We Pitched Culture Like a Startup. Here’s What Happened.
Countercult started as a small networking group and became a living culture map. This is the early story of the model behind it.
Archive note
This is Shona’s original Countercult writing, republished from the Business Creatives Substack with permission.
We went from a 7-person networking group to a community of over 5,300.
Oct 21, 2025
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UPDATES
I started CounterCult a bit over a year and a half ago. We went from a 7-person networking group to a community of over 5,300.
🎯 Our goal: Stop culture from disappearing by getting creatives paid.
Phase 1: 🤝 Networking Groups
We started with local meetups.
People connected. Some found work.
Phase 2: 💻 Online Marketplace
We built a localized database of working creatives.
More people found work.
But we learned there’s more we could do.
Phase 3: 🌐 Beyond a Marketplace → Deep Tech
We’re building a living culture map, a geographical view of your favourite:
🎨 Scenes
🏛️ Communities
👩🎨 Artists
🏙️ Venues
📚 Series
Think of it for:
✈️ Traveling and connecting with your scene
🏺 Studying your heritage through local artifacts
📸 Hiring someone from your community to photograph you
It’s a place to submit & discover culture, and the data shows:
📈 Where culture is thriving
⚠️ Where it needs support
🔮 Trends in where culture is heading next
The Pitch: 💡
We need funding \+ a fractional CTO to build the tech.
Last Friday we pitched at Delta Campus for our final Grace Accelerator demo.
We didn’t find support, first try! BUT
The Ask: 🙏
Know investors, engineers, or partners who can help scale this? Get in touch.
We’ve hit the max of our two-person capacity, haha.
Message CounterCult
CREATIVE FEATURE
Kora Kwok is a Hong Kong artist, sculptor, and writer, and one of our EXPERIMENT residency co-creators.
His practice examines how art can serve as sanctuary spaces and grounds for human connection. he is particularly interested in architecture as art and space as a medium.
See more about him with künstlerroaming
OPPORTUNITIES
🎨 1\. 📍 Baxter St Residency Program
- Location: New York, USA
- Duration: 3 months
- Support: Free accommodation, studio space, and exhibition
- Apply by: October 26, 2025
- Apply here
🧠 2\. 🧳 Google Creative Fellowship
- Location: Remote (Google offices globally)
- Duration: 6 months
- Support: Hands-on experience with Google’s creative teams, mentorship, and networking
- Apply by: Rolling applications
- Apply here
🌍 3\. 🏛️ Factory International Fellowship
- Location: Manchester, UK
- Duration: 12 months
- Support: £20,000 stipend, £4,000 for artwork production, access to facilities
- Apply by: November 30, 2025
- Apply here
🏞️ 4\. 🎯 **1\. Culture Moves Europe – Individual Mobility Grants (EU)
- Funding: €85/day, travel allowance, family and accessibility top-ups. Open to artists and cultural professionals from Creative Europe countries. Rolling deadlines: 31 October, 30 November 2025; 31 January, 29 February, 31 March, and 30 April 2026.
- Apply here: https://culture.ec.europa.eu/culture-moves-europe/call-for-individual-mobility-2025-2026
🎨 5\. ✨UX/UI Designer – 1-Year Paid Contract in Berlin
- Eligibility: Graduated within the past 5 years, registered in Germany, and no prior experience founding a company.
- Duration & Start: 1-year contract, starting January 2026, with a competitive salary.
- Role: Work with a Berlin-based startup on UX/UI design, gain professional development, and shape the product from the ground up.
- Apply here
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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Countercult Studios works as a contractor or specialist delivery partner on research, mapping, cultural strategy, campaigns, experiences, commissions, archives, and production.
Originally published on Countercult’s Business Creatives Substack. This is a faithful reprint from 2025-10-21; time-sensitive opportunities and event details may have changed.
editorial process: Our Journals are pulled from our writings over the years to get information out as quickly and as widely as possible, and to get to what matters: finding each other and claiming our seat in the circular economy. Some ideas overlap between Shona Neary's work on cultural infrastructure and their artist practice as Sketchy Shona. AI is a tool for infrastructure, not for creating Journal writing or artists' work. We welcome original reporting and pitches from journalists and independent publishers.