Free Saturday Workshops & Collective Learning

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Since the opening of our Education & Participation Space, Kunstinstituut Melly has become a vibrant place for workshops, lectures, and collective learning experiences. Every Saturday, we organize free workshops open to everyone, where creativity, connection, and personal expression are at the heart of the experience.

Our Saturday workshops provide a space for experimentation and connection. In January 2026, during Nurdan Ariöz’s workshops, participants engaged with storytelling, visual arts, color, drawing, writing, and movement, contributing to a collective story archive: a living artwork that preserves each person’s presence and voice.

In February 2026, during Sabrina Schoop’s workshops in Poetic Diaspora, participants explored language, words, and personal memories, creating poetic fragments that weave together identity, memory, and multilingual expression.

In March 2026, the workshop series Tip of the Tongue, led by Veronika Babayan, explores multilingualism, migration, and memory through dried fruit. Participants create fruit chains inspired by expressions from different languages, reflecting on care, loss, humour, and change. Language becomes something you can see, touch, and assemble. Come experience a language that cannot be expressed in words!

In April 2026, the Saturday workshops were once again led by Nurdan Ariöz with What You Haven’t Said Yet. This new series invited participants to work with spoken word, collage, and personal objects to give shape to stories that often remain unspoken. Through writing and image-making, participants contributed to a growing digital archive of personal narratives.

During the Saturday workshops in June, led by Thijmen Burgerhout, participants create race numbers, banners, medals and trophies that celebrate non-performance – something of great value, particularly in today’s results-oriented society, where speed, productivity and visibility take centre stage. In a playful, sporty setting, the pressure to perform is turned on its head, creating space for doubt, calm and the rediscovery of one’s own worth and meaning.

In July, Conform Cox will host a series of three free Saturday workshops where we’ll draw, imagine, and rethink the world around us, taking inspiration from the exhibition Draw Withdraw Redraw. Each workshop explores a question related to improving our everyday lives. In the first workshop, we’ll reimagine the human form; in the second, we’ll rethink our own living spaces; and in the third, we’ll turn our attention to Rotterdam. The workshops are part of Holiday Passport 2026 – Doing as Drawing.

The second Free Saturday Workshop series of Holiday Passport 2026 – Doing as Drawing – will be hosted by Carmen José this August. In Emotional Trees in a Collective Forest, we will explore drawing beyond the academic canons of control and violence over the course of two Saturdays. Together, we will create a vibrant forest on large textiles, culminating in a collective installation hanging from the ceiling.

The final free Saturday workshops as part of Holiday Passport 2026 – Doing as Drawing will be led by Elina Charinti. Cultivating Acts of Courage is a series that explores courage as a way to move forward, to refuse to conform and to find new paths. Using felt, drawings and natural materials, participants reflect on memories, values and communities, and create tangible objects that embody courage, resilience, care and hope. Courage becomes something that can be made, seen and touched!

The space itself acts as a hub for learning, encounter, and collective imagination, where participants meet, share ideas, and experiment together. Whether through individual or collaborative practice, the workshops make the city’s unseen stories visible and memorable.

Alongside the Saturday workshops, the Education & Participation Space hosts CLiP Open sessions, community-led projects, and other creative learning opportunities. It functions as a hub for encounter, exchange, and collective imagination, where participants explore, share, and connect through creativity.

Free Saturday Workshops with Elina Charinti — August 2026

Time: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM | Location: Education & Participation Space, Kunstinstituut Melly

WORKSHOP SERIES - CULTIVATING ACTS OF COURAGE

In August, Elina Charinti will lead a two-part series of free Saturday workshops: Cultivating Acts of Courage.

This workshop series uses felt-making, drawing, and natural materials to explore courage as a practice of moving forward, refusing to conform, and finding new paths. Through creative, tactile processes, participants will reflect on the people, memories, values, words, and communities that shape our capacity to act with courage.

Working individually and collectively, we will explore how resilience is built through acts of resistance, refusal, care, and imagination.

Courage becomes something that can be made, seen, and touched.

The felt is ethically sourced and sustainably produced, and the fabrics are repurposed surplus materials.

The workshops are open to everyone, no prior experience is needed.

Workshop Schedule — August 2026

Workshop #1 — Cultivating Acts of Courage with Elina Charinti: 22 August 2026

In the first workshop, we will work with felt, natural materials, and drawing to reflect on the people, ideas, values, memories, smells, and flavours that sustain us. We will explore through making what keeps us moving and helps us navigate uncertainty and change, creating tactile pieces that celebrate the things that help us keep going and find our way through challenges.

Workshop #2 — Cultivating Acts of Courage with Elina Charinti: 29 August 2026

What helps us feel trust, safe enough to take a chance, try something new, or face uncertainty? In this workshop, we will create small "safety blankets" using needle-felting techniques. Inspired by the people, places, objects, and memories that offer comfort and support, these pieces will become personal reminders of trust, strength, and resilience.

Free Saturday Workshops with Carmen José — August 2026

Time: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM | Location: Education & Participation Space, Kunstinstituut Melly

WORKSHOP SERIES - EMOTIONAL TREES IN A COLLECTIVE FOREST

When and why did we learn to draw trees in a certain way? And what does this reveal about our relationship with the world?

Join Carmen José in a workshop that explores drawing beyond academic canons of control and violence. Together, we will create a forest on large textiles, which will come together as a collective installation hanging from the ceiling.

The facilitation is composed of exercises in observation, care, and emotional relation — following intersectional feminist and queer perspectives. The workshop is linked to the poetry and illustration book I don’t know how to draw a tree(Rotopol, March 2025).

Similar workshops have been organized at different cultural and social spaces in Rotterdam: Garden of Queerdom, Dokhuis, Ferry Books, Rotterdam Illustrators, TENT, WoLK, and Grounds. From 10–23 August, the artworks from the book will be exhibited at Het Park Paviljoen, together with three workshops about nature journaling for kids, young people, and adults.

Workshop Schedule — August 2026

Workshop #1 — Emotional Trees in a Collective Forest with Carmen José: 8 August 2026

You are invited to draw a large, imaginary tree on textile—inspired by a tree from your window, a childhood memory, or your dreams. What is its name, and how is it feeling today? Together, we will build it from the ground up: starting with deep, entangled roots, moving up to a sturdy trunk, and expanding into branches and leaves that reach out and cross paths with others.

Workshop #2 — Emotional Trees in a Collective Forest with Carmen José: 15 August 2026

Next to the tree, you are invited to draw an imaginary person on textile, rooted in your memories or surroundings. Who are they, and what is their story? We will guide you from the feet up to the body, arms, and head. Are they barefoot or dressed for the cold? How do they move, and what expression do they wear on their face?

Free Saturday Workshops with Conform Cox — July 2026

Time: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM | Location: Education & Participation Space, Kunstinstituut Melly

WORKSHOP SERIES - DISTORTING IMPROVEMENT

In this free series of workshops, taking place over three Saturdays, Conform Cox invites you to draw and reimagine, inspired by the theme of the exhibition Draw Withdraw Redraw. Each workshop centres on a question about how we can improve our daily lives. During the first workshop, we’ll reimagine the human figure; next, we’ll depict our own living spaces; and in the third workshop, we’ll focus on Rotterdam.

What would you like to improve, and can you think beyond the current frameworks of life and society? What is an important issue for you, and how might you redesign the world to address it? How can you visualise your unique ideas? Illustrator Conform Cox will guide you through these questions and also help you with any queries you may have about drawing. In this way, during each workshop, you’ll build a part of your own alternative world, constructed layer by layer. You can also take part in just one workshop.

The first workshop will be during the Festive Opening: Holiday Passport.

Workshop Schedule — July 2026

Workshop #1 — Distorting Improvement with Conform Cox: 18 July 2026

In this workshop, participants are invited to imagine how changing the human form could improve the world. Through drawing, posing, and playful experimentation, they will create unique characters that give shape to qualities, traits, and possibilities that are often difficult to see, but easy to imagine.

Workshop #2 — Distorting Improvement with Conform Cox: 25 July 2026

Participants are invited to rethink their living spaces by imagining what would make their room feel better, more exciting, or more inspiring. Through drawing and collage, they will transform familiar interiors into spaces that reflect their wishes, needs, and imagination.

Workshop #3 — Distorting Improvement with Conform Cox: 1 August 2026

How would you change Rotterdam to make it an even more beautiful place? Participants will transform parts of the city through drawing and imagination, creating new perspectives on familiar places and sharing their ideas for the future.

Free Saturday Workshops with Thijmen Burgerhout — June 2026

Time: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM | Location: Education & Participation Space, Kunstinstituut Melly

WORKSHOP SERIES - THE ART OF LOSING

Failure is the new winning! During the workshops in June, led by Thijmen Burgerhout, participants will create race numbers, banners, medals and trophies that celebrate non-performance – something of great value, particularly in our results-oriented society, where speed, productivity and visibility take centre stage.

In a playful, sporty setting, the pressure to perform is turned on its head, creating space for doubt, calm and the rediscovery of one’s own value and meaning.

The workshops constitute a playful and critical exploration of failure, loss and the pressure to perform within contemporary society. In a setting reminiscent of the world of (elite) sport, participants are invited to focus precisely on what is normally avoided: not being able to do something, stopping, doubting or failing.

Through three creative activities, participants redefine what success can mean. They create race numbers for a competition they would never win, design banners that encourage failure, and create prizes for small achievements or failures. This shift creates space to view yourself and your actions differently.

The workshops are accessible and sensory, with an emphasis on doing, making and experiencing rather than verbal explanation. A temporary environment is created in which the pressure to perform is released, making way for kindness, humour and a re-evaluation of losing.

Workshop Schedule — June 2026

Workshop #1 - False Start: Saturday 6 June 2026

During this workshop, participants reflect on something they are completely unable to do, have never tried, or would actually prefer to avoid.

Workshop #2 - Encouraging Losing: Saturday 13 June 2026

In the second workshop, participants will create a banner that encourages failure and leaves room for stopping, doubt, and the choice not to participate.

Workshop #3 - Prize for Messing Up: Saturday 20 June 2026

Participants create awards (medals and trophies) for small, often overlooked achievements—such as getting through the day, starting something without finishing it, or simply being present—reframing failure and discomfort as value.

Free Saturday Workshops with Nurdan Ariöz — April 2026

Time: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM | Location: Education & Participation Space, Kunstinstituut Melly

Nurdan Ariöz will once again lead the free Saturday workshops in April 2026. What You Haven’t Said Yet is an open spoken word workshop in which personal stories are made visible through image, text, and voice. The workshop series consists of three sessions that can be followed independently, in which participants explore different ways of writing: from collage, from a personal object, and through an ode to an unseen talent.

The project is based on the idea that everyone carries a story that rarely finds a stage. Participants are invited to shape and share this story. Each workshop results in a finished work — a combination of text and image or audio — which is added to an online publication. This website functions as a growing archive of voices that would otherwise remain unseen. Spoken word is approached as an accessible tool for self-expression and for connecting visual art, language, and personal narratives.

These workshops are open to all ages and require no prior experience.

Workshop Schedule — April 2026

Workshop #1 – Image as a Beginning: Saturday 4 April 2026
Explore what often remains unseen through intuitive collage and spoken word.

Workshop #2 – The Object That Carries You: Saturday 11 April 2026
Write from the perspective of a personal object, uncovering hidden stories and unexpected connections.

Workshop #3 – The Voice Not Yet Heard: Saturday 18 April 2026
Write an ode to a younger self, a hidden talent, or a quiet presence, giving attention to voices that rarely find a stage.

Free Saturday Workshops with Veronika Babayan — March 2026

Time: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM | Location: Education & Participation Space, Kunstinstituut Melly

Language is transmitted from mouth to mouth, from tongue to tongue. In March, the workshop series Tip of the Tongue, led by Veronika Babayan, invites participants to explore multilingualism, migration, and memory through collective and sensory processes of making. By cutting, layering, assembling, and working with images, drawings, collected materials, and dried fruit, participants translate expressions from different languages into visual and tactile forms. Language becomes something you can see, touch, and assemble, moving beyond literary fluency. Multilingualism is approached as non-linear, interrupted, and constantly adapting, while participants reflect on what is preserved, what changes, and how language survives across time and distance.

These workshops are accessible to all ages and require no prior knowledge.

Workshop Schedule — March 2026

Workshop #1 – Transmission: Language as Inheritance: Saturday 7 March 2026

Workshop #2 – Interruption: Language as Rupture (Expressions of Anger and Grief): Saturday 14 March 2026

Workshop #3 – Transformation: Language as Adaptation (Expressions of Humor and Absurdity): Saturday 21 March 2026

Free Saturday Workshops with Sabrina Schoop — February 2026

Time: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM | Location: Education & Participation Space, Kunstinstituut Melly

In February, the Saturday workshops led by Sabrina Schoop in Poetic Diaspora give participants the space to experiment with language, words, and personal memories. Participants work with words from multiple languages, as well as personal, imagined, or inherited memories, exploring how language moves between worlds and creates new meaning. Contributions are transformed through writing, cutting, rearranging, and visualizing into poetic fragments, weaving together language, identity, and memory.

These workshops are accessible to all ages.

Workshop Schedule - February

Workshop #1 – Language as Home: Saturday 7 February 2026

Workshop #2 – Fragmented Memories: Saturday 14 February 2026

Workshop #3 – Language in Form: Saturday 21 February 2026

Workshop #4 – Multilingual Poetry: Saturday 28 February 2026

Free Saturday Workshops with Nurdan Ariöz — January 2026

Time: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM | Location: Education & Participation Space, Kunstinstituut Melly

In January, join a special Saturday series led by Nurdan Ariöz, exploring the unseen stories of the city. Participants bring personal memories and fleeting moments—sounds, scents, conversations—that are transformed through collage, drawing, color, writing, and intuitive movement. Contributions come together in a collective story archive—a living artwork that preserves each person’s presence and voice. Each session also offers the chance to create a small personal keepsake, a symbolic “key” reflecting your own experiences.

These workshops are accessible to all ages and participants with limited language skills.