Opolno-Zdrój Is the Future! by Bęc Zmiana

The project focuses on organising cultural, educational and integration activities and events in Opolno-Zdrój – a former spa town, located at the edge of Turów, an open-pit lignite mine. The town, located in the transnational region of Easter Upper Lusatia, where Polish, Czech and German borders meet, struggles with just transition and still remains dependent on the fossil fuel industry.

Since 2021 Bęc Zmiana have been collaborating with the local community, organizing artistic assemblies and residencies, educational activities, workshops and integration events addressing the challenges faced by the town. Bęc Zmiana uses art and culture as the drivers of the transition process, connecting cutting-edge artists with the vulnerable community and making use of artistic tools and creative imagination to create a vision of a just, sustainable and beautiful future for Opolno-Zdrój.

Bęc Zmiana draws on the city’s rich history and unique traits – formerly a spa town and touristic center; a transnational character and the memories of the first ecological artistic assembly that took place there in 1971. The main goals of this project by Bęc Zmiana and four partners are to scale activities up; strengthen transnational collaborations; facilitate the social and cultural aspects of the region’s just transition process and help Opolno-Zdrój adapt to the changing circumstances.

Granted 28,000 euros