HUIS VDH: Where collaborative exchanges are the key - Call For Venues (Events, Projects, Organisations)

It’s now a year that Huis VDH started its development. We opened with almost six months of reflection and discussions, using futurism for exemple before getting our hands dirty. When getting concrete we had two major events: Brussels Street Photography Festival and Open&Change Workshop. Two big successes, but that created big structural struggles. So we got back to the drawing boards and rethought the way we where (not) organized.

From January 2017, Huis VDH will be hosting organisations, events and projets that are in line with our vision and ideas. At the moment Greenpeace Brussels, Brunchstorming and MakeSense are (regularly) hosting events and Armada will be joining as the first organisation. We want to give time and resources to people to experiment, try, fail and succeed around new models for the present and future of Brussels. We are convinced that the magic happens by connecting citizen skills and needs.

From now on we are open for venues, you can fill in one of the forms and read here in detail how we work.

Common Values: Collaboration and exchange but no consumerism

When receiving your demand for a venue, we study it and look for common values. Most importantly is that each project is open for collaboration in one way or another: open to exchange knowledge, open to new people, open to share resources. Events that are purely there to consume, ex. a classic concert, a reception will be asked to rethink how they can make the event more active and collaborative: add a lecture on group dynamics in bands or make the reception open to randomly selected people through a fun mechanism and we will reconsider.

Events

• Type: Lectures, Workshops, Expo’s
• Time: Once, occasionally, regularly
• What we give: Space, basic logistics (screen, chairs, tables, internet), access to a bar.
• Return: From voluntary donation, to resources, helping out for the renovation, …
• What not: big amount of people, can’t host independently

Projets

• Type: Flexible and/or pluridisciplinary projects that want to create a Proof Of Concept in 3 to 6 months
• Time: Test period of 3 months, can be prolonged to 6
• What we give: access to a big network of people and resources, collaboration with local Fablabs, space to work but no private or permanent space + all local resources from the events.
• Return: Help in renovation of the spaces: bringing resources, working at a building weekend, organizing building workshops… and/or voluntary donation+ Documentation of what you are doing
• What not: teams bigger then 5

Organisations

• Type: Organisations with a certain professionalism, that need a space to start their activity.
• Time: Test period of 6 months, can be prolonged for 6 months multiple times.
• What we give: The same resources as for projects + a permanent space to work in private if needed, shared with the other organisation staying at the moment
• Return: Helping in the day to day management of Huis VDH and solidifying the whole project and/or voluntary donation + Documentation of what you are doing .
• What not: teams bigger then 3

The End Game

Huis VDH itself is a proof of concept that at end of the ride wants to show that empty spaces above bars and shops can be reconsidered as vectors for new models. While giving young projects, organisations and events a space to start we create dynamic environments and renovate old abandoned spaces into livable labs. Every step will be documented so each inspired citizen can start the same process of repurposing unused space, with hopefully each time less restrictions and more creative solutions.