What inspires Behna to support the field?
In the suffocating, competition-based world we live in today, field support feels like a breath of fresh air – a way to move beyond the pressure to constantly produce, and instead nurture mutual growth.
We are excited to share our experience in more effective and direct ways – through open channels of communication where information, resources, and learning can flow freely.
As our work becomes more of a supportive community, we are excited to extend this to like-minded organizations – to meet where our visions intersect and grow together as nurturing forces for culture.
As within as without
What we are testing
Culture is everything. It is not just a facet of humanity – it is its mirror and its litmus test. When it thrives, we thrive; and when its spaces shrink, we shrink with it. From this belief, and with the support of iac Berlin, we are working to better understand the gaps between our inner worlds and the outer ones – between our drive to build a vibrant cultural scene that is free and supported enough to reflect and transform the world it exists in, and our personal needs as individuals. By tending to these needs – individually and collectively – we grow into a more stable and creative unit, capable of supporting both personal growth and collective, spiraling growth. This, in turn, feeds back into our programs, collaborations, and relationships with participants and institutions across the field.
Personal development path
Enhancing individual capabilities and expanding expertise through travel, engagement with similar initiatives, and cross-context learning opportunities.
Workplace well-being
Cultivating a healthy and psychologically safe workspace by collaborating with experts to strengthen core skills, energy management, and guidance techniques.
Reflective path
Conducting reflection and brainstorming sessions to explore our aspirations for the cultural and civic landscape and to envision future possibilities.
Skill development path
Building key soft skills that align personal growth with our organizational roles, ensuring each team member is supported in their ambitions.
As we carry out this experiment, we are asking key learning questions:
- How do we leave everyone we interact with - especially through long-term programs - with meaningful and lasting change?
- How can we exchange cultural practices and methodologies effectively with other institutions and practitioners?
- How do we turn evaluation feedback into actionable and applicable outcomes?
- What strategies can help us empower and enable cultural actors in their different roles more effectively?
- How do we leave everyone we interact with—especially through long-term programs—with meaningful and lasting change?
- How can we exchange cultural practices and methodologies effectively with other institutions and practitioners?
- How do we turn evaluation feedback into actionable, applicable outcomes?
- What strategies can help us empower and enable cultural actors in their different roles more effectively?
Meet the team
We are a dynamic team of 11 diverse individuals from all walks of life and age groups. We are unified by our passion for cultural work and our love for different arts. From our youngest, who is merely twenty years old, to our oldest, we work in a dynamic atmosphere that leaves space for innovation and creative ideas to take place. Although we have specific roles inside our institution, we also have enough flexibility for different team members to test and develop their skills however they see fit, within a frame of work that prioritizes experimentation and creative growth in our local community.
Each member, no matter their background, is both a seed and an anchor for other local creatives to shine the light of their talents on our charming city, Alexandria. In an environment that turns volunteer work into an asset, we have managed to turn our shared investment in Behna into a dynamic community that thrives on diversity and communal learning. We truly believe Behna is a living, breathing creature, and we are its organs – breathing, cleansing, and digesting the changing faces of Alexandria, and constantly evolving with it for the sake of a better creative future for us all.