Mission

Globe Aroma is an artistic work and meeting place that offers space, time and a network to artists, co-creators and amateurs who have (had) a journey as newcomers*. Globe Aroma assists people who often face particular difficulties in accessing the artistic sector and engaging in artistic activities due to their precarious citizenship* status. Globe Aroma builds, in alliance with the Flemish, Brussels and international cultural, educational and migration sectors, an intermediate spiritual and infrastructural space in which a community* can create, explore and share art with a wide audience.

Our multidisciplinary approach is based on three pillars:

  1. A creative space (with open coworking space, the atelier, the Medialab, rehearsal room) where artists work on their projects.
  2. Facilitate the exchange of knowledge and experience via experimental co-creation platforms for co-creators with or without artistic backgrounds.
  3. Organizing cultural trips (Art For All) in small and large art venues in Brussels and Flanders.

Glossary

  •  The term “newcomer” refers to people who have left or been forced to flee the country in which they originally lived. Newcomers can reside in our country under different circumstances: through family reunion, through humanitarian regularization, through refugee procedures, as recognized refugees, in temporary settlements, stateless individuals, …
  • The Globe Aroma community is made up of people from newcomer backgrounds who have various experiences regarding art. It consists of people who are at the beginning of an artistic journey but also people with more well-established artistic experiences, people working with traditional and digital methodologies, people who make art as an individual or collectively, people with a long history in the Flemish and Brussels cultural industry, people who are just starting to find their way in the art industry or want to stay on the side-lines of the industry, and people who are new to the art world.
    We often talk about our community or our visitors. When we use these terms, we always refer to people who have (had) a journey as a newcomer.This community of visitors includes :
    * artists
    * co-creators
    * art loversGlobe Aroma uses the term “people who have (had) a journey as newcomers” because the human aspect is crucial. Many members of our community (see ***) have arrived one day under the term of newcomers, but do not hide forever behind this label. We want to put the people (and their artistic ambition) first and the label in the background. In everyday language, the term “newcomer” is understood as an administrative label used by governments and institutions – alongside other labels such as refugee, migrant, asylum seeker – to control and manage human mobility. At the same time, we also acknowledge the importance of this label for individuals who live in fear of being persecuted, threatened, and abused, and the opportunities that a newcomer status offers for the “normalization” of everyday life.

    Yet we often see administrative labels replicating violence in ways that are painfully similar to those of European colonial history and other forms of social exclusion. That is why we try to be as careful as possible with terms and labels: we make them clear when appropriate and minimize them when needed, always in consultation with the people involved.

  • Citizenship or civility refers to the ability of people to legally, politically, socially and culturally participate in the social life of a country. People with newcomer status are more likely to face specific challenges that limit their access to the arts sector (e.g. limited financial resources, lack of networking, no access to affordable workspaces or materials, limited educational opportunities, limited transportation,…). Globe Aroma works with people regardless of language barriers, paperwork obstacles or other restrictions due to immigration laws.

Vision

Our vision is based on seven main pillars that form the value base of our organization.

  1. Globe Aroma functions as an informal arrival facility. Unlike reception centers or asylum and migration services which start from the formal and procedural aspects of ‘arrival’. Globe Aroma is effective in the sense that it can be used as a creative tool to express and experience emotions, thoughts and ideas. In our artistic context, people are not asked why they are there, what their marital status is or how long they plan on staying. Globe Aroma focuses primarily on the artistic journey that people wish to pursue.
  2. For Globe Aroma, the desire or need to create, develop or discover an artistic work is the starting point for each individual encounter. We examine how the team and the infrastructure can support visitors in achieving their goals. At the core of this assistance is the integration into the wider cultural picture.
  3. Globe Aroma values the importance of areas in which people can create, develop, learn and exchange with each other. People who use Globe Aroma often do not have access to such areas. Through a shared user manual, we invite people to use our infrastructure as a safe space to meet, create and connect.
  4. Globe Aroma believes in a strong sense of shared properties. The community determines the focus, scale and composition of projects. Globe Aroma sees the community as co-owners and innovators. To this end, we challenge our traditional organizational structure and preconceptions, including through evaluation and co-programming by and for the community.
  5. Globe Aroma relies on the power of alliances and consistently forges lasting collaborations. By setting up projects based on consciously and carefully chosen partnerships, Globe Aroma builds a bridge between its community and the field surrounding it. The focus is on creating a hybrid network where people with a migrant background, supportive citizens and people working in the fields of migration, integration, education and the arts meet and exchange thoughts.
  6. Globe Aroma sees collaboration not as a one-way street, but as a process of mutual learning and discovering each other’s perspectives, interpretations and expectations – where everyone has a say in how they operate.
  7. Globe Aroma is all about working close to the guests and adapting to the individual. Hospitality is therefore our main principle. We are looking for a common artistic denominator, respecting the perspective, goal or framework of each individual. At the same time, we are aware of the complexity of this goal.

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