Further Grants
In addition to the BKP Award Grants, the team of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program administers a number of other support programs in which international artists and scholars from many different disciplines are invited to come to Berlin.
Each year, in addition to the eighteen fellowships awarded to artists who have been selected by independent, international juries in the four fields of visual arts, music & sound, literature, and film, the Artists-in-Berlin Program also invites several artists to Berlin for shorter residencies lasting between one and two months.
These short-term residencies are awarded to artists who have already made substantial, innovative contributions to contemporary art, but whose transdisciplinary or collective practices are not easily represented within the framework of the four historically established fields. Moreover, these invitations make it possible to set thematic priorities in connection with the long-term fellowships.
The DAAD Arts and Media Program supports research and study visits to Germany by international cultural practitioners and new media artists. In addition to other long-term collaborations—with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Darmstadt Summer Course for New Music—the program includes short-term fellowships administered by the Artists-in-Berlin Program.
Arts & Media Fellows
Climate change is no longer just a scientific problem; it is also a major social and political issue. Consequently, many different societal groups need to be involved in finding solutions to this problem, as well as in debates on what sustainability means. To foster exchange and discussion between artists and scientists, the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), and the Department of Culture and Museums of the City of Potsdam jointly offer an artistic residency at PIK.
Founded in 1992, PIK addresses crucial scientific questions in the fields of global change, climate impact, and sustainable development. Researchers from the natural and social sciences work together to generate interdisciplinary insights and to provide society with sound information for decision-making. The main methodologies employed are systems and scenarios analysis, modeling, computer simulation, and data integration.
The historic buildings of the institute and its high-performance computers are located on Potsdam’s Telegrafenberg campus, a unique ensemble of research facilities built in the nineteenth century. Since 2011, PIK has used the building that formerly housed the “small photographic refractor” as a studio for visiting artists and as a meeting place for scientists and artists.
Artists-in-residence at PIK are provided with accommodation in the city of Potsdam and studio space at PIK, as well as a three-month grant to offset living expenses and costs of materials and travel. During their residencies, guest artists are expected to interact with the local scientific community and to present their work to the public in Potsdam and Berlin.
We welcome applications from international contemporary artists and cultural practitioners in many different fields: visual arts, film, literature, music & sound, curating, design, and theory.
The PIK Artists-in-Residence program is a collaborative project between the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program, and the Potsdam State Capital. It is supported by funding from the German Federal Foreign Office and the Potsdam State Capital.
With the ICORN fellowship for cultural producers at risk, the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program actively supports artistic freedom and freedom of expression. The fellowship is funded by the State of Berlin, which joined the International Cities of Refuge Network in May 2018. Thanks to this Norway-based organization, more than 200 at-risk and threatened artists and writers have found temporary refuge in nearly eighty cities worldwide. As a partner institution of the State of Berlin, the Artists-in-Berlin Program oversees and provides administrative support to fellowship holders.
International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN)
Teaching professionals in the fields of visual art, literature, music, and dance & performance have the opportunity to become associated with universities in Berlin, thanks to visiting professorships organized jointly by the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program: foreign writers, composers, academics, artists, curators, art historians, art critics, dancers, and choreographers are invited to Berlin to teach as visiting professors for one semester.
Together with the Humboldt-Universtität zu Berlin, the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, and the Bankgesellschaft Berlin’s Stiftung Brandenburger Tor, the DAAD established the Rudolf Arnheim Visiting Professorship within the Art History Seminar at the Humboldt-Universität.
Rudolf Arnheim Guest Professorship
In association with the Freie Universität Berlin, S. Fischer Verlag in Frankfurt am Main/Berlin, and the Veranstaltungsforum of the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, the DAAD established the Samuel Fischer Guest Professorship for Literature at the Freie Universität.
Samuel Fischer Guest Professorship
Together with the Technische Universität Berlin and the Sender Freies Berlin (now Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg), the DAAD established the Edgard Varèse Guest Professorship for Computer Music at the Technische Universität.
Edgard Varèse Guest Professorship
In cooperation with the Freie Universität Berlin and the Akademie der Künste in Berlin, the DAAD established the Valeska Gert Visiting Professorship for Dance and Performance at the Institute for Theater Studies, part of the Department of Philosophy and Humanities at the Freie Universität.
Valeska Gert Guest Professorship
Also in coopration with Freie Universität Berlin, the DAAD, Suhrkamp and the Institute for Slavistics established the Siegfried-Unseld Guest Professorship in 2009.
As global nomads, curators act as intermediaries: they provide the all-important nexus between artists, institutions, and the public. KfW Stiftung’s “Curators in Residence” program offers promising young curators from Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia the opportunity to spend several months in Germany, thus promoting intercultural exchange in exhibition organization.
The five-year collaboration between KfW Stiftung and the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program facilitated individual working visits to Berlin. Rather than being centered around an exhibition project, they enabled the chosen curator to develop new projects, create their profile, conduct research, and establish a professional network. Each year, one candidate was awarded a grant for a six-month working visit.
Selection procedure: promising young curators were nominated by internationally renowned curators and artists from different parts of Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. A jury of experts then selected the successful candidate.
The International Relief Fund 2020 was set up in 2020 on the initiative of the Federal Foreign Office and the Goethe-Institut together with partners in order to quickly support organizations from culture and education abroad in dealing with the anticipated effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The Federal Foreign Office provided around three million euros in basic emergency aid, which was increased to approximately six million euros in 2021. The Goethe Institute coordinated the selection process and the allocation of funds. Cultural organizations and private foundations from Germany also added further funds or participated with their own projects including the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program, the German UNESCO Commission, the S. Fischer Stiftung, the Robert Bosch Stiftung, and the Siemens Foundation. www.goethe.de/hilfsfonds