About Agora Now

Agora Now is an international network for artistic and social transformation.

We’re a movement of 350 artists and makers across 50 countries who bring a fresh perspective on the performing arts and their role in creating positive change in today’s polarised world. We explore new ways of imagining, experimenting, producing, and collaborating.

As pioneers, our innovative model provides support and development for diverse artists around the world and contributes to addressing the major issues of our time.

Oversight over Agora Now is executed by Stichting‬ Passaros, a Dutch Not-for-Profit Cultural ANBI Foundation registered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Liquid Becomings
Photography by Manuel Casanova

OUR JOURNEY SO FAR

Since its launch in 2021, Agora Now has been cultivating a vibrant, international ecosystem — connecting artists, interdisciplinary creators, civil society actors, and changemakers around the world. We believe that strengthening these networks sparks social transformation.

Here are some milestones we’re proud to share:

  • 350 artists across 50 nationalities now form our global creative network
  • Launched 2 city hubs in Rotterdam and Buenos Aires
  • 41 artist residencies, 12 commissions, and 34 fairly paid freelance opportunities
  • Reached over 1.25 million people live and digitally.
  • Activities and partnerships in 15 countries, with a strong footprint in the Global South
  • Celebrated 3 awards:
    • Idio Chichava (Buenos Aires resident) — Salavisa European Dance Award 2024
    • Naomi Russell — Dutch Creativity Award Future + Society 2022
    • Agora Now — selected unanimously by an international jury to curate the European Pavilion 2024

OUR APPROACH

Agora Now is built on three interconnected pillars. Together, these pillars create artistic innovation and contribute to addressing the major issues of our time. Artists and art enrich the cultural “soil” we all live from—helping us experiment with new ways of thinking, acting, and living together.

agora

  1. A space to meet [ancient Greek]
  2. now [modern portuguese]

A national and international network of artists and makers

  • 350 artist members worldwide and growing
  • A self-led “global artistic think tank” that regularly exchanges ideas and practices.

Community-based hubs

  • Spaces where artists and local communities experiment together.

  • Active hubs include Rotterdam (2023) and Buenos Aires (2024).
  • The name “Agora” (Ancient Greek for “gathering place”) reflects our mission.

Artist residencies

  • Pioneering residencies for performing artists across the network.

  • Artists receive a living wage, technical and production support, and share their process with communities.
  • So far, 36 residencies have been realised.

WHAT WE DO

Inspire and deliver a new model of slow residencies for performing artists that forge bonds with local communities and local neighbourhoods.

Create interdisciplinary hubs for enquiry and international relationships

Explore new ways of financing performing arts and independent artists

Empower artists to have more control of their economic and producing environments

VALUES, VISION AND MISSION

Operator (keep as 1st item)

Awareness

We will be aware of the territories we inhabit and take responsibility for decisions we make and actions we take. Being aware means we are committed to listening to each other, and are self-aware of our strengths and limitations.

Diversity

We are committed to a conscience of interconnectivity, difference and diversity of experience, culture, views and ways of working. We welcome a multitude of voices. We believe that diversity enriches the system we are building and will enable it to become holistic and sustainable for the long term.

Experimentation

We will create a safe space for artists to explore, experiment and germinate ambitious ideas from the earliest stage. We will be audacious in highlighting artistic practices however wild, ambitious or new. We will have a light and flexible structure, allowing room for evolution, renewal and growth.

Resistance

We are committed to staying present with everything espaço agora now can be. We hold space and take the time to protect this possibility. It means we are always conscious of how we can resist the global impulse and ‘norms and values’, resist colonisation, and be activists.

Co-ownership

We recognise the power-dynamics inherent in working in post-Colonial contexts, and between those that hold capital and those that do not. We practise generosity, abundance and mutuality and resist the mentality of scarcity and competition. Our goal is operate on principles of co-creation and co-ownership, and find new ways of organising where our global resources are shared.

Join the network

Silver Swan
2021
Clod Ensemble at Tate Modern
Photo © Hugo Glendinning

SUPPORT AGORA NOW

As we put our values into action, we aim to encourage bursts of ambitious, creative energy that are transformative when unleashed.

Join Us Today