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Social cohesion & integration
We connect Dutch Eindhovenaren with the city's international community across 100+ nationalities — turning parallel lives into shared ones.
Impact, craft & sustainability
A cultural project
for the Brainport region.
Project Eindhoven is a professional cultural initiative — free for participants, sponsored by Stichting the Octopus Movement Foundation, and designed to weave 1,000 cultural conversations into the fabric of the city.
1 · Societal impact
What this project gives back to the city
Project Eindhoven contributes to multiple goals of cultural and social policy in the Brainport region — and is designed to reach beyond the local audience.
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Inclusion of neurodiverse voices
ADHD, autism and dyslexia are explicitly welcomed as cultures of thinking. Matchmaking honours different communication styles.
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Cultural & creative participation
Each conversation is a small cultural act. Makers, designers, musicians and craftspeople are matched with people outside their bubble.
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Above-local reach
A fruitbody of The Octopus Movement (active in 100+ countries). Stories from Eindhoven travel internationally through the movement's network and press.
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Innovation through culture
Eindhoven ranks 3rd in the world for innovation. We make the cultural infrastructure beneath that innovation visible — and stronger.
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A kinder, thicker city
1,000 conversations is not a number — it's a measurable density of new ties between people who would otherwise never meet.
2 · Professional quality
Curated by Perry Knoppert
Perry Knoppert
Founder of The Octopus Movement · Curator, Project Eindhoven · lives in Eindhoven
Perry is the founder of The Octopus Movement — a worldwide human mycelium that has connected tens of thousands of people across 100+ countries through curated, cross-cultural conversations.
As an Eindhovenaar, he curates Project Eindhoven personally: the matching method, the cultural framing, the choice to weave Dutch, international and neurodiverse voices into a single fabric. The method is original, has been tested internationally, and is documented for transparency.
The project is run with the artistic and editorial standards of The Octopus Movement, in collaboration with local makers, hosts and cafés in Eindhoven.
3 · Cultural entrepreneurship & sustainability
Free for participants. Built to last.
We removed every financial barrier to joining. The cultural value belongs to the city; the cost is carried by the foundation and its partners.
100% free
Ten coffees, ten cultural conversations — no fee, no subscription, no hidden cost. Fully sponsored by Stichting the Octopus Movement Foundation.
A healthy balance
Foundation sponsorship, cultural grants, in-kind support from local Eindhoven cafés, and an international community of contributors to The Octopus Movement.
Proven method
The matching approach has already connected people in 100+ countries through The Octopus Movement. Project Eindhoven applies that proven method to one focused city.
Artistic, social and organisational value sit in balance. The artistic value lives in the cultural craft of matching across difference. The social value lives in 1,000 new relationships in Eindhoven. The organisational value lives in a small, lean operation backed by a foundation with a decade of practice.
Be part of the first thousand
Free to join. Ten conversations. One thicker, kinder city.
Join the waitlist →