Open Cultural Center

Open Cultural Center (OCC) creates, develops and maintains safe and positive learning spaces for refugee families temporarily residing in Greece and for migrants and refugees living in Barcelona.

Under the Polikastro Cultural Center program, OCC develops educational programs in urban areas where refugee families are temporarily relocated. The overall goal of the project is to provide the refugee population with a community-led space for non-formal education and skills development. OCC offers a space and provides language lessons, organises arts and culture workshops, sport activities, as well as ad-hoc trainings and social activities. In this way, OCC contributes to stabilize the uncertain and challenging life as a refugee in transit.
The main beneficiaries are vulnerable groups of the refugee community in Europe, notably children and young people coming from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. Our organisation promotes a continuous intercultural dialogue between project participants, as well as their empowerment through co-decision and co-management of the initiat

In Barcelona, OCC provides a space for learning and community building adressed to migrants and refugees as well as their host community in the neighbourhood of el Born. There, OCC offers language classes and other cultural activities to provide cultural integration and raise awareness about migration. Since October 2019, OCC Barcelona is also the host organization to a free code academy for migrants and refugees, MigraCode. This program aims to introduce migrants and refugees to a new professional sector through which they can find a better job in their host country.