O.U.R. COOP

O.U.R. Coop is an international social cooperative for artists and cultural workers, based in Belgrade and open to members internationally. It was created to build a lasting collective infrastructure in response to increasingly precarious working conditions in the arts, including shrinking public support, fragmented systems of protection, unequal access to markets and resources, and the growing pressure on artists to operate as isolated entrepreneurs. Its starting point is simple: cooperation can become a durable organisation owned and governed by its members, extending beyond temporary projects and informal networks.

O.U.R. Coop emerged through Shared Visions, a Creative Europe project exploring how solidarity, democratic governance, shared resources and collective economic tools can support visual artists across the Balkans, Eastern Europe and beyond. After two years of research, workshops and assemblies, the cooperative was formally constituted on 20 May 2026 in Nikšić, Montenegro, turning the infrastructure developed through Shared Visions into a member-owned cooperative enterprise that reinvests collectively generated resources into shared services and solidarity mechanisms.