – Matilde Ferrero (Université libre de Bruxelles; Institut des Hautes Études des Communications Sociales)
Public art as a gift to the community – Nela Milic (Buckinghamshire New University)
Sharing values in practice through a museum’s perspective – Dimitris Galanis (Kotsanas Museum)
Keynote: Three times of the urban commons: memory, ecology, abundance – Amanda Huron (University of the District of Columbia)
Practices of Commoning and Agonistic Governance in GLAMs – Bastian Lange & Ares Kalandides (InPolis)
Reclaiming the Past, Reimagining the Institution: Lumbardhi Cinema and Post-Conflict Heritage as Commons – Chiara Mignani & Dimitra Gkitsa (King’s College London; University of Southampton)
Monument to the wasteland: memory, commons and productive nostalgia in the post-soviet neighbourhood before place-making – Karina Vabson (Estonian Academy of Arts)
11:15 – 11:45 Coffee break
11:45 – 13:30Management & Participatory Practices under Commons (Session 2) – Moderator: Bastian Lange
Memory, Knowledge, and Public History Toward a Heritage Commons: The Case of Spinalonga – Katerina Konstantinou (Panteion University)
The Heritage of COVID-19. Commons and well-being – Stelios Lekakis (Mazomos)
Mobilizing and sustaining participation in grassroots oral history projects – Mina Dragouni (Panteion University)
Commoning industrial heritage: collective management between heritage-making and (cultural) commons re-production – Danny Casprini (Politecnico di Milano)
Commons and Commoning in Heritage Management: Insights from the Italian “Patti di Collaborazione” – Giorgia Dato & Alessandro Gaballo (Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro; Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia)
Keynote: Open Weights, Data Spaces and the Uncanny Commons of the Post-Globalization Era – Prodromos Tsiavos (Onassis Foundation)
Preserving the Unstable: Conservation Challenges and Digital Strategies in Contemporary Art Institutions – Heurtebise Soline (Université libre de Bruxelles)
Challenges in Digitizing Ancient Manuscripts: A Case Study of Khastara at the National Library of Indonesia – Miftakhurokhimah Febri Ardani (National Library of Indonesia)
Rethinking Access and Participation: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Digital Cultural Commons – Laura Clemente & Francesco Bifulco (Sapienza University of Rome; University of Naples Federico II)
Increasing Access and Engagement through 3D Digital Curation in Kompakkt – Martha Mosha & Maria Sotomayor (University of Cologne)
At a time when cultural and creative organizations are going through a deep transformation, due to social changes, the digital revolution, the decline of public trust, the ever-present commercialization and privatization of cultural content, as well as the pressures of unsustainable development, the question arises: how to redefine them and re-strengthen their social function in relation to the communities of which they are an integral part?
This is an opportunity to bring together experts from the field of creative sectors, hub managers, cultural heritage, contemporary creativity, representatives of the civil sector and members of initiatives in the field of culture to jointly explore new models of cultural management – those based on openness, power sharing and joint responsibility.
The focus of the conversation will be the concept of culture as a commons – not as a theoretical ideal, but as a practical framework for thinking and designing more participatory and inclusive organizations.
This discussion opens up space for specific questions:
How to develop models that involve sharing responsibility and management practices with the community?
What are the obstacles in institutional transformation and how to overcome them?
How can we build sustainable relationships of trust in our communities or between audiences and organisations?
What skills do we need for co-management and collaborative practices in cultural production and how do we get them?
Together with the Glammons project, we are inviting ECHN members and all interested to participate in the workshop that will introduce Hub managers to some commons’ models for sustainable financing, tools for participatory governance, inclusive cultural collaboration, among other relevant topics. This training provides insights for public and private sectors, for commons oriented projects and practical hands on material. In the end, it should also offer a roadmap for implementation for each individual case.
GLAMMONS is launching its podcast! You can listen now to exciting examples from our case studies!
In our first episode, we dive into the inspiring case of Cultural Center Magacin in Belgrade through an interview with Olja Nikolić Kia. Together, we explore how Magacin challenges traditional management by embracing collaborative governance and co-leadership. As a vibrant cultural Commons, Magacin is collectively run by its users – artists, activists, and community members – who decide together how to shape and sustain the space. Tune in to hear firsthand how this decentralized model fosters creativity, inclusivity, and shared responsibility in the heart of Serbia’s cultural scene!
Interviews by Mina Dragouni, Ivan Manojlović, Katerina Konstantinou and Olja NIkolić Kia; Technique: Luca Marie Tüshaus; Text by: Ares Kalandides
Funded by: the European Union.
Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the EU nor REA can be held responsible for them.
The team from TU Berlin took part in the Global Conference on Economic Geography, held at Clark University in Worcester, USA. Dr Janet Merkel contributed to the paper session “Democratising the Economy: Theories, Approaches, and Case Studies of Alternative Economic Development”, chaired by Dr Franziska Paul (University of Glasgow).
In her presentation, Dr Merkel drew on her ongoing research into cultural commoning in the heritage sector, with a particular focus on how grassroots cultural initiatives organise and sustain themselves beyond market logics and state dependency. Her talk examined the financial practices these initiatives develop to maintain autonomy, foster resilience, and cultivate collective cultural infrastructures over time. Her research also shows that such initiatives re-socialise money—treating it not as a neutral medium of exchange, but as a means of enacting social values, constructing collective identities, and organising non-extractive economies. In doing so, they draw boundaries around the types of money they consider useful or appropriate for their purposes.
Culture as a Common Good is not an abstract concept — it entails models of managing cultural resources based on collaboration, shared responsibility, and the inclusion of communities that use and shape those resources. This approach can help rebuild trust in institutions and create more lasting connections between audiences and cultural organizations.
It is also necessary to rely on existing experiences and practices. In Serbia and the region, there are both traditional and contemporary initiatives already functioning according to the principles of the commons — from shared spaces to participatory artistic and curatorial practices. It is important to strengthen these practices and make them visible.
New methods and abilities are essential for participatory governance. Cultural institutions and organizations must develop capacities for participation, joint decision-making, and horizontal organization. This includes education, but also a willingness to change how they operate “from within.”
Recognizing and valuing different perspectives. It is crucial to include not only cultural professionals but also citizens, artists, activists, and everyone involved in cultural processes, so that approaches can be relevant and sustainable. During the panel-workshop itself, participants concluded that the most important step in opening institutions to communities is defining shared values — values the community can stand behind. All other activities are grounded in these foundations.
Opening up heritage institutions and contemporary artistic production to communities through collaborative governance, financing, and cultural production improves the institutions themselves and offers them protection in times of political and financial uncertainty.
GLAMMONS workshop discusses policy frameworks for cultural commoning in the GLAM sector
On Friday 27 June, the GLAMMONS project hosted a policy-focused workshop at TU Berlin. The workshop brought together researchers, cultural practitioners, and policymakers to collectively imagine the future of commons-based governance in the GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives, and museums) and cultural heritage sectors.
This event was a significant milestone in developing the GLAMMONS project, which seeks to increase the visibility, recognition, and long-term support of community-led cultural initiatives throughout Europe. In a collaborative setting, participants explored how public infrastructures, funding instruments and legal frameworks might be rethought to better accommodate non-institutional, collectively governed cultural practices.
Particular emphasis was placed on policy development at the municipal level, where many commons-oriented cultural initiatives are anchored in local contexts and depend on enabling frameworks, infrastructures, and partnerships to sustain their work. The workshop emphasised the role of city governments in creating favourable conditions for these initiatives and underscored the necessity of flexible, long-term mechanisms that are tailored to local circumstances.
At the heart of the discussions was a shared conviction that commons-based cultural initiatives represent an expanded, future-oriented understanding of cultural heritage. Their work closely aligns with key contemporary European cultural policy priorities, such as participation, diversity and civic engagement, as set out in frameworks like the EU Work Plan for Culture 2023–2026 and the Council of Europe’s Faro Convention. These initiatives also align with the direction set by UNESCO, particularly through the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, which prioritises practices, expressions and knowledge systems rooted in communities.
These international frameworks are increasingly calling for a shift away from centralised, state-curated understandings of cultural heritage, and towards more collaborative and decentralised approaches. Commons-based GLAM initiatives put these principles into practice. Through inclusive participation, recognition of marginalised perspectives, and creation of shared cultural spaces, they contribute significantly to the democratisation of cultural memory and meaning-making. Their practices are negotiated, caring and collective, embodying an inclusive, post-hegemonic notion of culture grounded in everyday life.
Nevertheless, the workshop also highlighted a number of structural challenges that these initiatives continue to face:
a lack of visibility in cultural policy research and official statistics, due to insufficient data collection and inadequate monitoring systems
the absence of legal recognition for commons-based organisational models (e.g. community-governed cultural institutions)
barriers to accessing existing funding schemes, often due to inflexible legal or administrative requirements
high administrative burdens associated with funding applications, which place a disproportionate strain on small-scale initiatives
a lack of long-term and infrastructural support for commons-based cultural work;
limited connectivity between commons initiatives and formal public institutions, such as museums, libraries, and archives
insecure access to physical spaces, with many initiatives reliant on temporary or precarious arrangements;
insufficient knowledge exchange and a lack of transferable good practice models across different contexts
and a lack of platforms and mechanisms for ‘intercommoning’ – sustained cooperation and mutual learning among commons-based initiatives.
Designed as a space for co-creation and critical reflection, the workshop enabled participants to test and refine preliminary policy recommendations based on the project’s ongoing research. Discussions emphasised the need to move beyond extractive and competitive cultural policy models towards frameworks that support shared governance, care-based cultural labour, and territorially rooted cultural ecosystems.
Insights from the workshop will inform the forthcoming GLAMMONS policy briefs, due to be published in autumn 2025.
At a time when cultural and creative organizations are going through a deep transformation, due to social changes, the digital revolution, the decline of public trust, the ever-present commercialization and privatization of cultural content, as well as the pressures of unsustainable development, the question arises: how to redefine them and re-strengthen their social function in relation to the communities of which they are an integral part?
This is an opportunity to bring together experts from the field of creative sectors, hub managers, cultural heritage, contemporary creativity, representatives of the civil sector and members of initiatives in the field of culture to jointly explore new models of cultural management – those based on openness, power sharing and joint responsibility.
The focus of the conversation will be the concept of culture as a commons – not as a theoretical ideal, but as a practical framework for thinking and designing more participatory and inclusive organizations.
This discussion opens up space for specific questions:
How to develop models that involve sharing responsibility and management practices with the community?
What are the obstacles in institutional transformation and how to overcome them?
How can we build sustainable relationships of trust in our communities or between audiences and organisations?
What skills do we need for co-management and collaborative practices in cultural production and how do we get them?
This workshop will introduce Hub managers to some commons’ models for sustainable financing, tools for participatory governance, inclusive cultural collaboration, among other relevant topics. It provides insights for public and private sectors, for commons oriented projects and practical hands on material. In the end, it should also offer a roadmap for implementation for each individual case.
The panel has been proposed and will be co-chaired by Valeria Morea, Erwin Dekker, and Carolina Dalla Chiesa, and will focus on state-of-the-art research on the cultural and creative industries from an institutional perspective.
We’re proud to highlight two contributions from the GLAMMONS network:
16 June, 10:00–12:00 (Massachusetts time): Matilde Ferrero will present “Informal artistic practices as cultural commons”
17 June, 10:00–12:00 (Massachusetts time): Lyudmila Petrova, Ph.D. (CREARE Social) and Marilena Vecco will present “What is cultural in cultural commons”
Both presentations will take place online.
Learn more about the conference themes and how to register here.
Prefigurative commons refers to cooperative, non-hierarchical practices based on the principles of the commons, positioning them as alternative models for social, economic, political, and cultural futures. These practices emerge within the context of a broader conceptual shift, occupying the space between the old and the new, where evolving relationships have the potential to transform social reality. Prefigurative commons practices are less about techniques and more about principles, such as shared governance, self-management, mutual aid, and collective care. They also encompass imagination and curiosity, often taking place outside institutional frameworks. An important ludic element should not be overlooked—creating a model requires first imagining it, while remaining open to its transformations. Much like play, prefigurative commons represent a space for the free flow of imagination, where boundaries are determined by consensus.
Prefigurative commons can be found in many cultural forms traditionally referred to as “folk,” such as storytelling, music performance, and even dance semiotics and game mechanics. I am particularly referring here to the globally recognized, archetypal (or monomythic) patterns shared by many cultures across different regions of the world. Games are interesting examples to draw analogies to, as they represent complex forms of human interaction. Among other things, play is an essential pedagogical method for learning how to negotiate rules and relationships from an early age. Because games are time-limited—whether determined by the causal structure of a fantasy or by the open-ended nature of the flow, allowing players to stop at any time—they create temporary time-spaces for more or less stable communities, self-organized to manage resources sustainably and without top-down control. Games often mirror real-world commons dilemmas, illustrating models of collective action, cooperation, and sustainable resource use.
For example, many tabletop RPGs rely on co-created narrative commons-stories, rather than being owned by a single author. Open-source RPGs allow players to modify and expand upon the rules, reflecting commons-based peer production. LARPing often involves improvised rules, co-created worlds, and shared narratives, forming a cultural commons. Some LARP communities operate on gift economies or participatory governance, similar to real-world commons structures. In recent years, I have been exploring a genre called serious gaming.
Serious gaming refers to the use of games for purposes beyond entertainment, such as education, social change, research, and training. These games often simulate real-world systems to help players explore complex problems, decision-making, and cooperation—making them particularly relevant to commons theory. Unlike gamification, where game-like elements are added to non-game tasks, serious games are fully developed game experiences that balance fun with meaningful learning outcomes.
In the summer of 2023, I was invited to design a serious game titled THINKING SHAPES / SPEAKING SHAPES / SHAPING SOCIAL COMMONS by the društvo udružene odgovornosti collective for their exhibition program at the U10 art space in Belgrade. The theme of the program was the institution of the future, a politically sensitive topic in the local context. There were many potential points to approach critically, but I chose to engage the creative potentials of the players. Through this tabletop text-based cooperative serious game, I invited participants to question and deconstruct their expectations of institutional organizing, and to co-create new possible horizons for the institutional practices they wish to experience. The proposed rules of the game are negotiable; they are designed to serve the game, not the other way around. Each task presents a choice on a metanarrative level, provoking players to the adequacy and relevance of the rules in relation to the situations at hand, or the authority of the game master.
What I have learned from games is that everyone enjoys playing, especially when the game is not competitive, but rather encourages curiosity and creativity. It has been proven that play stimulates spontaneous and long-term learning processes through its open and inclusive, transdisciplinary nature. Just like the games, the best way to learn commoning is by practicing it until one becomes really good at it.
Ana Pinter – stage director, theater educator and co-founder of Tri groša (Threepenny) company based in Belgrade, Serbia
Would you like to share your experience? Feel free to leave a reply!
