Support Us

KET is an independent arts space in the Kypseli neighbourhood of Athens. It was founded in May 2012 as a non-profit organisation by Fotini Banou and Dimitris Alexakis. Angeliki Karampela joined the team in November 2015.

The space occupies the premises of a former workshop where black-and-white television sets were made: a high-ceilinged basement and an L-shaped upper level, partly below street level, that wraps around it like a balcony. KET can accommodate between 50 and 90 people, depending on the layout. As there is no fixed stage, artists and groups are free to experiment with the space itself and to rethink their relationship with the audience.

From October to early June, we host three to five concerts a week, with a programme centred on experimental music in all its forms. We also present dance, theatre and video art, sometimes in dialogue with the music programme, and make room for established and emerging artists alike.

Over the years, KET has become a fixture of the city’s artistic life. Our programme is shaped by artistic choices as well as by bonds built over time. Since 2012, we have worked alongside artists, often from the very start of their careers, sharing in the explorations, doubts and shifts in direction that mark their work. At the heart of this relationship lies the moment of exposure: that ambiguous, fragile moment when what is most personal becomes public. Our work is not only about organising and promoting events; it is, above all, about this ongoing relationship. It is what gives us joy and inspiration. It is also our deepest reason for carrying on.

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The programme

Improvisation is a central strand of our programme, often in the form of series curated by the musicians themselves. Ensembles and soloists from the Greek scene meet improvisers from elsewhere in Europe and from North and South America, Japan and the Middle East. Musicians of different generations carry forward explorations rooted in New York free jazz, Chicago creative music and London free improvisation.

KET is home to contemporary composition, open forms, vocal experimentation and work that probes the very conditions of listening. A significant part of the programme is devoted to electronic sound: live coding and feedback systems, musique concrète, field recordings, ambient and noise. Here, experimental music often crosses paths with text or song, revisits earlier repertoires and traditional musics, or draws on krautrock and dub.

Improvisation also opens onto other art forms: it meets the visual arts in the series The Sound of Color, dance in the series Three Times Three and Agile Experiments, and cinema when silent films are screened with live musical accompaniment.

KET has hosted or co-organized festivals such as Multiversal, RPT Athens, Soundtrope, Sound Acts, MiQ, Noisy Words, Submersion and expAИD. It also hosted the festival Apopse Antifaschediazoume (“Tonight We Antifascimprovise”), raising funds for the civil prosecution in the Golden Dawn trial, and co-organized H(e)avens, a collective response to the involvement of private foundations in the cultural field.

Since its earliest days, KET has hosted theatre productions that explore politics, society and modern history from unexpected perspectives: the founding of the modern Greek state and the narratives surrounding it, the rise of Nazism, memories of the Greek Civil War carried into exile, the deportation of Greece’s Jewish communities, Chernobyl’s imprint on collective memory, the genealogy of neoliberalism, and the experiences of migrant women living and working in Greece.

We also open our doors to live cinema and documentary screenings, and the MPATARIA and Spoken Maik evenings provide a regular platform for poetry and spoken word.

▶ Read more about our programme.

▶ Artist index.

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The economics of the space

We work on a “door deal” basis, with no venue hire fee: net ticket receipts are split equally between KET and the participating artists or groups. For a non-commercial venue, this model carries considerable financial risk, especially on nights with a small audience. Yet it has been one of the keys to our longevity, allowing us to forge a strong identity grounded in rigorous curatorial choices and to build lasting ties with the artists we host. KET is not confined to its four walls; over time, it has become a living artistic network that encourages, and sometimes sparks, encounters and collaborations.

Since it opened, KET has never received any public funding. This lack of funding reflects a broader, long-standing problem: independent spaces in Greece have no stable framework of public support. Such a framework should take into account the conditions under which these spaces operate and recognise the essential role they play in cultural life. They are where first attempts are made, where ideas mature and where artistic paths take shape. They are where tools and approaches are put to the test — where something new emerges. Ultimately, the work of these spaces benefits the arts as a whole.

In the United Kingdom, the independent scene made precisely this case: by highlighting the vital role grassroots venues play in the wider music industry, it argued for a share of the revenue from large commercial events to be reinvested in the grassroots scene. Following years of campaigning by the Music Venue Trust, a voluntary levy on tickets for participating large-scale music events now helps fund support programmes for grassroots venues, artists and independent promoters. The example is encouraging; we fear, however, that it will be years before anything similar is seriously discussed in Greece.

In theory, European funding programmes could fill part of this gap. In practice, they are almost always beyond our reach. Preparing and submitting an application is a heavy undertaking, with no guarantee of success. For a small team that already handles programming, technical support, communications and administration, the investment required is often prohibitive. As a result, these programmes favour larger organisations with dedicated administrative staff and the financial means to apply, while shutting out the very spaces that need them most.

With operating costs rising and public funding shrinking, many experimental arts spaces across Europe now find themselves in a similarly precarious situation. A number of them are being forced to close, to relocate or to turn to their audiences for support. Some have chosen to respond collectively; so have we. In June 2026, together with three other spaces dedicated to experimental music, we organised the expAИD festival in Athens. It was a way of showing, side by side, what we do and the difficulties we face; of sharing the beauty of this work and standing up for its importance; and of saying that, whatever the obstacles, we mean to carry on. And we do carry on: persistence has always been part of who we are.

Over the past year, we have taken a series of steps to make the space more sustainable. We have broadened our partnerships with venues, collectives and labels in Greece and abroad. We have strengthened our communication with our audience through our newsletter. We have redesigned our visual identity with Nowhere Studio. And we have launched a membership scheme: a prepaid membership card that entitles members to reduced-price tickets.

Despite these initiatives, the situation remains critical. Our fifteenth season is getting under way as we write, and never before have we started one in such a fragile position. Our spending on energy, equipment, maintenance and everyday supplies has risen significantly; our income has not.

This imbalance threatens everything we have built over more than fourteen years. That is why we are turning to you: to the people who come to this space and love it; to the artists who have found the right conditions here to experiment, take risks and connect with an audience; and to all those who believe that experimental art needs small, independent spaces to exist.

Today, we are asking you to help us keep this space open.

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How you can help

From day one, we have relied first and foremost on our audience. We need your support now more than ever. Every contribution, whether one-off or monthly, small or large, helps us keep our doors open this season and plan future seasons with greater confidence. It gives us something rare: a little more stability.

Shared among many, a small amount becomes real support for the continuity and financial stability of the space:

● A regular monthly donation of €10 from 100 people would allow us to secure one salary each month.

● A one-off donation of €50 from 25 people would allow us to cover the space’s running supplies for a month.

● A one-off donation of €100 from 20 people would allow us to maintain or renew part of the technical equipment on which every event depends.

Your support goes beyond KET itself: you are helping Athens’s experimental arts communities keep a precious resource — a well-equipped, well-cared-for space, ready to host their work.

You can donate here: https://donorbox.org/support-ket

If you are unable to donate right now, sharing this letter is another valuable way to help.

We hope to see you soon in Kypseli.

With gratitude,

Fotini Banou, Angeliki Karampela, Dimitris Alexakis