Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, is a city divided and partitioned in many ways, that keep the Republic of Cyprus and the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” (recognised only by Turkey), separate. In recent years socio-cultural studies have shown that there is spatial segregation in the old city centre of Nicosia. Pierides Foundation, situated fifty meters from the buffer zone, in the heart of the old city, will host the OU activities in Nicosia and it will act as a hub and a lab, proposing tools for a hospitable future for all the inhabitants of the Cypriot capital. It will host the (A) Visual Arts Lab:Printmaking: Silkscreen & Photoetching (B) Performance Lab,  (C) Design Lab, (D) Fashion Lab

Publics is a curatorial agency with a dedicated library, event space and reading room in Vallila Helsinki, an area in the city known for its industrial working class histories and, more recently, for its influx of divergent artistic and academic communities. Through its program Publics will map, invite and nurture new audiences for its activities through two key visual arts laboratories, one based on a four year Public Art projects called (A) FUTURE FUTURES, and the second on a four year outreach program called (B) ‘Parahosting’–a community-based institutional building with a focus on engaging small scale organisations, migrant and independent culture workers based in Finland. The short description of these laboratories is provided below:

Amiens, the capital of the Picardy Region, since 2016 was included into the larger Hauts-de- France Region, which now it is a poor region, since the closing of a large number of mines and industrial complexes. Not far, in Calais, migrants often end their long journey into the “Calais Jungle”, waiting for an impossible travel to the UK. Enterprises still continue to collapse because of a massive industrial relocation process. OUPL Amiens aims at rediscovering ancient arts and crafts traditions and industrial knowhow. The OU platform in France will examine how a university interacts with its environment. The selection of participants will be made in advance at a local and then at EU/project level. It will host (A) Erasings of Memory, (B) Migrations, Arts and Crafts and (C) The OU Documentary Laboratory 

Volos is a coastal city in Thessaly, an industrial city in the past, which has a high rate of unemployed young people, more than 25%. The OU project though its implementation will give new perspectives, ideas and opportunities to the young people involved. UTH is the academic centre of Volos. The aim of the UTH is to create links with the city and its agricultural-touristic region of Mount Pelion, the unprivileged groups of people (young unemployed artists, technicians, craftsmen, architects and young unemployed inhabitants as well as migrants and refugees) and the international partners of the OU project. It will host the (A) Traditional Techniques and Digital Laboratories and (B) Regional Gardening and Local Food Culture.

Barcelona is a big Mediterranean city, capital of Catalunya and located to the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula. It has a secular tradition of the partage of different cultures and it is estimated that 18,1% of the population of Barcelona are migrants. The issue of the reception of migrants is one of the fundamental concerns of the program of Barcelona City Council, which has proposed an action plan entitled “Barcelona, ciutat refuge” (Barcelona, refuge city). It will host five Laboratories: (A1) Nomadic Dance, (A2) Fusion Cooking (A3) Theatre of the Oppressed, (A4) Transition Dress and (A5) Artistic Research and (A6) Transition Dress.

Covilha is a small city of 51.797 inhabitants, located in Portugal inland, distanced 200 km from Lisbon and 250km from Porto, the capital and the second biggest city of Portugal. Covilhã is situated on the southeast slope of Serra da Estrela and is the nearest Portuguese city to the highest point of Continental Portugal. Its history is marked by the wool industry and creativity has always been rooted in its people. The reception of migrants is a new reality in the city but promoting their integration into society is already a priority, as the city is committed to promote inter-culturalism through civic participation. New Hand Lab believes that can contribute to the welcoming process and integration of migrants and other minorities by promoting creative exchanges. It will host the (A) Audio-Visual Laboratory and (B) Textiles Laboratory.

The city of Gothenburg shows a high level of socioeconomic as well as ethnic residential segregation. Despite the continuously stated aim in physical planning to achieve residential neighbourhood compositions characterised by mixed forms of housing and tenure, and achieving ethnic and social mix on the neighbourhood level, the city is and remains significantly segregated along these lines. (Informally we speak of segregation on “class and colour” lines to signal the interaction of racialized and class-based discriminations.) HDK-Valand has previously worked with community-wide and self-organized initiatives such as the River of Light Festival and the Support Group Network. Drawing upon this history of relationship and cooperation experience the programme actions of HDK-Valand Academy, will map, invite and nurture emergent producers, wider publics and new audiences through two key visual arts laboratories: (A) Learning from River of Light (C) Learning from the Support Group Network (C) What is your creative practice?#1 “Young, Queer and Talented” (D) What is your creative practice?#2 “We Work With Textiles” (E) The Cooperative Business Model & Social Enterprise in Sweden (F) What is your creative practice?#3 “We DIY This in Gothenburg” (G) “Look at what I can do!” Online presence for creative practitioners (H) Can I Study More? How to access further creative education based on international qualifications and prior learning.