The Tandem Europe team and partners New partners for Tandem Europe II: Meet COMM’ON We are very happy that we can count on the excellent co-creation and social innovation capacities of 4iS (Aveiro), COMM’ON (Athens) and Ideas Factory (Sofia). All three organisations were part of the first Tandem Europe journey and represent different geographies, sectors and interests. Through the collaboration we aim to further improve our social innovation curriculum, intensify our participant-led approach, extend our network and test a potential growth model for the Tandem methodology. In this first article of our series, we tell you more about COMM'ON. Marou at the Tandem Europe I Final meeting. Photo by Constanze Flamme COMM’ON started as the “crazy” idea of Maria Chatzopoulou – aka Marou – a graphic designer, and Stelios Voulgaris, a lawyer, whose paths crossed in a very interesting point of time. The idea for COMM’ON was born in the vibrating context of Athens. Marou and Stelios wanted to bring the flourishing ideas and inspiration coming out of the local community one step forward: to connect it to communities all around Europe. COMM’ON is a non-profit organisation, based in Athens, working as a “backbone” organisation for innovative and sustainable societal collaborations in the city and in smaller communities. COMM’ON has been designed as a multileveled space, where people – leading new societal activities – meet, learn from each other, exchange assets and co-create new effective and sustainable solutions for common living and building a new societal eco-system. Our goal is to empower the vivid network of grass-root social activities, encourage collaborations between different socially orientated stakeholders and support the process of translating commonly built knowledge to policy making assets! Tandem programme manager Sophia with Stelios at a training - even their shirts match. Marou and Stelios first worked with Tandem Europe for the final meeting of the first phase, that took place in Athens in January 2017. What can we say... it was love at first sight! Not very often until that day we crossed paths with so many people as "crazy" as (we thought) we were! Tandem for us is more than a cultural programme, interesting collaborations and a growing network. For us, it represents the family that co-creates the change we want to bring with our work and a reminder of the joy that our work is bringing us! Learn more about Comm’on on their website and Facebook page. About Tandem Europe The first round of Tandem Europe for culture and social innovation came to a grand finale at the end of January 2017 in Athens and Elefsina. Fifteen tandems from 24 European cities showcased their projects ranging from augmented reality artwork in public space to toolkits for alternative funding strategies, community games and creativity workshops for newcomers. Tandem Europe is now open for applications again. The focus of the second round remains on social innovation through cultural collaboration, however, we are specifically inviting public institutions and administration as well as civil society actors that are not primarily working in the field of arts and culture to apply. Furthermore, we are interested in exploring the topics of commons, urban and rural regeneration.