Substack reprintRural culture · open source · creative infrastructure2025-11-03

From Street Rat to Rural Hackers

An artist-founder’s dispatch from the edge of technology and art, building more useful cultural infrastructure from Berlin to rural Galicia.

By Shona Neary, artist, founder, and cultural strategist.

dispatches from the edge of tech, art, and survival of who we all are JOIN OUR CULT

CounterCult and Shona the Artist & THE FLOOR

Nov 03, 2025

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UPDATES

We’re growing. Fast.

What started as a street rat idea 🐀 is turning into a vagabond crew, one getting money and resources into the right places in culture.

(ALSO get 30 euro in free stickers of your designs if u comment on this newsletter and share hehe)

Also please subscribe as it truly helps our community out A LOT! And its free :)

We are actual street rats of Berlin

This week we’re interviewing potential CTO / tech people, aka the brains who can help us merge the 🧩 left + right sides.

Creatively? We’re overflowing 🎨

Analytically? Time to level up 🧮

And while that’s happening, we’ll be in 🇫🇷 Paris and 🇪🇸 Galicia, Spain, linking up with rural hackers + builders who are redefining what “innovation” even means.

The contrast is beautiful: code + countryside, culture + tech 🌾💻

We’ve had some wildly qualified applicants (still a little shocked tbh 😭).

And since it’s not a paid role yet, the fact that folks are showing up purely to build something real with us? 🔥

That’s huge.

It feels like everyone’s trying to solve the same problem, just from different corners of the map 🗺️

Where we’re headed

We’re expanding from a simple marketplace/map site into a larger open-source platform.

That means:

🛑 current site = paused (cocooning 🐛🦋)

🚀 new ship = in the works

🏴‍☠️ still recruiting our ragtag crew

It’s strategy mode now.

Still messy. Still scrappy. That’s a promise.

🌍 What’s next

Here’s what’s cooking:

• ✈️ Another residency, most likely Cape Town 🇿🇦
• 🌾 Paris + Galicia (Spain) collabs with rural hacker networks, blending local culture + tech building
• 🧱 FLOOR, a creative space in Berlin 🇩🇪 by me & Sho, inspired by Gertrude Stein’s salon nights \+ Andy Warhol’s Factory
• 💸 More creative paid opportunities
• 🗺️ A growing map of our heritages + subcultures

CREATIVE FEATURE

Surprise it’s me. Sketchy Shona. Realized it’s time to use my ego and show yall what I’m up to as one of the founders of CounterCult, but also myself as a career artist.

• I’m a visual artist, painting, mixed media, tattoos, digital art, and recently headed into the performance art sphere. Also yes the cover photo today is me as a rat of Berlin. But im originally from the states, sort of all over.
• I share how i survive as an artist financially as that’s the number 1 question i get, but you have to read about it between my written yapping of the probably too tmi Sketchy Reality of an artist.
• I’m also announcing a project that I’m starting soon that has the potential to involve you all, called FLOOR, a physical space that also acts as the cross over of my personal art, CounterCult, and EXPERIMENT residency. So make sure to stay updated on that newsletter as i am moving away from insta and would ideally love to never have a digital footprint but alas.

More about Sho

OPPORTUNITIES

✍️ 1) Shakespeare & Company “Tumbleweeding” Residency – Free/Funded (Paris)

• Short residencies at the historic Paris bookstore for writers & artists
• Open to creatives looking for immersive literary + cultural space.
• Link: https://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/tumbleweeding

🏞️ 2) Locust Projects – Funded Exhibition Call (USA)

• Open to local/national/international artists for installation work.
• $10,000 project budget + $5,000 artist fee; no entry fee.
• Link: https://www.locustprojects.org/for-artists/submissions/exhibition-open-call.html

🎨 3) ACRE Residency – Funded option (USA)

• 14‑day sessions in rural Wisconsin for visual, sound, performance, writers, curators.
• Some fellowships: no‑fee + $500 honorarium for selected artists.
• Link: https://www.acreresidency.org

🌍 4) Culture Moves Europe – Funded Grant (Europe)

• Supports artists/cultural professionals to work internationally in Europe (travel + daily allowance).
• Open to individuals & small groups across disciplines.
• Link: https://culture.ec.europa.eu/node/3679

🧱 5) La Napoule Art Foundation Residency – Free/Funded (French Riviera) APPLY TODAY

• For artists of any genre; includes accommodation + studio support.
• Spring 2026 session.
• Link: https://artistcommunities.org/directory/open-calls/international-artist-residency-spring-2026

FREEBIES

Become a Podcast Guest:

Yes, we started a podcast sharing local artists and subculture stories of real life, inspiration, and how the pay the bills. Full podcast coming soon, but check out our teasers on our social media.

Your own free stickers:

Get 30 euro in whatever sticker design you want for free! Comment on this newsletter and we’ll send you the code :)

thanks!

Thank you for your time and continued support. Your engagement means the world to us. Let us know what you think of our newsletter in the comments. :)

###### Well, that’s all for the next two weeks! If you want more opportunities and updates, more often, make sure to check out our stories and posts on INSTAGRAM, since we only feature our most curated picks in this newsletter.

###### Stay creative!

-Sho

#CreativeCommunity #ArtistsOnSubstack #IndependentArtists #SupportCreatives #ArtLife #ArtistOpportunities #CreativeFunding #ResidencyOpenCall #FundedResidencies #InternationalArtists #GlobalResidency #BerlinArtScene #ParisResidency #JapanResidency #ArtAndTech #HackTheSystem #CreativeCollaboration #DevelopersWanted #SubstackNewsletter #CreativeNews #ArtistUpdates #CommunityNewsletter #ArtNewsletter

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| | | | --- | --- | | | A guest post by

| | | | --- | --- | | Shona the Artist & THE FLOOR<br>An honest look at what a crusty New York artist based in Berlin does attempting to travel the world creating art with people, paying the tax man, running Countercult & curating THE FLOOR. | Subscribe to Shona | |

Originally published on Countercult’s Business Creatives Substack. This is a faithful reprint from 2025-11-03; time-sensitive opportunities and event details may have changed.

How this Journal is made: Countercult publishes writing from years of work across independent culture, local economies, artist-led technology, and place. These essays, field notes, guides, and case studies make that knowledge useful and help artists, operators, and commissioners find one another. The Journal is human-authored; AI supports infrastructure, not authorship or artists' work. We welcome original reporting and pitches from journalists and independent publishers.