The Living Cultures Mission
Nourishing ancestral relationships between places, cultures and economies
At Living Cultures, we have only just begun; we are currently active in 2 bioregions: Zuid-Veluwe in the Netherlands and Aylla Rewe Budi in Chile. In these places, we call upon many different people – artists, farmers, entrepreneurs, policy makers, researchers, activists – to work together and revitalize our cultures, land and economies.
In 2020, we engaged in a collaboration with Maple Chile and Budi Anumka with support of the Packard Foundation. In this initiative, we are working with Mapuche-Lafkenche communities on the biocultural restoration of Aylla Rewe Budi. We foster agroforestry systems and strengthen local economic autonomy.
Since March 2023 we have been part of the EU Shared Green Deal initiative. We are working in Stroomgebied Zuid-Veluwe (Netherlands) on food sovereignty and biocultural restoration. This is supported by DRIFT institute for transitions and Slow Food International to exchange insights with regions in other European countries around obstacles and successes in the process to achieve food sovereignty.
In October 2023 we embarked on an adventure with Commonland. Our journey together is part of the 4 Returns Lab (known in Dutch as the “Versnellingshuis”) striving to achieve system change within our home country. Together we are 15 landscape labs in the Netherlands in which regional governments, companies, social organizations and farmers collaborate with other stakeholders. We are proud to be one of these labs with Stroomgebied Zuid-Veluwe.
