What happens when an organization outgrows the way it works?
For many independent cultural organizations in North Macedonia, this question comes after years of creating programmes, building audiences, and responding to the needs of their communities. As their activities expand, so do the demands behind the scenes: coordinating people, managing finances, defining responsibilities, documenting processes, and planning beyond the next project.
The Boost Grants Scheme, implemented within the Culture for Development project, focuses on this often invisible part of cultural work. Instead of supporting artistic production, it gives organizations the opportunity to examine and strengthen the ways they function—from governance and strategic planning to communication, financial management, and team development. The programme is open to organizations working across fields such as visual and performing arts, critical theory, feminism, and social activism, with a particular focus on strengthening the independent cultural sector across North Macedonia.
The organizations supported by the Boost Grant scheme come from different backgrounds and work in different fields, but many describe a similar moment in their development.
“We felt that our organization had reached an important turning point,” says Creative Center Tintiri Mintiri. “Our program work has grown a lot, but our organizational capacities and our internal systems stayed in the same old position.”
Despite their different backgrounds and artistic practices, many organizations describe a similar experience. They speak about relying on small teams, informal routines, and individual commitment to keep ambitious programmes running. At the same time, they recognize the need to clarify responsibilities, improve internal communication, strengthen financial and administrative procedures, and create more space for strategic planning.
For Association for Culture IKON, the process is about moving away from the constant rhythm of project implementation and creating stronger management systems. Schtrich describes its goal as moving “from an organization that is working by intuition to an organization that has planned workflow.” Association Aqua sees the programme as an opportunity to rethink its internal structure and strengthen culture as a central part of its long-term work.
The changes each organization is working on are different because their starting points are different. Some are developing strategies and internal policies, others are improving governance, communication, or team management. Rather than following the same path, each organization defines what organizational development means in its own context.
For Creative Center Tintiri Mintiri, the value of that process is simple:
“Investing only in individual projects can help make one good film, one workshop or one event. But investing in the organization helps us make every next project better.”
This article opens a series dedicated to the organizations supported through Boost Grants Scheme. In the coming months, we’ll follow their processes more closely, exploring the questions they are asking, the changes they are introducing, and how organizational development takes shape in practice.
The Boost Grants Scheme is supported through the Culture for Development project of the Government of Switzerland and is implemented by Heartefact Fund.