What we do

We work with an estafette a.k.a. relay system: every current member can introduce one new member. There are three criteria the member should meet: 1) has to live in Rotterdam, 2) makes work that interests you, 3) would fit in the community, be an active member and understand our values.

Well, what we’re doing is quite unique, so it’s understandable you can’t wrap your head around it immediately. We struggle with that too, sometimes ! This is what we know for sure about all the practical stuff:

• Most of our members are individual artists and some work in collectives. Each Widdie is part of the TimeWindow collective.
• There are 14 seperate studios and a basement. Most members own a shared studio. We also have a communal space: Het Binnenplein. Some members don’t rent a studio, but they have a membership.
• Every member takes part in the daily organization of the collective. They are part of a committee, help to organize events and take care of shared spaces. There are no leaders, everyone has the same amount of ownership.

Yes.

Not tomorrow. It is possible to rent spaces from our studio owners for a limited time. There’s one dance studio and several rehearsal spaces. Please note that it’s difficult to rent a space on very short notice, since the owners only rent them out if they’re not using their space. Don’t know anyone personally? Contact us so we can forward you to the right people.

Most of our members are from The Netherlands, but we also have a lot of Widdies from all around the world who don’t speak Dutch (yet). Same goes for our audience. We choose to do all of our communication in English, so nobody feels left out. Sometimes some Dunglish may stick up its head, yes.

Our events are mostly in English, sometimes in Dutch. In practice we just organically switch between both. Always check the event info to make sure.

See question 4. But probably, no.

Yes! We are included in Cultuurplan 2021-2024 of the city of Rotterdam. We receive structural funding for events, facilitating the talent development of individual members and professionalizing as a collective. However, we do not receive any funding for renting the space. Because we’re a big collective, we can afford it ourselves.

Once upon a time, in an empty office building not far away… TimeWindow started out as a festival. The idea: every artist makes the festival. No curators, no managers. There were no limitations to what the artists could show, except for a time frame ranging from 5 minutes to three days. And it was a window of opportunity. A time window. You see?