The background for carrying out the project was the existence and regular activities of the non-state cultural centre Tabačka Kulturfabrik in Košice. The centre is based in the premises of an old tobacco works which in 2014 underwent a major reconstruction. In view of this major change, we named the project itself “New Beginning”. The civic association BONA FIDE, which operates the centre, is a civic initiative which has endured since 1994 and works resolutely for change in the cultural-social environment, so that quality art, civic involvement, open-ended thinking and creativity become a natural part of life. However, the reconstruction which stood before us at the time of writing the project really was the promise of a new beginning. The aim of the project was, along with the expanding space, to also spread our activities and for the first time to get involved in the ERASMUS + program. We decided to create space for two specific participants in the EVS activities who would get the opportunity to penetrate into the way of functioning of an independent cultural centre, to select a specific area for their own work in it and for 6 months to become a component of it. At the time of submitting the project we had already selected both participants on the basis of questionnaires, interviews via Skype and mutual consensual interest. The first was Patricia Ana Garcia Naranjo from Spain, who was a recent graduate in architecture. The second was Liam Thomas Archer from England, who was employed full-time at the time of his application. The activities carried out were very closely connected with the events in the centre. The volunteers at the start spent some time in all sections that ensure the running and the program of the centre – the program department, the production department, the technical department, the PR department and the coffeehouse. They monitored the activities of responsible persons in the individual sections and were helpful to them. At the same time they got the role of contemplating their own activities, their own project, which they want to devote themselves to during the EVS project. After the period of familiarisation with the functioning of the centre, each of the volunteers selected an area in which they had decided to work. Patrícia decided for assisting the production department and for work on her own photo blog. In it she mapped out in weekly cycles the progressing reconstruction at Tabačka Kulturfabrik while at the same time working independently on the production of her own musical instrument – a violin. In the final phase of reconstruction she got involved in the design workshop, in the scope of which participants, under the leadership of a lecturer, re-designed old furniture into the “new” furnishings for the centre. Liam decided on assistance for the technical team with a specialization in sound, and he gradually began to work on his own artistic-sound project. During the entire project we found ourselves in a dynamic period of reconstruction, which compared with the plan was delayed significantly and officially was completed only in May 2015, when the celebratory opening of the new Tabačka took place. Despite the time shift, or thanks to it, our first EVS members experienced the rebirth from a small cultural centre into a cultural institution of a European type both in range and in content. Tabačka Kulturfabrik is at present the largest independent cultural institution in Slovakia with an integrated dramaturgy focus on the presentation and support of all types of quality contemporary art. As an impact of the project implementation we can appreciate the fact that the volunteers acquired both theoretical and practical experience, including many activities associated with the leadership of a cultural centre. They also came to know the local arts scene (mainly Liam, who is also a musician) and also in part the international scene through contact with the participants (mainly Patrícia in the position of production assistant). They acquired experience from programming, technical, administrative and organizational areas. We see long-term positive contributions on both sides of the project. Both volunteers got involved in a team, became a part of it and with their activities and ideas were an inspiration for permanent members of the Tabačka team. We perceive the possibility to be a hosting organization as an ideal opportunity for permanently improving the skills of team members and ideal for inspirational meetings with young people who in the future may become a part of the world of independent cultural institutions or at least learn something about their functioning or during the EVS find space for their own development in them.