ABOUT US
Refugees in Denmark more than ever before need spaces from where to protest the continuous parliamentary and societal encroachment on their rights!
In Trampoline House, asylum seekers, rejected asylum seekers, and refugees with a residence permit can get counseling, develop capacities, find community, and bear witness to the shadowy sides of Danish refugee policy. All under one roof!
The house works to improve refugees and asylum seekers’ legal rights, equality, and participation in Danish society by offering legal counseling and activities and by organizing events and running campaigns, which partly strengthen the users' professional competences, social networks, and democratic participation, and partly throws light on the human consequences of the continuous tightenings of Denmark's immigration policy.
The house is a gathering place for displaced people as well as Danish citizens and international residents, who think that the Danish asylum and refugee policy has become too tight, and who work for a more humane and inclusive refugee policy together.
BACKGROUND
In December 2020, the self-organized refugee justice community center, Trampoline House, had to close after 10 years of operation due to the corona crisis and lack of funding. The closure of the house left a big void with the many hundreds refugees and asylum seekers, who weekly visited the house to get legal counseling, attend Danish classes, enroll in internship and job training programs, meet new friends, and form networks. In the house, children and adults who have fled war, poverty, or human rights abuses found a unique democratic community where they felt welcome and equal. A community in stark contrast to the insecurity and marginalization that many displaced people experience in the Danish asylum and integration system.
To fill this void, a group of former users, volunteers, and staff members set out to establish a new house on a more sustainable scale in the spring of 2021. The result was the Weekend Trampoline House, which from January, 2022–August 2023 rented the parish house of the Apostle Church's parish house for its activities.
From August to October 2023, Trampoline House was located in the Villa D'Este at the premises of the old Sct Hans Hospital in Roskilde as part of the exhibition Non Performing in collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Art in Roskilde.
Trampoline House is now looking for a new base in Copenhagen and is working to transform itself into an independent cooperative in 2024. The services that Trampoline House provides, such as social and legal counseling, catering, language classes, conferences and workshops on democracy and inclusion, will in future be income generating and all members will get a share.
“Trampoline House has during its existence had a very special significance for the asylum seekers at the Danish Red Cross asylum centers. Regardless of the offers at the asylum centers, many asylum seekers need activities and communities outside the centers. Here, Trampoline House has had a very special, valuable role thanks to the very engaging and respectful approach that the house has always had. Trampoline House has been an invaluable sanctuary for its many users and a competent and important player in the asylum area, and the Danish Red Cross has greatly appreciated the collaboration.”
“There is no doubt at all that Trampoline House has made a huge difference to the people who made use of the house. But Trampoline House has also had a more general significance for our society by meeting asylum seekers and refugees as equal citizens in a democratic meeting. And I hope – and this is also was is sense – that the established system has been inspired by the equality that has always been Trampoline House’s foundation.”
ORGANIZATION & ACTIVITIES
Trampoline House is a volunter-run non-profit association run and coordinated by the Association Trampolinhuset 2021's board.
The house is currently taking a break to relocate to Copenhagen and restart as an independent cooperative, but continues to offer certain services and continues to organize events and campaigns to improve refugees and asylum seekers’ legal rights, equality, and participation in Danish society.
our house rules
SPONSORS
Trampoline House has been realized with support from:
Bolsjeposen, Carl og Ellen Hertz’ Familielegat, documenta fifteen, Fonden af 20. december, Fuglefonden, Goethe-Institut, Guldberg Plan Fonden, Hotelejer Andreas Harboes Fond, Novo Nordisk medarbejdernes honorarfond, Østifterne, VMOK Fonden, and private donors.
Video about the first Trampoline House
Awards
The first Trampoline House has been awarded:
Hal Koch Prisen 2011 · Yggdrasil-prisen 2015 · Bispebjerg Lokaludvalgs Frivillighedspris 2016 · LIVIAprisen 2016 · Nominated for Visible Award 2019 · Dialogprisen 2020 · Dialogprisen 2023
Networks & Partnerships
The first Trampoline House was one of the founding member organizations of Folkebevægelsen for asylbørns fremtid, which from 2017–2022 worked to ensure better legal rights and living conditions for asylum-seeking children in Denmark.
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