What is Bildung Nijmegen

Bildung Nijmegen is a platform for concretely transforming ideas into new learning and personal growth environments. From a sense of lack or personal passion, topics can be explored in one’s own way together with students, teachers, artists, but also with other interested parties. When current topics are organized in meetings in such a way that they have an impact through unexpected working methods or special combined perspectives, a Bildung process is initiated among participants, audience, and organizers.

Our vision is to create a dynamic organization that centralizes Bildung and personal formation of many different types of people. We believe that development goes beyond learning facts and skills; the Bildung process is one of personal development and growth. By integrating non-formal learning and autonomously deployed art and culture into our programming, we aim to offer a wide range of learning opportunities that promote the creativity, expression, and reflection of individuals.

There are great opportunities not only in experiencing the organized but also in learning how one’s own version of a Bildung event can impact all attendees.

Examples of what we have organized in the past include theme nights on climate change, friendship, love and death, digital detox, toxic relationships, and much more. For this, see our page on experiments and successes.

Why is Bildung Nijmegen necessary?

Education mainly prepares for a profession, and we at Bildung believe that there is a need for more than that in the current ‘Zeitgeist’.

  • There is a growing number of important issues such as polarization, ethical and moral dilemmas, and how one relates to such issues that need to be addressed. We want to provide the tools for this. How do we prepare for an uncertain future?
  • Bildung offers an independent perspective on the complete development of the human being as a whole that prepares itself robustly for the unexpected. This allows for more self-confident critical thinking and acting as an individual, within organizations, and in one’s environment.
  • Bridging social, cultural, or disciplinary differences is an increasing challenge. Polarization is growing in society because people stay more in their bubble and struggle to give direction to their own lives. To address the big issues, a different view of living together, learning, and working is needed.
  • There is too little attention to the differences between young and old with diverse backgrounds. Diversity and inclusivity are important drivers to enrich a one-sided view of people and their view of the world.
  • Given that AI, Chat GPT, algorithms, and robots are becoming more commonly used at an extreme speed, it’s only a matter of time before various types of work will disappear completely. The uniqueness of humans remains ultimately as their only selling point.

Bildung Nijmegen was established to make the unmentionable mentionable so that it can be discussed from the perspective and needs of the new generation and that constructive pilot experiments can be undertaken.

How does Bildung Nijmegen work?

In fact, everyone active at Bildung Nijmegen has a passion for the uniqueness of humans. This means that the approach at Bildung Nijmegen is primarily about making people feel heard and seen, that listening is more important than speaking, and that being different is embraced more than becoming aligned in agreement through consensus. The learning and formation process is, therefore, approached from a completely different angle. With us, you can be more yourself in search of answers to questions.

The platform operates on a project basis, where, based on a certain topic, pilots and a combination of working methods can be designed. These can be individuals who have joined Bildung Nijmegen or organizations that can be supported by us in realizing ideas.

Within the involvement of the HAN University of Applied Sciences, Radboud University (RU), ArtEZ, and the ROC, we want to offer unexpected stages to art and culture providers. This enables them to reach new audiences and engage in valuable interactions with different target groups. Through these collaborations, we also aim to generate ethical and applied philosophical impact, welcoming the social commitment and responsibility of all who wish to contribute.

Our organization strives for an environment where diversity, inclusivity, and interdisciplinarity are embraced. We want to be a breeding ground for innovative approaches to personal growth, breaking down the boundaries between disciplines and institutions so that both individuals and collectives can (re)discover, develop, and unfold themselves.

The board ensures organizational continuity and, together with the core team, starts or facilitates the design of meetings based on the principle of non-formal education, integrated with the artist-educator approach.

Regularly there are Bildung Drinks, so keep an eye on the agenda. These evenings are organized to informally catch up on all developments and meet each other.