We are very pleased to announce that the project Guides to Berlin’s Independent Arts Community has come to a very successful conclusion!
In the year 2019, numerous multilingual information events, individual advisement sessions and workshops for international artists and culture makers took place.  An important part of this also comprised the conducting of research and preparation of multilingual information regarding advisement structures, networks and points of contact as well as tips for artists newly arrived in Berlin from the Arab, Asian, Francophone, Polish, Turkish and Russian language areas. The artists and culture producers Marwa Almokbel, Charlotte Bomy, Anastasia Gorokhova, Urszula Heuwinkel, Steve Mekoudja, Defne Sahin and Frederika Tsai conducted research into and compiled opportunities, points of contact, networks and helpful tips for working as a freelance artist in Berlin in their respective languages.

About Guides to Berlin’s Independent Arts Community

The pilot project Guides to Berlin's Independent Arts Community was the first cooperation of the Performing Arts Program of LAFT Berlin in cooperation with the advisement structures Music Pool, Lettrétage e. V. (the project Schreiben & leben) and the artist advisement program in Kulturwerk of bbk berlin GmbH.

The pilot project Guides to Berlin's Independent Arts Community is intended to support international artists, writers, musicians, performing artists and culture makers in gaining a foothold within the cultural sector here as well as to provide the existing support structures with intercultural sensitivity. The guides are multilingual, experienced and international artists who have strong networks within Berlin’s independent arts community. They are available for personal advisement sessions in their respective language as well as email-based advisement for artists who are newly arrived in Berlin, offer information events, come along, when needed, to corresponding advisement appointments, make it easier for new arrivals to become part of the community by providing information about existing opportunities and help with all questions surrounding working as a freelancer in Germany, relevant networks and topics such as the Künstlersozialkasse  (the German public social insurance fund for artists).

The guides are:
Frederika Tsai, Chinese
Marwa Almokbel, Syrian Arabic
Anastasia Gorokhova, Russian
Urszula Heuwinkel, Polish
Defne Sahin, Turkish
Charlotte Bomy and Steve Mekoudja, French

Appointments for advisement can be requested by sending an email to:
lotsinnen [at] pap-berlin.de

A project of the Performing Arts Program of LAFT Berlin in cooperation with the advisement structures Music Pool, Schreiben & leben of Lettrétage and the artist advisement program in Kulturwerk of bbk berlin GmbH.
 
The project Guides to Berlin’s Independent Arts Community is funded by the program Cosmopolitan Berlin 2019 – Advisement, Support and Networking for International Artists, Media Professionals and Culture Makers of Berlin’s Senate Department for Culture and Europe.

Publication – Brochure

The results of the research are available in the form of a multilingual information brochure.
The guides have conducted their respective research individually; the information provided here is intended to offer an initial orientation from a very personal standpoint and does not make any claim to completeness. Feedback and comments on the brochure as well as information regarding additional advisement structures or networks are expressly requested.

To our publications