Opening night at club coop in Marseille, September 2023
Grassroots cultural venues across Europe are facing escalating costs, rising inflation and the long tail of capitalism that demands competitiveness. How about building a business on solidarity? Is that approach financially sustainable? And what would a cooperative economy look like?
I learned a lot while speaking to a handful of arts cooperatives across Europe who are trying to do more than survive. They want to change things. To collectively start a ripple of hope that becomes an international movement.
Each one embodies a potent blend of compassion, resourcefulness, resolve and defiance.
Thanks to Blanka Rákos at Auróra, George Trotter at club coop, Lenny at Sister Midnight and Cliff Mills at Anthony Collins.
Full disclosure: I am a board member at Sister Midnight. Rather than confirming my bias, this means I have seen firsthand how their/our words quickly become actions.
Kieron Boothe playing at Sister Midnight's May 2025 show at Piehouse CO-OP