The Connection with the System

Creative hubs exist within a much larger system, beyond the programs they run or the relationships they have with their communities. No hub is an isolated entity. Rather, it interacts with ever-changing political, economic, social, and cultural systems. Being able to read and engage with these systems—and when necessary, distance yourself from them or work to transform them—is a core competency for resilience.

We can call this competence “system literacy.” This includes being able to see how the system works, where decisions are made, visible or invisible power relations, how exclusionary structures persist, who triggers change and how, and where you stand in these structures. Sometimes it requires choosing to be involved, sometimes not; sometimes making room, sometimes taking a position by taking on tensions.

This literacy also includes being able to “read” the landscape. In the ecosystem:

• Who plays which role?

• Which areas are crowded and which are empty?

• Which actors are central and which are invisible?

• In what regions or contexts are different dynamics at work?

Such observations are not only instructive in terms of observation but also strategic positioning, establishing relationships and intervention skills.

For creative hubs, systems literacy often works through three intertwined rings: community , local ecosystem , and networks .

• Community is the immediate environment that makes you who you are and makes your work meaningful and possible.

• The local ecosystem is the set of institutions, structures and policies that directly affect you.

• Networks are spaces for collaborative learning and resource sharing that you encounter at a national or international level.

Being able to move between these layers, establish and deepen the relationship between them, allows you not only to survive, but also to solidify your place within the system and become a transformative actor when necessary.

Community is the raison d'etre of creative hubs. However, this relationship is often not as clear, fixed or equal as is thought. Is there still a camaraderie with the people you initially said “let's walk together” to? Or has that relationship turned into a one-way service line over time, without your knowledge?

Sometimes you think you know your community very well. But are you really in their lives? Do you know their times, their financial difficulties, their physical and emotional limitations, their learning styles, their ways of establishing trust? Before you ask how much they need you, you need to think about how much you really touch them, what they give up to be with you, how much space you make.

When defining this relationship, definitions such as “program participant” or “event viewer” are not enough. A real community creates a bond between you and each other. Over time, this bond creates trust, provides direction, and makes decisions common. In such a relationship, you do not just offer something; you learn from them, you get to know their voices before they need it.

But this bond does not happen on its own. It takes time to establish. It is very easy to lose. Therefore, community relations should be established not with personal intuition, but with structures that enable co-production, with clear and repeatable mechanisms. Structures such as feedback loops, spaces where the community can also produce content, and participation in decision-making processes strengthen this bond.

When you stop and look:

• How much of your community are you truly touching?

• How much are you involved in the community's change stories?

• Do your actions have a place in their daily lives?

• Have you had any practices that were adopted by the community, transformed, or evolved into completely different places?

• Without your community, what do you hold onto today? Is it really that connection that carries you, or is it the assumption of it?

If there is superficial interest but no mutual commitment, you may have a temporary audience, not a real community. With a real community, you don't just give power; you take power. It's that relationship that sustains you in difficult times and is the source of new ideas.

When you limit yourself as a creative hub to your own community or physical space, you are bound to miss the whole system. Yet each hub is part of a local ecosystem: cultural institutions, NGOs, academia, municipalities, the private sector, other hubs, small producers, civil society organizations, informal structures, and many more. The positions of these actors, their power relations, their access to resources, and their cultural codes directly affect your place.

Reading the ecosystem is not just about knowing who is doing what; it is about understanding how your own structure touches the gaps in this system, how it responds to which needs, and in which areas it is visible or left out. At the same time, making visible those who are not visible in the system—the communities that are left out, the structures that are not mentioned—is also part of ecosystem literacy.

This awareness brings with it not only the ability to observe but also to locate:

• How do you define your own role and how do others see you?

• What are your similarities or differences with other structures?

• What stage are you in and what kind of support or cooperation is needed at this stage?

• Do you have the necessary ground and capacity for the areas you want to intervene in?

These questions are important not only for building meaningful collaborations or managing conflicts, but also for seeing where you are truly touching the system.

Creative hubs are not limited to the city or country they are located in. With the contribution of digital tools after the pandemic, sharing knowledge, experience, resources and visibility in many national and international networks has become even more possible. However, participation in these networks should not only be a visibility strategy; it should be a usable ground for co-production, collective learning and joint advocacy.

At the same time, joining these networks is also about the ability to access the right “address” and chart appropriate routes. Each creative hub has different needs and journeys:

• What stage are you or your community in?

• What type of support or resource is right for you?

• Is there a presence that represents you in these networks — or is it just you there and your community is not?

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True integration is not just about your presence, but also about the voices of the people you work with. Your responsibility to bring you into networks is measured by what you bring from those networks to your community.

The Stakeholder Engagement Map is a tool you can use to analyze the relationships you have today, as well as to think about the qualities of the relationships you want to establish in the future. This map helps you see not only who you are connected to, but also at what level, with what motivation, and with what principle of reciprocity.

Why is this tool important?

• The structure we call a system is not only composed of large and central actors, but also works with structures that are often overlooked, marginalized, or invisible. This map allows you to recognize not only who you are in contact with, but also who you have the capacity to interact with .

• Existing relationships are often fixed in historical flow, but this fixity may often be due to habit, convenience, or a desire for visibility rather than to a conscious strategy. The map allows you to see these patterns anew.

• Each hub establishes relationships in different ways depending on the context it is in. In some places, co-production is possible; in some places, there is only information ground. Understanding this diversity helps not only to determine reality; it also helps to think about where you want to evolve in the future .

How to Use?

The following four steps will help you use this tool not as a checklist but as a framework for thinking, positioning, and repositioning.

1. Identifying Visible and Invisible Stakeholders

The first step is to identify not only the actors you currently engage with, but also the structures within the system that you influence or that influence you but have not yet engaged with.

Consider the following:

• For whom, with whom and thanks to whom do you carry out your activities?

• Who do you get direct feedback from?

• Whose presence have you gotten used to but never questioned the potential for collaboration?

• Who might be acting in the same field but have fallen off your radar?

At this stage, it is important to pay attention to actors who are often not included in official maps, such as informal structures , local networks , representatives of participatory groups , and local opinion leaders .

2. Understanding Relationship Forms and Dynamics

The aim of the second step is to evaluate how vibrant, reciprocal, transformative and trust-based these relationships are.

• How did the relationships begin and how do they continue?

• Are these contacts regular, seasonal, or one-time?

• Do both parties derive the same meaning from this relationship?

• What do you learn from these stakeholders; what do they get from you?

Relationships are not only built on the level of project partnership, sponsorship or participation; they are also built on invisible layers such as cultural proximity , political positioning and emotional labor . Considering these dimensions also increases the value of the map.

3. Establishing Current and Ideal Engagement Levels

Place yourself in the center of the map and place all the stakeholders you identified around you. Now mark the current level of your relationship with each actor and the level you want to reach .

You can think of engagement levels as follows:

• Informing: You only pass on information, the decision process is not shared.

• Consultation: You receive feedback, but you are the one who decides.

• Co-Design: You act together in shaping the processes.

• Co-production: There is partnership in practice.

• Co-Management: You determine strategy and direction together.

While some relationships can only progress through information sharing, others can be more egalitarian and based on common sense. The important thing is to question why this level is established in this way and whether it has the potential to change .

4. Critical Observations and Future Signals

Once the map is complete, step back and look at the whole picture.

• Is a certain type of actor dominant in your chart?

• Have you noticed structures that you have no contact with but that are an important part of the system?

• What kind of impression do you give from the outside? Is there a relationship practice that matches this impression?

• Do your existing relationships serve your hub's evolving mission?

These questions aim to guide you toward a more meaningful and strategic network of relationships , not just “more connections.”

Final Word: A Map Is Used Not for Seeing, But for Rethinking Its Place

The Stakeholder Engagement Map is not a listing tool; it is a space for reflection to understand how you position yourself within the system, who you connect with, and how these connections take shape over time.

Some connections are weak but may become stronger in the future. Some relationships appear central but may be limiting your range of motion. Some gaps point to opportunities you have not yet discovered.

This map reminds you not only where you are, but also where you want to stand .