CRAB spaces

28/04/2026

After 18 months of conversations, mapping, visits, shared tables, long drives and many small moments across rural Europe, this is where CRAB lands. 🦀

🗺️ It started as an informal community, but became something more tangible in the meantime: a map, a magazine, a set of tools and, most importantly - a group of people who now know each other well enough to keep going.

CRAB brought together rural and peripheral cultural hubs working across Europe. Often outside the spotlight, but deeply connected to their places and leaving an important trace in their local communities. 🐾✨

This video is a glimpse into that process.
/ sound on 🎧

09/04/2026

Opening a coworking space in the small Portuguese city of Viana do Castelo came from Joana’s wish to separate her professional and private life after years of working from home. 🐝

For the past fifteen years, has been a place where people work, meet, experiment, fail, try agin and create together. 🛝

Or, as they like to say - coworking is not a space, coworking is an action.

02/04/2026

⬅️ A little throwback to the policy and practice panel from the CRAB conference, that opened up an important question - where do rural creative hubs stand today when it comes to funding, networks and decision-making? 🔍

talked about it with Marta from European Commission, Sara from , Belén from the Eurochambres and support office, Agustín from .coliving and board, and Rita, former community manager of .

Rural creative hubs are getting more attention, but attention alone is not enough. These spaces still need recognition, trust and the right conditions to keep going (and growing). ⚙️

🪅 It also became clear that rural hubs are almost never working only in culture - most of them are connected to local development, heritage, education, entrepreneurship and community life as well.
That is what makes them strong and useful, but it also makes them harder to fit into systems that like simple categories.

🕸️ Another big point was the importance of networks. They matter not only because of exchange and collaboration, but because they help rural hubs become more visible and less isolated.

And local context matters a lot too. Where municipalities and public institutions understand the value of these spaces, they have a much better chance to survive and grow. 🪢

The conclusion was simple: rural creative hubs are already doing the work - but what still needs to catch up are the policies, funding structures and support systems around them. 🧱

20/03/2026

Last month, we gathered nearly thirty rural creative hubs from across Europe in a tiny village in the Galician mountains for the CRAB final conference. 🐄🏔️

We talked about what we’ve built over the past months, brainstormed next steps for our spaces and daydreamed about the future of CRAB - all while eating homemade food and having a great time along the way (despite the rain). 🦀☔️

19/01/2026

Listen to the story of África and Agustín - about the connection between and .coliving, the importance of intergenerational community, and the bridges built between rural and urban contexts. 🌱

It’s also a story about the people who arrived - and decided to stay.

📹: .gama

03/12/2025

In a small village in Galicia, right next to the Portuguese border, cows outnumber inhabitants 🐄
That’s also where was born more than a decade ago ⛰️

We spoke with Edo, one of its founders, about recovering abandoned places and bringing them back to life; about villages, creating and above all - the people.

📹: .gama

22/09/2025

In May, CRAB hosted its first event in Treballu Rural Coliving, Sardinia, where 20 rural spaces joined us for a three-day networking event ⛰

22/09/2025