Ivica Horáková is the event manager at Design factory in Bratislava, a venue for both for-profit and non-profit events with a focus on architecture, art and design. After Design factory moved from the city centre to a suburb, Ivica was keen to involve the local community – but she knew that engaging this very different audience would require new approaches.
Encouraged by what she saw in CA, Ivica embarked on a series of listening conversations with local residents to find out how they would want to be involved in Design factory. She also began holding informal community events where neighbours could talk and experience the shared space. She found that giving people the opportunity to co-create activities and building a community around the space is a learning process – for everyone – that takes time.
Ivica has been organising educational and cultural events – both profit and non-profit – at Design factory since 2012. She has a background in music and event production, but no experience in community building – and that’s what she needed when Design factory moved from downtown Bratislava to a nearby suburb called Jarovce.
Jarovce is a village that is rapidly turning into a suburb of Bratislava. Located close to the city centre and with new housing construction underway, Jarovce is attracting families and young people. Although it has a population about 2,500 people today, that number is expected to grow in coming years. There is also a significant population of senior citizens in older dwellings.
Design factory has been part of Bratislava’s cultural scene for some years, holding exhibitions on architecture, art, design and industrial architecture heritage from its downtown venue. Its recent move to a new space in Jarovce that accommodates 200-400 people will enable it to hold a variety of events.
Although Design factory has a committed following in art and design circles, after the move Ivica saw an opportunity to expand the audience by engaging local residents: We would like to start regular activities that would bring people here, enrich them. They would feel good here, maybe improve their skills, share their knowledge. But she also knew was a big unknown: I have experience organising events for the DF community but since we moved here, we didn’t know how local people would react. We wondered if local people would accept us and want to come and enjoy events here.
As she learned about community building in CA, she recognised the need to balance Design factory’s aims and giving space to residents to co-create activities: We are starting to build a community here. We would like to build a strong community where people can come. We would like to give space to residents to say what they would like to do, but we have our own goals – we would like to educate people, around architecture and design, offer and share the knowledge on historical, industrial architectural heritage.
How could she engage residents without holding public activities in the DF space? In CA, she learned about listening conversations – interviews with residents to find out their skills and interests – and realized she had found a way forward. She explained: Our goal was clear in the beginning – connecting different groups and sharing the knowledge, skills and gifts of the community in our culture and event space.
Ivica applied what she learned about how to prepare and conduct semi-structured listening conversations. She adapted an interview question guide from CA and began talking to neighbours whom she met on the street near Design factory, asking them what activities they might like to do in the space. She focused on young families at the outset: Our closest neighbours are mostly families with children. Those are people who appear in front of our building and luckily also inside. Since we are just starting, it ́s easy to start with people who are already around. Those are the people who are looking for activities for their families near their home.
Gradually, she expanded her target group to other residents, such as the elderly.
She found that the concept of active listening – i.e., listening attentively to understand the other person – made a profound difference in how residents responded and what bonds she could build with them: My approach to listening changed. Previously, I took feedback personally and got defensive or explained (why we can’t do activities, for example). I replaced it with curiosity, which really builds trust and opens the conversation (now it’s: let’s start from here – what we can do?). It’s a huge game-changer. But I needed training to make this change.
As she talked to residents and heard their ideas, she began to view them as much more than just consumers of events – they became resources, or assets, which could add to the richness of activities: I have talked to about 15 people and … many great ideas came. It ́s difficult to say what assets were unexpected, but there were ideas of starting a book club for teenagers, after school study groups, meditation and yoga mornings and picnics.
In parallel with her interviews, Ivica engaged residents in helping to create a garden in Design factory’s outdoor space, where events did not require municipal permission. In the spring, residents installed new plants while getting to know the space and one another through informal conversations. The garden – and the time residents spent there together – became an important focal point for Ivica’s community building efforts: I used individual interviews and now I’m switching to events with more people. The weather and possibilities changed my approach and I’m constantly trying to think about the best way to communicate with our neighbours. There are still many ongoing individual talks, but spending time together actually is building the community.
She went on: There is no bigger satisfaction than to see our neighbours coming. To be there, be curious and open to the conversation. I know it can seem banal, but we really are suffering by the bad relationships with the municipality and other parties. That’s why we need to start with honest and open conversations and continue with engaging others in community building as well as reaching out to people who are not visible or active in the community.
Although Ivica focused initially on young families, she recognised the need to eventually branch out: Organising events for families seems to be the most accessible option and the way to talk to the biggest group of neighbours. However, we keep in mind the necessity of finding and addressing also other groups of inhabitants.
After the summer holidays, Ivica invited residents to a garden event. The biggest change came in September, when we re-opened after summer and many neighbours came and we talked a lot. I didn’t want to fill the event with programming so that there would be space for active listening as we learned in CA. And because we didn’t have a structured program, there was a lot of space for people to talk. We had nametags, which made people think – they wrote their name and something they like. We hung a net in the main hall and asked people to write what they would like to experience in DF – sleepovers, play football, etc.
This event gave Ivica opportunities to talk to residents informally and invite them to co-create activities in the space, which is very much still a new concept for most: People are not used to coming to a space without a structured activity. It’s very different than just connecting people and talking to them. E.g. one lady said ‘it would be nice to have morning yoga and meditation here’ and I said ‘Yes, would you like to organise it?’ to show our approach. She was taken aback. It was important for me to deliver this message – we are open to your activities. I didn’t want to do it in a formal way with the whole group, rather in small groups or one on one.
She went on: The real challenge is to communicate with the neighbours about the (not very known) concept of self-organising or running the activities. But I was open to them and our conversations included the idea of offering the space and our assets, to their passions and their assets.
In the coming months, Ivica will invite neighbours to a lavender harvest and crafts session in the garden. Through these events, and more interviews, she will continue to invite residents to share ideas for activities. She hopes this open approach will lead to co-creation with residents, at their own pace, in the directions they suggest: Next time we meet, I’ll continue the dialogue with them. We’ll start the activities when they are ready. I can organise anything, but it’s not about me organising the activities. It’s on them, your assets and ours, let’s do something together. The most exciting thing – I don’t know where it will go. In the coming months, Ivica will invite neighbours to a lavender harvest and crafts session in the garden. Through these events, and more interviews, she will continue to invite residents to share ideas for activities. She hopes this open approach will lead to co-creation with residents, at their own pace, in the directions they suggest: Next time we meet, I’ll continue the dialogue with them. We’ll start the activities when they are ready. I can organise anything, but it’s not about me organising the activities. It’s on them, your assets and ours, let’s do something together. The most exciting thing – I don’t know where it will go.
Moreover, we are now able to plan larger indoor public activities after receiving approval for such events from the municipal construction office.
