The Confederacy of Villages is an international exchange network connecting five art spaces working with rural communities across Europe. Through different actions and projects, from farmers and craftsmen exchange to artists collaboration of craftsmen and professional exchanges and artistic residencies, the network utilises art as a tool to empower communities to develop innovative and transformative solutions with long-term sustainable impacts that directly address shared concerns. Ranging from landscape, heritage, economy and industrial activity, housing, etc.—, while training artists in vernacular crafts that will widen the scope of their work.

The organisations forming the partnership have been extensively collaborating in conjoined initiatives, starting an informal network of peers that has proven effective in sharing best practice, and allowing for regular movement of assets across regions. Now we want to become a stable platform for cooperation to promote an anchored understanding of the role art can play in the rural context, how new forms of artistic expression can be created and grounded in meaningful responses to global challenges demanding local action and transnational collaboration.