LIVING CULTURES
OUR VISION
Cultivating symbiotic relationships is at the heart of everything we do. For us, that means close, interdependent, nourishing and long-term relationships between cultures, places and economies. Cultivating symbiotic relationships to us is life: the exchange of energies of who we are, where we live and what we do.
By cultivating these relationships we contribute to what we call Living Cultures in all of the bioregions where we work. What are Living Cultures? Thriving cultures of care that are rooted in place and draw force from economies that nourish life.
Nature and humans are interdependent. In Living Cultures, people remember their role as keystone species. They have taken up their responsibility as caretakers of the land and all of life. They revitalize ancestral knowledge and root it in today’s world. This is how they foster conditions for life and abundance for current and future generations.
In a world of destruction, disintegration and despair, innate seeds of knowledge, resilience and possibility are still vibrant in many places. In our work, we grow Living Cultures upon these seeds.
OUR MISSION
Cultivating symbiotic relationships between places, cultures, and economies in service of life and future generations.
WHERE WE WORK
At Living Cultures, we have only just begun; we are currently active in 2 bioregions: Zuid-Veluwe in the Netherlands and Aylla Rewe Budi in Chile. In these places, we call upon many different people – artists, farmers, entrepreneurs, policy makers, researchers, activists – to work together and revitalize our cultures, land and economies.
We do this using the principles of agroecology as developed by the international Nyeleni movement for food sovereignty. Already, we can learn important lessons for other places and future generations. This is why we facilitate Cultural Fermentation between these bioregions. This term comes from the highest authority of the Aylla Rewe Budi, lonko Jorge Calfuqueo, referring to the process of weaving the cultural and economic qualities from one place to another.
Follow our work in Stroomgebied Zuid-Veluwe on Instagram and LinkedIn.
COLLABORATIONS
In 2020, we engaged in a collaboration with Maple Chile and Budi Anumka with support of the Packard Foundation. In this initiative, we are working with Mapuche-Lafkenche communities on the biocultural restoration of Aylla Rewe Budi. We foster agroforestry systems and strengthen local economic autonomy.
Since March 2023 we have been part of the EU Shared Green Deal initiative. We are working in Stroomgebied Zuid-Veluwe (Netherlands) on food sovereignty and biocultural restoration. This is supported by DRIFT institute for transitions and Slow Food International to exchange insights with regions in other European countries around obstacles and successes in the process to achieve food sovereignty.
In October 2023 we embarked on an adventure with Commonland. Our journey together is part of the 4 Returns Lab (known in Dutch as the “Versnellingshuis”) striving to achieve system change within our home country. Together we are 15 landscape labs in the Netherlands in which regional governments, companies, social organizations and farmers collaborate with other stakeholders. We are proud to be one of these labs with Stroomgebied Zuid-Veluwe.
WILL YOU JOIN US AND CONTRIBUTE TO LIVING CULTURES?
Are you a fund or individual exploring opportunities to invest in thriving cultures, places and economies? Please contact us to discuss possibilities.
