Athens Creators Class

Join the Survey Now!

We artists and creatives in Athens, face significant challenges such as securing affordable housing, maintaining artistic income, combating gentrification, and fostering a sense of community. This groundbreaking survey is our first opportunity to tackle these issues head-on and gather essential data about our needs and aspirations. By participating, we can take control of our future, ensuring our voices are heard and our contributions to the city's cultural and economic vibrancy are recognized. Let's unite to shape Athens into a thriving hub of creativity and innovation. Your input is crucial, so join us in this important initiative.

A Survey on the Aspirations, Challenges, and Urban Impact of Creative Communities

Welcome to the study of BIOS and the European Cultural Hubs Network (ECHN) on the working and living conditions of artists and creative professionals in Athens.

Creative process and expression through the arts have always been at the core of Athens' communities and neighbourhoods. In this age of Globalisation and technological innovation, cultural interactions and collaborations are becoming increasingly multidimensional.

This new momentum is producing a contemporary creative class that brings the value of innovative creativity and artistic expression to the heart of the creative process. With this survey, we want to capture the challenges, problems, and expectations of this class in the city of Athens. We are particularly interested in analysing and understanding its impact on the urban environment and its contribution to the cultural evolution of the city capital.

Our aim is to formulate new supporting structures for the artistic & creative development process. We want to boost the production of new ideas that can be catalytic in urban regeneration, support the creative ecosystem, facilitate artistic collaborations, and unite creative communities.

Documenting your experience and views on how creativity intertwines with everyday life in the urban landscape is central to this project. Whether you are graphic designers and planners, composers, screenwriters and writers of all kinds, musicians, marketers or copywriters, visual artists, and performers, or engaged in any other creative practice, we invite you to join this project.

As a member of this diverse community, you have the opportunity to influence the future of Athens. Come together to shape a city that celebrates creativity and promotes a social life in which art has a central place!

This survey is designed with a dual purpose-to understand and support Athens' artistic & creative communities. By delving into your personal and professional journey, living and working conditions, we want to understand the challenges facing Athens' creative communities today and their expectations. We aim: To explore the interaction between creativity-urban environment: By exploring how artists and creatives interact with the urban environment, we want to identify emerging opportunities for the artistic community in the city's cultural landscape. To promote and support artistic and creative infrastructures: Using the data collected we want to create structures that support artistic practice, encourage collaboration with the community, and improve the overall quality of life in the city.

The information you share here will be used anonymously, solely for BIOS & ECHN research needs, and will not be shared with third parties for any other use. The survey welcomes all voices from Athens' diverse arts community.

Interview
A Balancing Act: Between Art Practice and an Artist-Run Space to Make it in Athens
American artist Dimitri Yin juggles running an artist-run space and maintaining his creative practice in the challenging environment of Athens. His story exemplifies the balance many artists must strike.

"Sharing ideas and vital information has helped us navigate the challenges of working as artists in Athens."
Interview
Crystalia Theodorou: Determination to Carve Out a Creative Life in Athens
Crystalia Theodorou, an Athens-based musician known as "Corniza," navigates the delicate balance of pursuing her artistic passions and finding stable housing in a city that prioritizes tourism over nurturing its vibrant cultural scene.

"I truly believe that both as a country and as a city, Athens should be promoting its vibrant cultural scene more than its tourism industry. "
Interview
Georgia Sagri is Combating Artistic Isolation in Athens
Visual artist Georgia Sagri describes how her multidisciplinary studio HYLE has served as both her creative space and living quarters, as she works to build a supportive community for artists in Athens amid the city's challenging financial and institutional landscape for the arts.

"Τhe way the roles and responsibilities within the "artistic milieu" have become fragmented and overwhelming for individual artists. Too often, artists are forced to be the producers, distributors, sellers, curators - essentially everything - of their own work"
Interview
Gianni Kazakis is Paying The High Cost of Creativity in Athens
Interdisciplinary artist Gianni Kazakis describes the immense financial pressures he faces in Athens, where exorbitant rents consume up to 90% of an artist's income, leaving little resources left for necessary art supplies and studio space.

"It's hard not only to pay for rent but also to pay for art supplies and art studio, for example. Everything is more expensive compared to other European cities."
Interview
Jason Simpson Enjoys the Artistic Renaissance of Athens Amidst the Looming Gentrification
Drawn to Athens by the city's renowned marble, British artist Jason Simpson has found a welcoming creative community and collaborative workspace, but fears that the spectre of gentrification and rising costs could soon price out artists like himself.

"The only fear here is if Athens becomes sort of too gentrified if it becomes a place like London or like Manchester became within the last few years, it just became way too expensive for the artists to live there."
Interview
The Story of Actress Lina Patsiou in Athens
Actress Lina Patsiou describes the vibrant, artist-driven revitalization of Athens' Victoria neighbourhood, even as she navigates the lack of government support and limited commercial opportunities that plague the city's creative class.

"There is no great support from the state, nor from the local or municipal government. We have not understood in Greece that creative jobs are a big asset and that they can bring money to a country and an economy. So because of that, there is very little investment in this area"

Get in touch with us.

survey@creativehubs.net
© Creators Class 2024. All rights reserved.
Main picture: Sensitive mapping workshop at KONTEJNER, Zagreb (Future DiverCities Project). Photo Šimun Bućan.