Mission

Villa Mescolanza wants to offer a meeting space for old and new residents of in and around Turnhout based on their common interests.

What?:

An accessible meeting place for old and new Turnhout residents.

Who?:

City of Turnhout in collaboration with the 'residents' (organizations) in the Villa.

Why?:

Meeting in a city location can be very difficult. The Villa is a cozy alternative.

 

Vision

 

Villa Mescolanza wants to provide a location for the operation of various associations to build bridges. In addition, it wants to stimulate exchange and acquaintance within its own association and between associations. Finally, the intention is to facilitate contact with the city council.

Regular monthly residents' meetings are scheduled where all associations that use the Villa as' residents' are supposed to be present. In addition to these fixed moments, one-off activities are also organized such as film screenings, training sessions, exhibitions, ...

The initiative is very accessible, participative and has an empowering approach. It meets the needs of the associations of new Belgians who are provided with affordable space for meetings and activities. That makes the initiative very valuable. On the other hand, there are also some challenges associated with the project. It is labor-intensive, it is dependent on the availability of volunteers and it is best to take structural costs into account. Supervision of the use of the Villa and proper organization is also important.

Financially it is important to take into account the rent of the building and additional costs such as heating, electricity, water and internet. In addition, there are also costs for organizing events and providing staff.

 

 

Future

 

In the future, the Villa wants to redecorate the house and make the space even cozier by painting the woodwork and walls. The garden, stairs and roof are also maintained.

 

In addition, during the monthly residents' meetings, the Villa wants to ensure maximum participation of the residents during the meetings. We want to achieve this because the residents organize an activity three times a year with other residents so that more use is made of the Villa.

 

The Villa wants to be available to every resident of Turnhout. So everyone can walk in with a question and receive further help. The Villa is a meeting place for everyone with or without a migration background. We regularly want to be positive in the media with our initiatives. We also want to help combat poverty in the city and reduce the distance between citizens and the city, Flemish people and people with a migration background and rich and poor.