International Council for Cultural Centers (I3C)

In September, we became a member of Hands On! International, the international association of children museums. Soon after that we attended the association's conference in the Czech Republic. The title of the conference was “The Future in Children’s Hands – Informal Education as an Instrument for Social Change.” During the conference I3C had the opportunity and pleasure to present the game “Bakers Without Borders.” One of the most faithful and supportive crumbassadors of the Bread Houses Network represented I3C at the conference and made bread with 35 participants from all over the world on the topic of tolerance. The bread workshop that our crumbassador led was part of the module presenting good practices for social inclusion and engagement.

In October, the city of Opole hosted the first International Game Pedagogy Festival in Poland, organized by the Polish Association of Pedagogues and Animators KLANZA. The event gathered teachers, trainers, facilitators and animators.

During the event, we presented the Bread Houses Network board game “Build a Bread House” and played it in three languages – Polish, English and German! Many others took the challenge to participate in the Theater of Crumbs. At the flour canvas they presented their visions about game pedagogy and shared what they see as the salt and the sugar in this approach.

A big thank you to the organizers for the great experience and for the chance to share our methods with so many people interested in our work!

In September, a member from Sofia Bread House team took part in the Academy of Cultural Management 2017, where we presented the work of the Bread Houses Network from the point of view of innovation in the social and cultural field. The Academy was organized by the Goethe-Institut Bulgaria, the Sofia Development Association and the City of Sofia. The event aimed to build capacity and increase the competences of cultural managers in Sofia and the region. The event was attended by representatives of municipal and national institutions, as well as independent organizations from the cultural and educational spheres. We moderated a discussion on “Social innovations” – a possibility for idea exchange between cultural managers with rich experience and many implemented projects, as well as beginners in the field.

Adam Majewski who is one of the latest Crumbassadors to join our Bakers without Borders community just started a great campaign which aims at raising funds to organize community building baking programs in Twin Cities, Minnesota. The program will “create a beacon of hope, help develop future leaders in social change and improvement, and ensure those most in need are receiving the basic food needs for themselves and their families”.

Adam, who is an owner and Baker of the Majestic Chef Bakery and Pastry Baker at the Wedge Co-op, intends to start three programs for social change in the Twin Cities. In the first one, he’s going to use the Theater of Crumbs method, developed by Dr. Nadezhda Savova-Grigorova, in order to organize puppet shows in which the attendees will teach each other about diversity within the community and will acknowledge the variety of their own opinions. The second program, called Let Them Eat Cake! is an initiative to support those in need with healthy food through picnics, meal events and meal deliveries. The third part of Adam’s campaign is Bakers On The Run! Adam will create a running team which will act as both a fundraising platform for events and activities. Moreover, the team will provide mentorship for future generations of food service professionals.

Monitoring and evaluation, organisational development and leadership were the focus of the second capacity building workshop for ten recipients of the 2016 Intercultural Innovation Award. Hosted by the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and the BMW Group, the workshop took place in Gurgaon, India from 12 February to 16 February 2017.

Participants of the workshop came from Brazil, Bulgaria, France, Germany, India, Israel, Kenya, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The training sessions were designed with the aim of building their long-term impact and ongoing sustainbility so that their initiatives could be expanded and replicated in other contexts.

The first part of the event focused on leadership, organisational development and sustainbility, taught by experiential group learning, case studies and simulations. The participants were then taken through the steps to develop a monitoring plan, and how results from monitoring and evaluation could be used in making management decisions and for communications. A highlight of the workshop was seeing the work of current awardees, Routes 2 Roots and Safecity.

The I3C was represented by the project coordinator Zdrava Vodenicharova. The awarded project “Bakers without Borders – Game and Network with community bread-making events as tools for intercultural dialogue and community cohesion, across more than 20 countries on 5 continents.

The training in Gurgaon is part of the one-year support programme provided to recipients of the Intercultural Innovation Award. The first capacity building workshop took place in Munich, Germany at BMW Group Headquarters during June 2016 and focused on the areas of strategic communication and effective planning.

With partners from Bulgaria (The FabriC Association and I3C/Bread Houses Network), Spain, Canary Islands (

 Between 28th and 31st of October, 2015, in the capital of El Salvador, San Salvador, will be held the 2nd Latin American Congress on Cultural Policies and Cultura Viva Network. With the support of the president of El Salvador and various Latin American Ministries of Culture, this important gathering of active non-governmental organizations in the rising Latin American field of “arts for social transformation” will discuss and further develop programs and projects.