23 May 2025 - From this week's blogger, tour co-creator Mariana Figallo Brero:

This week, something incredible happened — we read through the full script of Freedom Tours Wageningen for the first time. All eight stops, all the stories, finally came together in one living, breathing moment. With some wonderful guests from Thuis Wageningen, Learning Ecosystem Wageningen and Diversity & Inclusion at Wageningen University & Research and Migrantour Utrecht present to offer their feedforward, it felt like our tour came alive, and that’s something to celebrate.

This session marked a true milestone. It wasn’t just a run-through; it was the first time we really could see the potential with our own eyes, hear the impact through our words, and feel what we’d built together. The emotions in the room were layered: we were proud, calm, inspired, and excited. And yes, also a little overwhelmed, and a little tender-hearted about what’s coming next.

Change is coming. As we near the end of our tour co-creation journey, the weekly sessions that have become such a meaningful and safe space for us will begin to slow down. We’ll soon be guiding the public through the tour, rather than shaping it quietly together behind the scenes. That shift brings anticipation — and a touch of vulnerability.

But this project has always been about embracing transition, about honouring gender, sexuality, LGBTQ+ and feminist perspectives not just as themes, but as lived experiences that evolve, surprise, and shape us. And so, unlike the usual habit of waiting until the very end to celebrate, we did it now. We celebrated this moment, this living script, this shared achievement, because every step of this has been real, raw, and human.

To those reading, we hope you feel some of what we felt this week: the power of collective creativity, the courage it takes to tell stories that matter, and the joy of building something with love at its centre.

16 May 2025 - From our guest blogger this week, tour co-creator Alejandro Sanchez Ruiz: 

I feel like a happy farmer finally beginning to see the fruits of our labor! This week, we laid the foundations for a meaningful, memorable guided walking tour route by developing the content and selecting the locations for our thematic tour stops.  We listened to each other present possible tour stops and, afterwards, shared feedback on the stories being told and the potential places that would bring them to life.

What excited me most was when we gathered around the map of Wageningen, deciding the route we would take participants on. Choosing the order of the stops—and even assigning each one a specific type of freedom to represent—felt especially meaningful.

By now, you're probably curious to know which stops made it into our guided tour — and we won’t keep you in the dark for long! Follow us on social media (see links at the bottom of the page) for some sneak peeks and get a sense of how freedom will come be explored in Wageningen through the lenses of gender and sexuality. As a tour co-creator, I promise you that you'll never see these places the same way again. You'll begin to notice just how deeply gender and sexuality are woven into our surroundings — for better or for worse.

15 May 2025 - Wageningen's 2025 Pride Month celebrations are soon underway! Throughout the month of June, you can join Freedom Tours Wageningen and great local organisations like Shout Wageningen, de bblthk, Let's Talk About Yes, Feminist Run Club, Thalia, Otherwise, Rural Wageningen Foundation (RUW), Amnesty International Student Group Wageningen,  Waga Storm and Centre for Space, Place and Society (CSPS - WUR) for an array of workshops, tours, dialogues, movie screenings, dance parties, dinners, book talks, drag performances, and comedy shows. 

Visit the Wageningen Pride website here and sign up for one of the free Freedom Tours Wageningen tours on freedom, gender and sexuality that we're launching on Saturday, 28 June (10:00-12:00 & 14:00-16:00): https://www.bblthk.nl/pride2025.html  

9 May 2025 - From our guest blogger this week, tour co-creator Nadia de Bell:

In this week’s co-creation session we did something I was secretly kind of waiting for. Starting the day full of excitement we got to picking themes and drafting the tour stops! In the past weeks we got to learn so much about ourselves, each other, Wageningen, and the world. Now, it's time for creation of the actual tour - seeing the fruits of our labor. Thanks to the insights we gained from all of the experiences and knowledges gathered in the past weeks there is, of course, so much we want to share, but we collectively selected the most important themes we want to include in the tour. In small teams, we got to shaping the themes we want to touch upon and how this will be done. From stories of visibility and resistance, to joy and role models - there were so many creative ideas for engagement that I’m thrilled to see come to life! At the end of the day we started shooting some content in order for you to get to know us a bit more. So stay tuned for that! And don’t forget to join us for the first free tours on Saturday, 28 June! 

4 May 2025 - Freedom Tours Wageningen team members Meghann, Chizu, Alejandro, Adriaan and Izzy commemorated Remembrance Day with 36 high school students and several teachers from Hungary, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands visiting Wageningen for an Erasmus exchange during the special 4 and 5 May celebrations. We developed and facilitated an interactive workshop aimed at getting students to think about the tensions between different kinds of freedom and rights in everyday situations. Using a role-play format, students took on a variety of roles in relatable scenarios addressing LGBTQ+ issues, cultural diversity in heritage representation, and socio-economic inequities. It was wonderful to hear their perspectives and also insightful to get their reflections on what's happening in their own countries and communities throughout Europe. Many thanks to Dorien de Jonge and her colleagues from Pantarijn and throughout Europe for this opportunity! 

25 April & 2 May 2025 - From this week's guest blogger, tour co-creator Izzy:

After having seen Wageningen through others' eyes the week before, our very own Freedom Tours Wageningen tour co-creator Rob gave a powerful tour of Wageningen on 25 April (Session 7) that made visible some of the city's more hidden stories - past and present - of violence, resilience, good will, and connection. Stories are everywhere - it's simply a matter of knowing where (and how) to look. 

My favorite stop from Rob's tour was the mosaic bench sitting at the end of the Hoogstraat. Each piece of the mosaic had been bought by local residents to raise the funds necessary to make the 2016 documentary "Love to Live" by Karin Bruers and Margreet Bos.

By 2 May (Session 8), after having explored a lot over the last several weeks, we realized it was time to revisit what we're experienced and created so that we could lay the foundations of our tour. So, we got creative - looking for new patterns,  images, metaphors, and overarching themes in all the material we'd collected and generated. 

Using the New Metaphors cards, we experimented with new combinations of ideas and played with new ways of seeing (something we'll continue to do in the coming weeks). What really struck me about what emerged from the session is how the joy of living and the freedom it holds came through again and again as a theme. 

Our group of tour co-creators has so many amazing talents and such rich knowledge that we can't wait to share and celebrate with you. And, in this blog entry, I want to share one of my talents: below are a couple of images I've painted from my experience in Freedom Tours Wageningen over these past two weeks. 

Join us for free Freedom Tours launch on Saturday, 28 June! 

18 April 2025 - From this week's guest blogger, tour co-creator Rob:

Our tour co-creation session last Friday was all about discovering stories that often go untold. We started the day with a feminist tour led by Margreet van der Burg, one of the authors of Vrouwen, Wageningen en de Wereld (2003). In front of the former University Aula (today the Visum Mundi), once adorned with portraits of only male academics, she shared how hard it has been over time for women to be accepted into Wageningen University’s male-dominated academic world. We heard stories about the first women students and found out where the women’s student association used to meet.

Afterwards, we were warmly welcomed by Rins and Kees at SHOUT, Wageningen’s LGBTQ+ association, to learn about how it's developed over time. Kees has been there from the very beginning, when it was called “Homo Groep Wageningen”. Today, SHOUT is a volunteer-run community that offers both private (safe space) and donation-based public events. SHOUT is located in a former Catholic girls’ school, now home to Theatre De Wilde Wereld and SHOUT's cozy meeting spot for members: the Rainbow Room. We helped set up the theatre for their evening karaoke party and wrapped up the day singing our hearts out—it was great hearing everyone’s voices in a totally different way.

11 April 2025 - From our guest blogger this week, tour co-creator Nadya de Wolf: 

They say history is written by the victors — those in power shape the stories we remember. So, what about those who couldn’t write at all? It felt fitting, then, to have our session in Wageningen's Museum de Casteelse Poort, surrounded by echoes of the past, as we unpacked how our histories and heritages shape how we understand freedom, gender, and sexuality.

We began by reflecting on childhood memories —  cartoons, toys, and stories — that shaped our early ideas of gender. Think: the perfect Disney family. But what about the dissonance? The moments when, as we grew older, things no longer matched what we were taught. For me, it was the depiction of womanhood: soft, pink, always kind. But my own experience of it feels more like a storm brewing on the ocean’s horizon: dark blue and grey, a violent dance of emotions.

Our amazing team created a timeline tracing gender and sexuality through the ages, revealing how complex and ever-present these themes are. We added stories from our own heritages, honoring the people that dominant historical discourse overlooks — like Corry Tenderloo’s fight to lift the employment ban for married women, and the Bugis people of Indonesia, who recognize five genders. 

The day ended with a museum tour led by our ever-smiling guide, Martin. Wageningen’s past came to life — with a few surprising facts along the way: did you know the 1945 Act of Surrender on 5 May leading to the Netherlands' liberation from Nazi occupation wasn’t actually signed in Wageningen? Yes, you read that right!

This session was enlightening, to say the least, and a powerful reminder that we must all share our own stories of freedom, before they’re written for us.

4 April 2025 - From our guest blogger this week, tour co-creator Animesh (Mesh) Gautam: 

Spring in Wageningen means gathering under the blossoms of the Netherlands’ oldest magnolia tree—200 years old and full of silent stories. Known fondly as the ‘old lady,’ she invites us to reflect on the past, present, and future of this town.

In the same spirit, Session 4 of the Freedom Tours Wageningen tour co-creation process invited us to map our personal experiences of gender and sexuality onto the city. We explored places tied to our memories. In my case: an all-femme student house, a first cropped top tried on in Forum, and a Grindr date that turned into chosen family.

We used objects, images, and sensations to tell our stories, drawing connections between who we were, who we are, and who we’re becoming. On a sunny walk to the magnolia tree, Alejandro shared his life story through colorful drawings, Mariana laughed while recalling her love for games, and Adriaan beamed as he spoke about generations of his family, symbolized by his daughter’s tiny shoe from when she was a toddler.

This session was a deep dive into our shared humanity—an intimate journey woven through personal maps and collective reflection.

28 March 2025 - From our weekly guest bloggers, tour co-creators Christine Rossegger and Mélissa Rojas:  

Do you ever walk familiar streets without looking up? What stories might you be missing out on? For Session 3 of our tour co-creation process, we explored Utrecht’s Lombok neighborhood with Migrantour Utrecht. With Ilya, our intercultural companion, we looked up, down, and everywhere in between! We were invited to take part in the Migrantour Utrecht in order to get inspiration and learn from other tours. Not only did we visit interesting stops about, amongst others, the themes of migration, colonialism and religion in the Lombok neighborhood, but we were also encouraged to share our own backgrounds and stories. At the end of the tour, we had further conversations and the opportunity to reflect with Migrantour Utrecht guides-in-training. It was a motivating and cheerful experience to learn about tour co-creation - and we're excited now about starting our own tours soon!

21 March 2025 - In Session 2 of the tour co-creation process, we talked about how different parts of our social identity — like age, skin color, citizenship and education — affect how we see and express ourselves. We also explored how hard it can be to represent ourselves and others without oversimplifying or stereotyping.

14 March 2025 - The Freedom Tours Wageningen (FTW) tour co-creation process officially started today! For our pilot tour, we are exploring the intersections of freedom, gender and sexuality. The tour will be launched for the general public on Saturday, 28 June 2025. Our incredible team of tour co-creators brings a wealth of experience and knowledge from around the world to this four-month design process. In our first session, we reflected on how these complex themes connect to our own lives. In just a few hours, we started to build meaningful connections—both with each other and with the goals of the FTW initiative.

Wageningen University students can receive 3 ECTS by participating in Freedom Tours Wageningen's pilot tour co-creation.  We begin our weekly sessions on Friday, 14 March and end on Saturday, 28 June. Sessions run mainly on Fridays, from 13:00-16:00 in locations throughout Wageningen.

 Interested? 

• Check out the course brochure here. Deadline to  submit letter of motivation: 12 March 2025

• Join our online info session on 18 February at 13:30

29 January 2025 - Freedom Tours Wageningen invites potential stakeholders to come ready to listen, share and explore! Find out:

• What we wish to do and the impact we wish to have (thematic tour route to foster civic learning and engagement)

• How we intend to do it (in-depth co-creation process involving people with diverse backgrounds in Wageningen)

• What's involved in a tour co-creation process (the creative methods we will be using and why)

• How you/your organisation might be able to be part of this initiative (for example, showcase your organisations/initiatives during the tour, be part of the tour co-creation team, provide support during and after the co-creation process via volunteering/funding/promotion, etc.)

We welcome your energy, knowledge, connections, experience and skills to help us advance this unique initiative.

This event will be held in English to ensure the broadest possible participation. However, we understand that some participants may feel more comfortable speaking in Dutch or another language. We will do our best to accommodate this and create an inclusive environment where everyone feels heard.

When: Wednesday, 29 January, Session 1 from 12:30-15:00 and Session 2 from 18:30-21:00

Where: Wageningen45