Sociocultural Centers as Democratic Innovators

Abstract This article conceptualizes grassroots sociocultural centers as democratic innovations , highlighting the (everyday) care and efforts that activists invest in creating new democratic spaces. It argues that these centers function as sites where activist citizenship is continuously made and remade through participation, interaction, and cultural expression. Drawing on democratic theory, feminist critical contributions, and theorizations of creativity and citizenship, it analyzes three cases from Southeast Europe—Magacin (Belgrade), Termokiss (Prishtina), and Jadro (Skopje)—examining how they use alternative knowledge and organizational practices to contest sociopolitical contexts and cultivate social connections and shared meanings. By identifying the plurality of meanings of democracy and innovation exercised in these centers, the article proposes a care- and affect-centered perspective on democratic innovations and recognizes these spaces as political actors shaping new participatory forms and contributing to the ongoing reimagining of democratic publics.