Permission To Try
PERMISSION TO TRY
Paris - Rotterdam - Berlin
Erasmus+ KA210 – Small-scale Partnership in Adult Education
Permission to Try: Pathways to Upskilling and Connecting Creative Learners is a 16-month European cooperation project addressing the growing precarity of independent creative workers. Through non-formal and informal education, it promotes lifelong learning, peer-to-peer exchange and civic engagement within the cultural sector. Led by Club 707 (Paris) in partnership with Jumpstart Foundation (Rotterdam) and Backhaus Projects (Berlin), the project unfolds across three main public moments: panel discussions in Rotterdam (March 2026), a peer-to-peer workshop festival in Paris (June 2026), and a collective exhibition & more in Berlin (November 2026–January 2027). Documented through a podcast series, and a printed and digital publication - a toolbox of resources, critical essays and project outcomes - Permission to Try aims to create sustainable European networks and contribute to new models of support and recognition for independent creatives.
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GATHERINGS
30–31 October 2026
Opening: 30 October, 18:00
Studio 1, Kunstquartier Bethanien
Mariannenplatz 2, 10997 Berlin
JumpstArt Foundation is proud to present artist Kamau Ng’ang’a at Gatherings, the final European event of Permission to Try, hosted by our partner Backhaus Projects in Berlin.
Gatherings brings together creative practitioners through performance, peer-to-peer learning and cultural exchange.
Permission to Try is an Erasmus+ project funded by the European Union, bringing together Club 707 (Paris), JumpstArt Foundation (Rotterdam) and Backhaus Projects (Berlin).
Why do we gather?
What are the conditions of gathering in today’s world?
How does a communal experience function within an over-stimulated flow of information?
What does the city that we are living in bring into our subconscious?
Gatherings is a two-day performance programme activating Studio 1 at Kunstquartier Bethanien through a constantly shifting understanding of space, relation, and encounter. Rather than approaching the space as a fixed, vertical perspective from which performances are presented to an audience, the programme understands it as something shaped through the relations between viewers, performers, objects, bodies, and installations.
Performances move between sound, reading, action, dance, and participation while Studio 1 becomes a moving discussion room, shifting between cultural backdrops, artistic questions, and different environmental setups. Artists from various performative mediums and backgrounds bring their practices and the contexts they emerge from into dialogue with Berlin, opening up questions around the cultural landscape of the city, its current concerns, and the ways in which we gather within it.
Bringing together artists working across diverse performative mediums and backgrounds, the programme opens up a dialogue with Berlin, exploring the city’s cultural landscape and the ways in which we gather within it. The choreography of the space is not predetermined but emerges through the movements of performers and viewers, the activation of objects and installations, and the encounters that unfold between them.
Gatherings is a space to meet, encounter, listen, perform, participate, and exchange.
Artists:
Catharina Szonn
Gosia Lehmann
HYPHE
Janosch Sinn
Kamau Ng’ang’a
Lisa Marie Schmitt
Mariana García Mejía
Paulette Penje
Rocio Gmar + GauchXpunK
Tuce Alba
Vitalii Shupliak
Yurika S. Yamamoto
Curated by Canberk Akçal
Organised by Club 707, JumpstArt Space Backhaus Projects
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Permission To Talk – Panel Talks
During Rotterdam Art Week 2026, JumpstArt hosted an afternoon of panel talks for artists and cultural professionals. The conversations focused on creative independence, peer-to-peer community building and access to cultural rights.
Artists, curators and cultural professionals from across Europe shared their perspectives and experiences.
This event was organised in collaboration with Club 707 (Paris) and Backhaus Projects (Berlin), the event took place on 28 March.
The panel discussions were recorded and will soon be released in full as a podcast on YouTube.
Check out the panel talks on https://www.youtube.com/@Club_707
Moderator
Sophie Mak-Schram
Panels
Panel 1 – Towards creative independence: The art of making a living
Joep van Lieshout (NL), artist - Atelier Van Lieshout
TransArtists (NL) / Heidi Vogels, artist and Dutch Culture
La Buse Collective / Emilie Moutsis (FR), artist and founder collective
Panel 2 – Art as a basis for community building: What about peer-to-peer?
Edward Clydesdale Thomson (NL), artists and director of Fine Art ArtEZ
Nanda Janssen (NL), curator
Het Wilde Weten / Esther Kokmeijer (NL), artists and member artist initiative
Panel 3 – Accessing cultural rights: Inclusion and diversity
Jacquill G. Basdew (NL), curator and educator
Katarzyna Nowak (DE), curator 48st NK Festival Berlin
Isabelle Wachsmuth (CH), artist, scientist in charge of art impact for health at World Health Organisation
This event took place on 28 March 2026 in Rotterdam.
A podcast is made of the panel talks and soon to be seen in full on YouTube.
The link will be shared here.
