Ongoing projects

Queer culture cellar

Duration: 1/01/2025 – 31/12/2025

Tartu youth work project “Queer Culture Cellar” started on 1.01.2025. The duration of the project is 12 months and it is financed by the city of Tartu.

We will organize various art and craft workshops at the Behemoth’s centre from January to December 2025, with which we want to offer LGBT+ young people the opportunity to express themselves through different art forms, such as visual art, textile art and also literature.

Creative Resilience

Duration: 1/10/2024 – 30/09/2026

The project (2024-1-SI02-KA210-YOU-000255855) started on 01.10.2024; duration 24 months.

Project objective: developing civic activism and street work skills among young people. Cooperation partners: Zavod Moja mavrica (Slovenia).

The project is funded by the European Union within the framework of the Erasmus+ program.

Previous projects

Peemoti Book Club

The project (2023-2-EE01-ESC30-SOL-000168146) started on September 1st, 2023; duration 4 months.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission European Solidarity Corps programme. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Peemoti kunstiringid
(Tartu linna kultuuri väikeprojekt 2023)

The aim of the project “Peemoti Art Circles” is to organize thematic and art circles introducing different types of art in the period September-December 2023 in the Peemot Center, where especially young people from the LGBT+ community aged 13-25 can go together to informally learn art history and different ways of making art, make new friends and spend time in the safe space of the Peemot center.

The duration of the project is 4 months and it is financed by the city of Tartu.

Behemoth’s Books. Creating a Self-Sustaining Community Centre for Tartu’s LGBT+ Community Using the Methods of Co-Creation and Service Design

Duration: 16/09/2022 – 16/09/2023

The aim of the project “Behemoth’s Books. Creating a Self-Sustaining Community Centre for Tartu’s LGBT+ Community Using the Methods of Co-Creation and Service Design” is to create a self-sustaining community centre in Tartu that supports 14 to 40 year old members of the LGBT+ community through organizing events and social entrepreneurship. Using the methods of co-creation and service design, and with the input and help of the local LGBT+ community, a community centre will be created that aims to be a safe space for the community and serves as a meeting place, as well as a place for hosting cultural events in Tartu. The centre will sell books, the art of local members of the LGBT+ community, as well as create jobs for them. Events hosted during the project will support the social situation of the LGBT+ community, who will additionally assess the necessity of certain events.

The project is funded by the Active Citizens Fund (ACF) of the EEA (European Economic Area) Grants, operated in Estonia by the Open Estonia Foundation in consortium with the Network of Estonian Non-profit Organizations.

EEA grants are funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway in 15 EU Member States in Central and Southern Europe and the Baltics. The fund shall contribute to the overall objectives of the EEA and Norway Grants, to reduce economic and social disparities, and to strengthen bilateral relations between the beneficiary and donor states.

Information

Results

As a result of the project we created a community centre for the LGBT+ community that serves as a safe space and a place to meet other like-minded individuals. Within the first year, Behemoth’s centre has gained 19 dedicated volunteers that help with what they like and know best, networked with other non-profits and organisations such as Eesti Transinimeste Ühing, MTÜ Tartu LGBT+, MTÜ Vikerliit, Lille Youth Centre, Kogo Gallery, Eesti Arstiüliõpilaste Liit, and so on, as well as gained the title of Rainbow Hero in the field of youth work and education from Eesti LGBT Ühing. This project enabled the non-profit MTÜ Peemoti Raamatud to work together with other members of the Estonian network of LGBT+ non-profit organisations to organise events and collaborate on important projects, such as planning Tartu Pride 2024, holding support group meetings for transgender and non-binary people, attending Baltic Pride 2023, and planning events for Festheart. The community centre has managed to bring together Tartu’s LGBT+ activists that have collaborated on writing new projects and coming up with new ideas to make Tartu a brighter place for LGBT+ people.