About Socius

Socius, the support and expertise centre for civil society organizations in the field of culture based in Flanders and Brussels, is an autonomous organization subsidized by the Flemish Ministry of Culture.  

Our main goal is to support and strengthen the civic organizations and professionals in their civic engagement, to maximise their impact for a democratic, inclusive, solidary, and sustainable society. 

We offer our knowledge and expertise on several topics: organizational development, communication, working with citizen initiatives, diversity, voluntary work, and community development through a broad range of activities: training, workshops, inspiration days and network opportunities. We also offer tailor-made support and conduct research. We base our actions on the needs of our stakeholders but also assume a role of an inspirator, instigator and innovator. 

Socius strives to form a link between civil society organizations in the field of culture and other sectors, education-, research- and the policy world and to ensure the visibility of civic professionals’ actions and commitments. 

Our primary stakeholders are private civic initiatives organizing actions and activities meant for adult participants. They strive for social change and are formed by people in the social sphere separate from the state and the market. They are organized in many forms: associations, movements and training institutions, and work across different topics (sustainability, sharing economy, social and cultural participation, solidarity, human rights, identity) and through various actions (by connecting people and groups, by raising a critical voice, offering learning opportunities or experiment with new forms and ideas). 

Our secondary stakeholders are governmental bodies, educators, and researchers from the relevant fields.