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Handbook for improving the access to culture of your community with Baba Residence

The project „Revitalizing Villages through Creative Activities“ is implemented with financial support provided by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway under the EEA Financial Mechanism. Its main objective is to contribute to the creation of a sustainable cultural entrepreneurial model addressing the depopulation of villages through their access to culture.

In this pocket-sized book, you can unfold the knowledge of one precious way you can contribute to a decentralized future for your village, community, neighbourhood – with improved access to culture and vibrant multigenerational communities! We have been on site for 10 years now under the “hat” of BABA Residence. It’s been 10 years mostly spent in adventures and encounters, field research and ethnological expeditions – or all that we saw as the needed care for creating a functional and ethical model that calibrates the fine balance between quality human interaction and scale, which allowed the creation of cultural products and experiences in over 30 villages. It is these 10 years and all that we have learned in that time that oblige us to summarize and derive the basic elements of the model so that it can be used without necessarily having our team around. Ultimately the goal is to see a new approach to access to culture in as many places as possible across the country. Our experience over these years has spanned a wide range of expertise – working with local authorities, with over 30 village community centres (chitalishta) and local communities across the country. We have learnt how to create and maintain trust and overcome conflict and difficulties of all kinds to facilitate intergenerational encounter and interaction, to lead the process of creating creative interventions in villages with and for local communities. After each residency program, we asked ourselves how to adapt our model of social innovation to better serve our vision of vibrant and culturally emancipated rural areas.

We’ve refined our work, making the Residency in 2020 exclusively and solely artistic. This meant fueling new processes: creating an open call for artists, engaging them in the theme of socially engaged and community art, finding curators who understood our vision and the goals of the program, finding the right place for the creative process in the relationship with the village, presenting and making sure that the work of artists created in the villages reaches a wide audience in cities as well – like Sofia, Vratsa, Vidin. In 2023, we were also able to create the first physical spaces tailored to the needs of an artist residency, along with our local friends and chitalishta in 6 villages in Northwest Bulgaria. During these 10 years working on site, we have come to understand that the intersection between contemporary art and culture, traditional culture, generations, urban and rural culture is enlivening! Efforts in this direction unlock opportunities for regional development, the local economy, the publicity of villages and their cultural heritage. And, most importantly, such efforts offer an opportunity for the host village to write its history from today’s perspective through the methods of art, involving as many community members as possible in these processes. This is a tremendously valuable approach, part of the renaissance period of our villages, which has sadly disappeared from many of the villages we work in. Thank you for taking this path with courage and commitment!

WHY this handbook and WHY a residency in a village? The information in this chapter will help you to understand the context and issues that Baba Residence addresses. It will also be useful to you when you are looking for public support to start a residency program in a village: be it from your fellow villagers, from institutions and local municipalities, from the community center board, from the regional mayor, etc.

Preparation. We will get to know how to make a residency come true, what skills, resources and support are needed, and what partnerships should be built before the Residency itself has started.

The “What”? We’ll dive into the steps and the pragmatics of implementing the Residency model.

Possible challenges If the mayor... If the community center... If the local community... If the hosts... If the artist(s)...

Administration and logistics – the unavoidable burden that can be endured lightly with a good plan and coordination.

Publicity and communication – we will learn how to share information about the Residency before, during and after its end.

Insights of the core team from the years of working with Baba Residence in villages. Interviews with Ognyan Tonchev (mayor of Deleyna), Tonko Nedkov (host from Salash), Antoaneta Quick (resident in Koshava in 2023) and Maria Bozhkovska (representative of Chitalishte “Lighthouse 1930”, Pavolche).

Role of Ideas Factory. You will find out how we can support your village and be helpful throughout the process of implementing Baba Residence.

The experience of an Icelandic village and the Centre for Creativity “Gullkistan”

The context. Does it really make sense for a village or a community to invest the time and resources to conduct an artist residency focused on working with and for the community? It is not an easy process, it is labour intensive and new skills and flexibility often need to be acquired. The task requires working with multiple partners, media, managing contingencies, and bearing financial responsibility. We assure you, in our team, in moments of fatigue or serious challenges, this question invariably emerges. And then we remind ourselves: The European context: in the EU, the problem of territorial asymmetries in development is becoming more and more serious – this means a concentration of resources in the economic centres of countries and regions, leading in the context of an ageing population to the depopulation of entire regions. The European Commission issued a call to the European Parliament in the spring of 2023 to focus on this very issue. It is complex and there is no single solution, but there is a need for a systematic approach. The Bulgarian context, however, is even more dire and we can firmly state that several serious demographic characteristics are involved – Bulgaria IS the fastest depopulating country in the world and the Bulgarian North-West is the most depopulated region within the EU and also has the highest indicators of economic and energy poverty and risk of social exclusion.

To this picture we can add the research that we at Ideas Factory did at the beginning of 2023 within our project „Right to Culture“ (supported by the National Fund for Culture). It highlighted extremely high rates of non-participation and non-attendance of cultural events – with over 89% of people over 55 in small towns not attending a single cultural event. Bulgaria is extremely centralised economically and, unfortunately, there are no policies that address the problem of regionalisation in a systematic and interdisciplinary way, covering the multiple levels involved in the problem. Why a handbook? In this handbook, we have gathered the most important lessons from our experience (so far). The content could be a foundation for any community centre, active informal local group or person living in a village, in a less populated place or even a neighbourhood without regular access to contemporary culture who wants to start walking on the path of cultural innovation and take responsibility for the quality of culture in their community. The aim is to translate all this experience into understandable language and lead through a well-trodden path everyone who believes, that access to culture is a key factor in revitalizing villages and small towns. This guide also aims to make a modest contribution to rethinking the role of community centres (which we will sometimes refer to as chitalishta). We believe they are an invaluable heritage of the Bulgarian Renaissance period. Investing in them and the skills of community centre movers and shakers is a necessity for our future if spirituality and community are to be present there. The chitalishte has a future and this handbook is designed, based on the new skills needed to run such a community centre nowadays. We hope it will be useful to these very people. And they are a special breed of professionals, skilled at both working with their community and responsible for the “cultural import and export” of a community. Our vision and the functionality of the handbook do not exclude other types of communities – for example, the movement to democratise resources in cities and change the face of neighbourhoods. The Handbook focuses primarily on villages because that is our experience and focus, but the methods described here can be applied, of course, in any other setting. It is necessary that they are applied in the context of “community” work and common interest, and that the basic principles of Baba Residence and its ethos are respected.

The information in this guide will be useful to you when you are looking for a way to bring a fresh cultural breeze into your community, and it will also be helpful in finding community support for starting an artist-in-residence program and opening a residency space in your village: either amongst your neighbours, from institutions and local municipality, from the community centre (chitalishte) board, from the regional mayor, when raising funds or starting your own fundraising campaigns. With this handbook we declare that we are ready to support every village, mayor, community centre, institution or a person that could benefit from this experience, and who decides to join our community of idealists creating a new vision for Bulgarian villages.

To see some of our achievements with local people in 19 villages over the last 9 years, click here. To see the artistic results of Baba Residencе in 6 Northwest villages in 2023, click here.

And why is it important for you to make the Residency a reality in your village?

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Once you are aware of your personal motivation to embark on this responsible, fundamentally peace-building initiative, and once you have reflected on what it would mean for the resilience of our communities, culture and country, it is good to consider all the supporting forces necessary to bring it to fruition. The stakeholders form a map of the system inside of which the Residency will blossom. Team. Whether you’re a long-established or brand new team, or just looking for like-minded people to create a Residency with, it’s crucial to clarify roles and responsibilities from the start. Additional important factors are mutual trust, a willingness to help each other out at critical times, as well as to take on parts of each other’s roles when needed. In our experience, the key roles for the implementation of your Residency team are: residency coordinator (in charge of partnerships, administrative tasks and logistics; very much the person that residents turn to first); a person responsible for group processes and residents’ training (creates training designs and is available during the Residency for resolving conflicts and resident needs); and communications manager (documents knowledge and stories during the trips; in charge of online communication and outreach about the Residency).

Financial sources (through projects, grants, donations, fundraisers, paid fees, as a service, etc.). We implemented all 9 editions of Baba Residence over the years in a variety of ways: through projects funded by national and European funds, open calls from companies, private foundations and European cultural organisations; individual donations and fundraising campaigns (online and with events such as concerts). We have also started a social enterprise with handicrafts and products of elderly people from villages. The merry-go-round of funders has not stopped and the truth is that it is not easy. However, with this handbook we are trying to change this dependence on external funding sources and offer the functioning of the Residency more as a business model. A paid participation fee would be one possible approach to implement this change. More information can be found in the next chapter What?, where we look at the Residency model in more detail. Local partners (community center, town hall, cultural organisation, active locals). These are your faithful allies (or perhaps you are already part of one of the above :)) on the local ground, without whom the Residency cannot unfold ro offer its full potential and gifts to the community. In case you are not a permanent resident of the village where you are organising the Residency, it is particularly important to have people and institutions there who recognise and understand the initiative and assist, on the one hand, in coordinating with the local community and, on the other, in any logistical issues. Of course, it is not necessary that, for example, the town hall or the mayor or the community center are equally excited about the idea of a 1-month stay of uknown young people in the village. The key is that they are equally informed, and that you have their permission and approval to organize Baba Residence in that village. Local community. Besides the personal and individual changes that occur within the participants (residents) during the Residency, the main gift and lasting contribution we want to leave is for the local community. The needs and longings of local people, their problems and knowledge, and their ideas for their own settlement must be documented and taken into account. That is why it is crucial for the team to build close communication through genuine listening, even if you are already part of the community. There are a number of steps to take toward that purpose before the start of the Residency, and during the Residency there should be joint events and discussions. We discuss this topic further in the next chapter What?

The hosts from the village (where the residents will live) are often the residents‘ most enduring link to the village during and after the Residency itself. These are the brave locals who open their homes in which the residents live for 1 month and share food, knowledge and part of their daily lives. Their hospitality, of course, is financially supported so that the residents‘ stay is not a burden. There are administrative and logistical preparations for their involvement, which we discuss in the chapter on Administration and Logistics. Residents (participants in the Residency). The main energizers of the purpose of Baba Residence. They are artists from all corners of Bulgaria (in some cases – the world), of different ages, with different forms of education and occupations. They leave their homes for 1 month and devote their time, attention and creative urge to supporting the local community in the village. As a result, in addition to the many shared daily experiences, events, friendships and workshops, they develop their own artistic project and organise a final event in the village. Their involvement is also supported by an honorarium. Curator (may or may not be from the team). The Artistic аdvisor of the residents. He/ she takes part in their preliminary training, deepening their understanding of socially engaged and community art. The person is responsible for the process of further developing their artistic concepts and projects related to the Residency, as well as organising the exhibitions at the end and after the Residency. Mentors (can be from the team – manage group dynamics and polish the projects of the residents; business experts and other specialists). They are the invaluable spice of the initiative. Some of them, depending on the expertise available, may also be part of the team. Their main role is to be involved in the preliminary training and to support the residents during the Residency both for the balance of the group dynamics and for advice and guidance related to the development of their artistic, and sometimes social-entrepreneurial, projects. It is good that they know the village well, that they’re known by the local community and that they visit the village at least 2 times during the Residency. Media. It is good to start engaging with the media in the early stages of preparing for the Residency – when you know which village you are going to organize it in, what the theme of the Residency is and when it will happen, what you expect it to improve and what it will influence. Then you can send the first press release to them (details in the Publicity chapter). The media are valuable disseminators of the Residency’s messages and allow them to reach more and more diverse people, and to find new and unexpected support. More importantly, the needs, issues and cultural treasures of the villages may find a greater response through regular communication with them.

The main purpose of this handbook is to provide you and your team (and other village community center representatives or active local people and organizations) with a proven and effective way to positively impact your community by cultivating familiarity and solidarity between generations, between young urban people and elderly rural people, between rural and urban culture. The impact of our efforts: based on interviews and research it can be argued that the Baba Residence model certainly has the following impact: ● enhances the skills of all stakeholders to work in a complex and broad model; ● increases media interest in the Residency villages; ● contributes new knowledge to artists and young people in terms of living in a community; ● enhances the capacity of village community centres to work in a dynamic environment; ● attracts donations, funding and investment to the village in various forms far beyond the actual occurance of Baba Residence; ● involves local women in a knitting cooperative that contributes to increasing their income by an average of 80%;

● builds new useful connections to the village; ● raises the prestige of the community center and the folklore groups from the village on a national scale. This past 2023 we made artist residencies come true in as many as 6 Northwest villages! We put into practice some ideas that we hypothesized might be useful for permanently improving access to culture in villages and the connection between generations. One of these ideas-come-true was the renovation of 1 community cultural space in each village, to be permanently used by local residents and by visiting artists and diverse experts for cultural events, discussions and creative activities. However, the big question for the initiative remained: How to make the Baba Residence model more independent and financially sustainable? Here you see the basic steps of the Baba Residence model as we have honed it with each edition since 2015, operating as a non-profit association. Each of the steps hides multiple considerations and variables, a need for flexibility and responsiveness to local reality as it is. We’re here to tell you more and support you and your team through each step, but we also believe the model can be improved through many untried (by us) steps.

Thanks to the help of a business consultant who worked with us on the “Revitalizing Villages through Creative Activities” project, we mapped out possible changes to make the current model function more like a fair and sustainable business model. The Baba Residence business model could not be one-size-fits-all. It can and should be adapted to the resources and needs of the particular village.

Here are 2 possible alternative models:

Costs: ● coordinator; ● subscription to online platforms and online advertising; ● maintenance of the accommodation; ● securing a space/ studio for the artists to work; ● honorarium for curators and mentors; ● exhibition hall hire and catering if the exhibition travels outside the village/ neighbourhood; ● production costs for the creation of artworks; ● accommodation and food costs for artists; ● incidental expenses. Obviously, in this model, the amount of costs depends mostly on how many artists you invite and for exactly how many days, as well as how you organize their accommodation – in different households or in one house that has the proper conditions. In our work, we have noticed that a stay of less than 20 days can hardly produce the desired result, as residents need to have time to get to know the village so they can create with and for the local community. This model is dependent on financial support, with the following options: the village could organize a fundraiser by itself on one of the dozens of fundraising platforms. Additionally, the support of the municipality and the mayor in the regional municipality could be sought. You could apply to various Corporate Social Responsibility projects, which some big companies are now developing. Income: ● donations; ● projects; ● hosting corporate team building events; ● fee for site-specific artifacts, experiences and tours created with the artists.

Model 2 is financially sustainable and does not depend primarily on external support, but on the contrary generates its funds through the supply of products and services. In this case, the village, the community centre or even a private host, can offer facilities for a paid artist residency. In this case, however, the village might not set the theme of the artists‘ work, but rather is a place for creation that is not necessarily related to the history or present of the village, as in the first case. In this model, artists pay to stay because of the environment suitable for quiet work and for the opportunity to work with a curator. Costs: ● maintenance and supplies of the venue and the artists‘ work space; ● coordination and care of the artists and the logistics around them; ● honorarium for curators/ mentors; ● exhibition hall hire and catering if the exhibition travels outside the village/ neighbourhood. Income: ● participation fee payable by the artists, usually on a weekly basis (i.e. the stay cannot be less than a week). In this case, the residency needs to be well branded and present on major artist residency platforms such as ResArtis for example; ● paid tours for tourists to exhibitions in the village made up of the work of the artists in residence. Despite the autonomy of this model, it is quite possible to get support from a municipality or donor because of the undeniable social impact of the model.

What questions do you have about the steps and possible models? Do you have any other ideas?

If the mayor... isn‘t genuinely interested in the Residency? That‘s not an obstacle that should stop us from making it happen in this village. It is crucial to have informative meetings with him/ her and for the mayor to be familiar with the process and goals of the Residency. We should build a transparent and respectful relationship, even if we are aware that we will not rely on significant support, for example, in identifying the needs of the village, organising volunteer actions or providing spaces for the residents to use. We have had a variety of circumstances – both a very diplomatic and informative relationship with the village head, and a cordially collaborative one where he is fully invested in this interaction so that it is helpful for pressing village issues. In any case, you need to communicate the benefits of the Residency for the local community and economy very clearly. If the community centre... staff doesn‘t have the experience or capacity to organise the Residency or be an active partner in making it happen in this village? We consider community centres to be the most promising organisers or partners of Baba Residence. That is why last year we made efforts to involve

community centres from our network in a series of trainings and events to raise awareness and competence in running cultural initiatives on local grounds. However, if there’s a lack of desire or capacity for such assistance in your village, don’t give up. It is quite valid to rely as a team more on the town hall or on a strong and active group of local people. Again, the important thing is to at least have informed and transparent communication with the local community centre. If the local community... is sceptical at first? This is a very common reaction especially if they don’t know you and the team well in the beginning. This is where any effort to consistently and clearly communicate the goals, personal motivation and benefits the Residency can bring to the village plays an important role. Taking time for community meetings and discussions, listening to and documenting the needs, ideas and opinions of local people should become the basis of the upcoming Residency. After the first 2 meetings, it usually becomes clear whether the majority of the community will respond with approval of the Residency. If the hosts... don’t want to host? Unfortunately, it is our general observation that it is becoming more and more difficult each year to encounter a spontaneous willingness on the part of older people in villages to share their homes with unknown young people. Their decision, of course, also depends on the degree of trust we as a team build with them, but there are also a multitude of societal factors that have influenced the thinning of their trust in outsiders. And we understand that. So if you run into this despite the long process of building trust, there are a couple of options: provide residents with accommodation in a public space in the village that has a bathroom and toilet, or in a guest house (see more in the Administration and Logistics chapter). Another issue we have encountered is that after the first week, disagreement might arise between a resident and a host. In such a situation, if the relationship does not progress or the conflict is not resolved after the intervention of the mentor (or а person from the team) who is responsible for the group processes and the needs of the residents, there are 3 options: move the resident to another household, to a public space in the village that has a bathroom and toilet, or to a guest house.

If the artist(s)... do not have a suitable place for daily creative work? We‘ve encountered this too – even after such a place was promised and cleared (by us), it turned out to be unavailable the day before the Residency began. No big deal. The library or another room in the community centre might be an option, a room in one of the households where the residents are housed, or as a last resort – a space in the nearest neighbouring village. Such a case, given a motivated local group of people, could also set in motion the rapid tidying and cleaning of a long disused public space. Inquire boldly until a solution is found. Intolerance may occur between two or more artists. This situation is usually easily resolved with the help of a person from the core team or mentor responsible for the group dynamics and needs of the residents. Quite often such circumstances can be resolved by talking separately and together with the residents involved and by setting clear boundaries of their interactions. It is important to recall the common mission and goals of residency participation and to jointly decide how to pursue them despite the personality mismatches. N.B.! Keep in mind that your team can turn to us for advice and support at any step of the process. You‘ll find out more specifically what to do and where to find us in the chapter Role of Ideas Factory.

Administration. One of the unseen acts of heroism of running an initiative like our community Baba Residence – both when it comes to its fruition as an NGO model and when it is paid as a business model based initiative. The administration of each step of the Residency is key to its quality execution. When planning to implement our Residency in a village, it is important to keep in mind that every community centre and/ or organisation has the right to do business, and by its very meaning, it is an activity that brings economic benefits to the legal entity (community centre, organisation). Non-profit organisations have the right to engage in economic activity, the amount of which must not exceed more than 50% of the non-profit activity or that which is basic and intrinsic to community centres. The main documents that are needed for the administration of a Residency like ours are: ● contracts (civil contracts and service contracts); ● invoices; ● travel orders; ● tickets and fuel invoices. Civil contracts are concluded between the host organisation (community centre or other) and the persons who are paid for their involvement (artist, resident, mentor, curator, host or other role).

Invoices. It is very important to take invoices for every expense incurred related to the realization of the Residency. Examples of such expenses would be: materials for artistic interventions, food, accommodation, printing and stationery, etc. Travel orders. The community centres (or other organisations) are entitled to draw up travel orders for the persons with whom they have contracts and to pay per diems in accordance with Bulgarian legislation, and to reimburse transport costs by fuel invoice or a transport ticket. It is important that at every step of the planning and implementation of the Residency, all necessary original documents are diligently prepared and collected! Logistics. Good logistics guarantee a good Residency. The main elements of our logistical process are related to the accommodation, food for the residents and the selection of a proper creative workspace. The first thing we need to make sure is available and that we can provide is a place for the residents to live (sleep). There are several options: ● a room in a local household that has a bedroom and access to a bathroom and toilet shared with the hosts; ● a separate house or a room in a house with no permanent hosts, which has a bathroom and toilet; ● a shared community space (type of residential centre) which has a bedroom with a bathroom and toilet; ● a guest house in the village. For any organiser, the topic of food provision during the Residency is essential. There are different options according to the options the village offers and the willingness of local people: ● having (a minimum of 2 meals) in the household where the resident is staying; ● having a meal in a shared space in the village with the other participants, prepared by the local hosts; ● half-independent preparation in exchange for provided products or completely independent from the village (residents buy their own food and prepare their own meals or the village provides them with home-grown products and they have the commitment to prepare their meal themselves).

Space for creative work. For each artist, the place where he/ she will unfold the creative work during his/ her stay in the village is essential. Ideally, the venue should meet the following criteria: ● it must be spacious enough to accommodate the creative materials and eventually the display of the finished works (exhibition); ● sufficient daylight; ● has the necessary equipment for the work (table/ desk, chairs, storage space for materials, wi-fi, multimedia); ● easily accessible – in a visible and reachable place. Choosing a proper space for creative work: This type of space should better be a community space and could be: a room in the community centre in the village that has been refreshed and meets the necessary criteria for artistic work or a self-contained building that is not being used for its intended purpose (former bakery, nursery, school, health center etc.) and could be adapted and renovated for our purpose.

Why is it important to have good visibility online and in the local community when preparing for and running a Baba Residence? Our mission is socially responsible, you already know that. We have the opportunity through the Residency to broaden the spectrum of humanity, cultural and social awareness and actual engagement to all people who follow us online as well. In addition to maintaining good communication with all partners and the local community, it is advisable to regularly post online a sincere piece of each stage of the preparation of the Residency. Who maintains your online communication and how? As you read above, there is a person in our team who is responsible for the communication of the Residency (amongst a host of other things across the organisation, of course). Is there such a person in your team or will you need outside help? Another possible approach is to take turns and work out a communication plan for which of you will be responsible for online communication during which period. There are plenty of templates on the internet to help structure a communication plan, but you can email us to share examples too. Whatever the template, it should always contain a table that includes at a minimum: your communication channels (e.g. Facebook, website, Instagram), content type (text + photo or video), and publish date. You can also create a legend with topics that you feel are important for you as a team to touch on a weekly or monthly basis.

A good way to structure your communication plan is to sit down with the Residency model infographic in front of you and think at each step what would be possible and valuable to cover with photos and/ or video and share with your audience. Divide the communication plan into BEFORE, DURING and AFTER the Residency and write down in advance sample themes, places and moments that you (as the communicator of the initiative) and the team could capture and share.

P.S. Ideally it would be great to have the support of a graphic designer to create some of the images as well. But even if you don‘t currently have the skills or resources to include one, you can use Canva and the free image platform The Greats. Online communication before the Residency. There are many interactive steps before the start, related to meetings with partners and the local community, the search for residents and mentors, documenting accidental encounters with local people and sharing their everyday wisdom and stories. Photos or short phone videos that capture a shared moment, a valuable statement from a local, or simply show (in combination with 1-2 sentences of text) where you are in the Residency preparation are valuable enough to gradually engage your audience with trust and curiosity.

Online communication during the Residency. At this stage, you can also rely heavily on the help of the residents themselves in reflecting on their own experiences and encounters by reposting from their social networks. You can also arrange with them to send you photos and videos 1-2 times a week to post on your profiles. However, during the events and workshops that they organize, it will be important to have someone from your team take photos as an observer. The same goes for the community celebration and exhibition for the end of the Residency. Online communication after the Residency. At best, there will be many untold stories of encounters and shared moments from the Residency itself. Beyond these, the focus of post-Residency online sharing naturally falls on the outcomes of the Residency – communal, physical (volunteer actions and renovated spaces), residents’ creative projects, friendships made. We usually create a Google drive where we make folders for each artist to upload (within 2 weeks after the Residency) photos, videos, audio and other materials from their stay in the village to share in the future. Media partnerships. The media are valuable communicators of the Residency’s messages and allow them to reach more and more diverse people. More importantly, the needs, issues and cultural treasures of the villages can find a greater response through regular communication with their help. They, in turn, also have an interest in covering attention-grabbing information about cultural specifics, events, initiatives and stories from small settlements like yours.

Interaction with the media is good to start in the early stages of preparing for the Residency – when you know where you will make it happen, and when. Then you can send the first press release to them with a proposal for a lasting communications partnership. What does that mean? Agree to email them timely information about upcoming events related to the Residency, open calls for artists and mentors, community discussions that have happened or are coming up, etc. (follow the steps in the model as a guide). If you have the phone numbers of certain journalists or media outlets, it‘s a good idea to proactively seek them out and let them know they have a press release sent out. You can find the emails of different media and journalists on their websites and make a list (with the help of an intern or volunteer) that you can easily use each time. Fortunately, there is now plenty of free materials on how to improve our online communication as organisations and informal groups with a cause TimeHeroes BOOST series with communication guidance videos is also a valuable resource that we recommend.

What are the main messages to your audience? What are your main online channels? Do you need help developing any of them? Describe below.

Being part of the Baba Residence team is a constant lesson in more empathetic living, valuable encounters with the ethnographic diversity of Bulgaria and the common laws that shape human relations, no matter where we are. And most importantly in our collective opinion, working with Baba Residence is an opportunity to cultivate a healthy and humane patriotism that is not based on rejection and fear of the unknown and of diversity. Yoana Stoyanova (communicator of the initiative and resident in BABA Residence 2015) The residency seems like a social experiment because it takes everyone involved out of their usual living circumstances and connects them in one of the most intimate interactions – coliving – and the sharing of common resources in a small community. In fact it recreates an organic reality and an organic community colourfulness typical before we concentrated in overly homogeneous groups. Patience, patience and patience for the different kinds of approaches to communication – lack of direct communication in a small community does not necessarily equate to hypocrisy or maliciousness. There are some wanderings of the mind that can be naturally calmed by intergenerational communication.

Militsa Dzhandzhova (BABA Residence coordinator since 2017 and resident in 2016) The „village“ sounds like an exotic and marginalized place to live, but it‘s actually the most natural thing that can happen to you, and adjusting to it is so easy and casual! People from the city are usually considered the knowing and the doing ones who will necessarily be of benefit to the locals and their rural lifestyle, but it often turns out that we young people from the city have much more to learn from the locals and they are quite often more resilient both mentally and physically than we are. Yanina Taneva-Georgieva (one of the founders of BABA Residence, responsible for the group and training processes) My insight is presence – in body and spirit – and that it is the most radical form of support and connection. Often to hear, to be, is worth far more than to do. And doing is only gracious when it is born of what is heard and seen, not assumed. The residency is a game of possibilities. Every conversation opens up a new opportunity to give birth or rebuild the torn social fabric. Galina Dimitrova-Dimova (curator of Baba Residence since 2020) Baba Residence is a very special type of artist residence. I would even call it unique because it combines the form of a creative residency with community approaches and practices. The artists who go to the villages are driven by their curiosity and desire to immerse themselves in authentic village life, to interact closely with local people, to be of service to the community. For the villagers, the stay of young urban people brings a fresh stream to their painfully familiar everyday life and causes excitement. The final events we do in the villages are a real celebration for people there and give them a sense of mutual joy and meaning. I’m always amazed how the young artists and the elderly people in the villages, each time, manage to establish such a close bond, to share, rejoice and cry together, and that this strong connectedness remains long after the end of the Residency.

Interview with Maria Bozhkovska (representative of Chitalishte „Lighthouse 1930“, Pavolche) What was your role and main functions during Baba Residence? My task was the most boring but also responsible – the role of a clerk and organizer. To keep the documentation, to maintain communication with the project team, to organize the welcoming and accommodation of the residents, to monitor the planned renovation works, the proper conduct of the activities, the supply of food and materials. What would you recommend to someone who is participating in Baba Residence for the first time? To arm oneself with patience, to expect surprises, to immerse oneself in the atmosphere of the village, to enjoy nature, the tastes of traditional food, the local speech and the happenings. Have fun! If you go back, what would you fix? I would organise the cleaning of the Old kindergarten building before the residents arrived so that I could be freer and spend more time with them. Why is the Residency important? The contact with the artists is important, we need their insight as bystanders to sift out what is significant for the village. Their presence is fruitful for the local inhabitants, it gives them hope, stimulates them to be active and is necessary for the revival of socio-cultural activities in the settlement.

Interview with Tonko Nedkov (host from Salash) What was your role and main functions in Baba Residence? I think I was a good and respected host. There was just no barrier between us and the residents, and you girls from Baba Residence contributed to that. What would you recommend to someone attending the Residency for the first time? To be good and respected like me by you, girls of the Residency. If you go back, what would you fix? Unfortunately, there is no going back. I don’t want to change anything. It’s just that what happened was a fairy tale – unique and memorable for a lifetime... And why is the Residency important? Because it’s simply necessary and creates so many new friendships and opportunities for contact between different people. In this case, quite young, highly educated and with a desire to see our village life and feel the difference of life in the city and the village.

Interview with Antoaneta Quick (resident in Koshava) What was your role and main functions in Baba Residence? I was one of the lucky residents who spent a whole month in the village of Koshava as an artist whose function was to connect with the locals and create for and with the people of the village. My residency partners and I learned about local customs, folklore, language, and architecture as we explored the village and the area with the help of our new friends, and we, in turn, engaged them in our creative processes with a desire to spark their curiosity and inspiration. We organized events for children and adults in the village, helped clean up the abandoned schoolyard and the old disco, which we temporarily turned into a gallery. We transformed the bus stop by refurbishing, repainting and painting it with local motifs. And it was an honour and a joy to end up writing a song ode to Koshava, for which I also made a video featuring all the people who were an important part of my stay there. It is now recorded in a studio and I can present it to the village with gratitude and appreciation.

What would you recommend to someone participating in Baba Residence for the first time? To be curious, active, open-minded, willing to give, to learn, to leave something beautiful and valuable behind. To embark on this adventure without inhibitions and prejudices, with a smile, with interest in the place and people, without expectations and without ego. And to open his heart to all the incredible encounters, conversations, acquaintances and precious friendships that lie ahead, and that will likely change him/ her forever. If you go back, what would you fix? Absolutely nothing! Everything happened exactly as it was supposed to happen. I am grateful for all my experiences, even the not so positive ones, because I learned so many valuable lessons and it was all part of the authentic and multi-coloured immersion in Koshava as it is. Why is the Residency important? Because it brings people together, changes perceptions, norms, perspectives, enriches each other, connects the village with the city, the old with the young, traditions with modernity, and gives art and culture a valuable opportunity to reach hard-to-reach and depopulated places in Bulgaria. It revives, awakens, shifts layers, and brings new ideas, inspiration and desire for change.

Interview with Ognyan Tonchev (mayor of Deleyna) What was your role and main functions in Baba Residence? My role was only supportive and logistical. I had to make some small decisions to provide a pleasant atmosphere for the residents to work in, both professionally and in their entertainment and training. What would you recommend to someone participating in Baba Residence for the first time? A person who would now apply for Baba Residence should first of all have a good sense of adaptation to an environment in which many people are not accustomed to living, and psychologically he/ she should be resistant to deprivations of an elementary nature. The participant should distance himself from his previous occupations or professional ones and devote himself to the freedom of his current surroundings/ He/ she would bear the natural qualities of contactability, kindness, willing to give much and receive little, courtesy, humility. If you go back, what would you fix? Firstly I don‘t like going back, but if necessary I would make it so that the residents, feeling more at ease from all points of view, would create more good things – more beneficial for them, for the village and the other inhabitants. Going back in time, I would be very happy to notice the people from the village more cheerful and changed by the appearance of the residents and the nice things they have done in our small and picturesque village.

Why is the Residence important? The residency is important for all parties involved: for the residents – they will get used to a different way of life, meet other people both their age and older than them, learn some new things more diverse than their previous daily life. There may not be cinemas and discos in small villages, but primary pleasures and activities are more valuable because they require much more improvisation and a slightly more unconventional way of thinking. For the other inhabitants of the settlement it is a way to make their grey everyday life more colourful by paying attention to some of the residents, and learning something new from them too. Each inhabitant of Deleyna has a son, daughter and grandchildren in the city, but they come for a few hours and go on with their duties. The Baba Residence team may have the most difficult task of fulfilling their end of the “contract” during those 3-4 weeks. From coordinating the travelling, the settling in of residents, to finishing the Residency with their final celebration.

Which of the insights is important for you and your team? What are the values you stand for when organizing the Residency?

We made this handbook because we want to make our experience accessible to any chitalishte, active person or group who wants to revitalize, refresh, improve the cultural life in their place. But we also know for sure that whatever we write here, one written edition is not enough to make a person feel confident in such a big and new on-field task if there is no support. Take this handbook as an invitation. An invitation to dare, and we would be honoured to support you and your team. This is also the place to tell you how our team can support you and your team in making a residency program come true. There are 3 possible levels of support from us: A process led by Ideas Factory in your settlement. The process often begins a year or two before a residency is realized. Searching and applying for funding, coordinating activities with the community centre and households, conducting an expedition in an area if we hesitate which villages to choose. The criteria by which we select villages are related to the resources in the community: How much human capacity is there to sustain the activities and what is created during a Residency? Is there an active community? Are local people and households open to the idea of hosting artists, participating in new kinds of interactions and new experiences? The personality of the person in charge of the community centre is also important, as is the mayor or deputy mayor. Are there people in these two positions with whom we can easily and smoothly work for the benefit of the village? We are always looking to see if there is a match of values and

understanding. Is there administrative capacity in their person? Ideas Factory serves as a mentor, to help make the residency program come true, helping with communication and fundraising strategies or marketing depending on the model. In this case, you will have a set number of meetings and visits to support the implementation of Baba Residence in your community. Support as part of the wider Ideas Factory network. In this case, you will participate in events that we organize for you for sharing experiences with other villages and communities, as well as meetings where we connect communities with artists. The truth is that we don’t work or prefer not to work in villages where: ● there is a strong opposition between mayor and community centre; ● the Residency is seen as a commercial opportunity for personal enrichment or for a small circle of people; ● the initiative is not taken seriously by the community centre and the town hall (we have examples where we have not been able to meet the mayor even once for 25 days in the village). If we come across an active community center and a united and well-adjusted local community, nothing could stop us from creating the wonders of Baba Residence.

The Gullkistan Center for Creativity is located in the village of Laugarvatn, Southern Iceland. It all started with The Gullkistan Art Festival in 1995 when Kristveig Halldórsdóttir and Alda Sigurðardóttir, newly graduated from art school, brought in 130 visual artists, musicians, poets and writers, theater people, historians, and scholars to participate. They set up work and events in an old schoolhouse and all other public buildings, in the nature around them including the lake and nearby Gullkistan mountaintop after which the event was named. The festival aroused much joy and pride in the local community. As a result, they programmed a second festival in 2005 leading to the idea to start an international artist residency that was then founded in 2009. To begin with it was stationed in apartments in the village and at a nearby farm, where artists used the barn as a working space. Later it moved to a permanent home, a former restaurant and camp site service center at the foot of the mountain and with a beautiful view over the lake and the lowland of South Iceland, crowned by the far away volcanoes and glaciers. The buildings have a shared workspace and six bedrooms and artists are welcome to stay between one and three months - with a paid monthly fee. This includes accommodation, workspace, the opportunity to exchange with other artists and to organise events and/or

an exhibition. Meals are not part of the fee.The residency is now run by Alda and a board of four Icelandic artists. The aim of Gullkistan is to provide a home and workspace for creative people from the international community in the sublime surroundings of south Iceland where they can work on their ideas and experience Icelandic culture. Creative professionals are given the opportunity to dedicate their time to work as well as to interact with the other visiting artists and the local community. Artists spending time together at the residency become a community of itself where trust and understanding is the foundation. The team encourages residents to take part in mutual activities such as meals, hikes and travel. They organize public events and workshops, participate in community activities, organize events with local cultural institutions, introduce artists to Icelanders for help with work, research, cooperation, and connect artists with alumnies. Gullkistan has also received school groups from abroad for special projects. Part of Gullkistan‘s mission is sustainability, diversity, and engagement with children and youth. Since its creation, Gullkistan has hosted over 700 artists of all disciples of diverse races, ages, genders, abilities, and sexualities from around the world.

And as Alda herself shared: „Participating in the project „Revitalizing villages through Creative Activities“ with the Ideas Factory team in Bulgaria was a real adventure. It showed how creative people can enlighten communities from the grassroots of their own culture. It was truly magical to watch. We are grateful and proud to have been part of the team.“

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The knowledge, insights and models described in this guide are the result of multiple individual, community and collaborative efforts. We are grateful for everyone‘s dedication and contributions! Contributions Text Yoana Stoyanova (Ideas Factory) Militsa Dzhandzhova (Ideas Factory) Yanina Taneva-Georgieva (Ideas Factory) Alda Sigurdardottir (Gullkistan Centre for Creativity in Laugarvatn, Iceland) Insights Antoaneta Quick (resident in Koshava in 2023) Galina Dimitrova-Dimova (curator of Baba Residence) Maria Bozhkovska (Chitalishte „Lighthouse 1930“, Pavolche) Tonko Nedkov (host from Salash) Ognyan Tonchev (mayor of Deleyna) Editorial Yoana Stoyanova (Ideas Factory) Illustrations, visual layout and design Alexandra Nikolova (Ål Nik) Photos Alexander Nikolov (Bulgarian Biodiversity Foundation, photographer) Victoria Velcheva (resident in 2023) Desislava Todorova (resident in 2021) Evgeni Mladenov (resident in 2023) Iliyana Grigorova (resident in 2023) Yoana Stoyanova (resident in 2015 and part of Ideas Factory) Yoana Shopova (resident in 2023) Nicola Zambelli (resident in 2023) Consultation for the translation from Icelandic Svetla Stoyanova

The handbook is available both online and in print. The printed version was made by „ПЕ-ЧАТ“ (Digital Services - 3). Ideas Factory Association is the organisation behind BABA Residencе and this handbook.

– granny Milka from Deleyna village about the artists’ exhibition and the newly renovated cultural space in Deleyna

Baba Residence Handbook ENG