Since 2015, many projects for and with people with refugee backgrounds have been initiated at Berlin University of the Arts, both by students and at an institutional level. Below is a selection of projects that have already been carried out. 

The Access Art Schools Berlin project was designed to prepare prospective students for artistic and academic studies in Berlin. From April to December 2025, it offered prospective students with refugee backgrounds a package of preparatory programmes. The concept was based on the needs of the target group and aligned with the Berlin University of the Arts' (UdK) overall concept for persons at risk. Courses offered by the Berlin University of the Arts and the Ernst Busch University of Theatre Arts Berlin (HfS) provided an optimal counselling and support structure to help prospective students with refugee backgrounds or at risk to successfully apply.

Further information is available here.
 

The DAAD Prize 2025 goes to Vincent Hulme. After completing a BA degree in teaching in 2021 and graduating as a master student of fine arts under Prof. Josephine Pryde in 2023, Hulme is currently studying for a master's degree in teaching at the Berlin University of the Arts. He developed his artistic practice across various media, moving toward installation and project-based work. In 2020, he founded Common Ground Studio. The student initiative supports students and prospective students with refugee and migration experience by offering alternative approaches to the class system through mentoring, collective learning, and joint exhibitions. The prize money from the German Academic Exchange Service recognizes the Canadian's outstanding academic achievement and social and intercultural commitment. The award will be presented during the welcome ceremony for first-semester students.

Further information is available here.

Since 2019, the student initiative Common Ground, in collaboration with International Student Services, Student Counseling, and Artist Training, has offered the following “How to Study at UdK Berlin” workshops:
- “How to Study Music at UdK Berlin?” (Faculty of Music and Jazz Institute Berlin).
- “How to Study Performing Arts and Dance?” (Faculty of Performing Arts and the Inter-University Center for Dance Berlin).
- “How to Study Design, Art & Media, (Visual) Communication and Architecture at UdK Berlin?” (Faculty of Design).
– “How to Study Fine Arts at UdK Berlin?” (Faculty of Fine Arts)
- “How to Study at UdK Berlin” (general and for guest students+)

How to Study: The aim was to provide an insight into the various study options and application procedures at the Berlin University of the Arts. The presentation and counselling were carried out by students and staff from the International Student Services office. This offer was aimed in particular at people who had fled to Germany, and prospective students who were not yet familiar with the German art university system.  

Common Ground Studio: Since 2020, Common Ground has been running the Common Ground Studio (CGS), which offers disadvantaged people access to the Institute of Fine Arts at the Berlin University of the Arts. 

Common Ground Lab: This was a communal space that provided an opportunity to meet other artists and interested parties in order to initiate social art projects together. If you have a project idea (e.g. workshops, concerts, etc.), if you need support for an existing project, if you want to become part of a project, or if you simply want to make new contacts.

Support for projects outside the Berlin University of the Arts: Common Ground supported many initiatives, including the “Unframed Festival” and the “Flight of the Butterflies” project.

Further information is available here.

The Common Ground student initiative was funded by DAAD WELCOME until 2023.

The Artist Training Berlin counselling centre offered initial counselling and referrals for all areas at the Berlin University of the Arts. The counselling centre was networked with the International Office, Intercultural Mentoring, General Student Counselling, and the Equal Opportunities Officer at the Berlin University of the Arts. The aim was to find tailor-made offers and contact persons for prospective students, students, and researchers, as well as professional artists with a refugee background/ at risk.

Program:

#Open office hours: Wednesdays, 10-11 a.m.

#Workshop series: “How to Study at UdK Berlin”, 2020-2024

#Course program 2024:

#Artist Training Prize:

More information about the programme can be found here.

The Artist Training Berlin project was funded by the Senate Chancellery for Science and Research from 2019 to 2020, and by the Senate Department for Science, Health, Care, and Equality of the State of Berlin from 2022 to 2024.

Artist Training Lab: Alliances – Students, Scholars and Artists at Risk (2023). In collaboration with the Equal Opportunities Commission and the International Office of the Berlin University of the Arts, the Artist Training Lab: Alliances will focus on networking, inventory analysis, and coordination of programs for students, scholars, and artists in exile in the coming years.

#13 Alliances with representatives of Berlin's universities 09/06/2023

Guests: Weißensee Academy of Art Berlin, Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Humboldt University Berlin, Technical University Berlin, Hanns Eisler Academy of Music, studierendenWERK BERLIN, Senate Department for Science, Health and Care

Foundation of the working group Students, Scholars and Artists at Risk  https://www.tu.berlin/go43599/

#14 Alliances of art colleges 07/12/2023 to 08/12/2023

Exchange meeting: On the way to a post-migrant society with Unlearning University: Program Alliances – Students, Artists and Scholars at Risk

Development of the thesis paper: Defending the migration society – 5 theses for people with refugee and migration experience at art academies

The Berlin State and Cathedral Choir has been working for many years—in close cooperation with the Berlin University of the Arts and civil society partners—to promote cultural participation among people with refugee and migration backgrounds. Through musical encounters and educational formats, collaborations with artists of different origins, and solidarity concert initiatives, we create open spaces where community can be experienced. As singing ambassadors across borders, we combine artistic quality and educational responsibility, thereby strengthening visibility, cultural encounters, and pathways to artistic education.

The war in Ukraine has sparked widespread sympathy and solidarity. Here is an overview of charity activities and solidarity campaigns organized by the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK), some of which are being carried out in collaboration with partner institutions. Further information can be found here.

Charity concert in aid of Ukrainian war refugees on March 12, 2022
Feeling powerless in the face of the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people in this terrible war in Ukraine, students from the Berlin University of the Arts, the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin, and the Barenboim-Said Academy have joined together to help with the means at their disposition and organize a charity concert. The benefit concert held by Berlin music students on March 12 at the Berlin University of the Arts in aid of Ukrainian war refugees raised a total of €12,037. The amount will be donated to Aktion Deutschland Hilft and Voices of Children. Further information can be found here.

Peace on Earth! – Concert on April 7, 2022
Under the patronage of the Senator for Culture and Europe in Berlin, Klaus Lederer, and with the support of rbb and Bujazzo/Deutscher Musikrat, the Deutsche Jazzunion, Jazz thing, Tangible Music, and jazzed are calling for a large joint concert on Thursday, April 7, 2022, in the Great Hall of the University of the Arts at Hardenbergstraße 33, organized by the Jazz Institut Berlin. Further information here.

Art Aid Auction
Art Aid Auction is a sales platform for students and alumni of the Berlin University of the Arts and other art colleges, with at least 70% of the proceeds donated to charitable initiatives. The participating artists can keep up to 30% of the proceeds for shipping costs and materials. In most cases, however, the full amount is donated. Further information here.

The Artist Training DIGITAL BASICS project has been a qualification programme at the UdK Berlin Career College for artists in exile since 2020. The professional development courses aimed to facilitate networking within the local cultural and creative industries, strategic positioning within the respective artistic field, and integration into the Berlin job market. For the extension from August 2022 to December 2023, four coaching programmes and a networking event for artists in exile were planned, as well as the continuation of the Artist Training Lab series.

Program

Coaching Program: with workshops, excursions, consultations in music, visual arts, performing arts, and film.

Online Workshops: How to freelance in cooperation with INTRO Hamburg.

Educational films: on the topics of KSK, media law, taxes, and financing. Director is filmmaker Sina Ataeian. Subtitles: German, English, Arabic, Farsi, Turkish.

Artist Training Lab: How to Create a Safer Space (2022) and Alliances - Students, Scholars and Artists at Risk (2023) is the continuation of the Artist Training Lab for Radical Transformation (2020/21) series of events. All podcasts are available here.

Further information about all past projects is available here.

The Artist Training DIGITAL BASICS 2020-2023 project was an offering of the UdK Berlin Career College and was funded by the German Academic Exchange Service with funds from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

Beyond UdK – Professional Paths in Artistic Careers (2021)
Discussions with alumni and experts and reflection in seminar format

The Beyond UdK Talks from June 2021 are documented here.

The event series was funded by the DAAD's Integra program with funds from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Beyond UdK – Professional Paths in Artistic Careers (2022/23)

Beyond UdK aims to provide (especially international) students with guidance and support in the transition from their studies to artistic professions. How can you professionalize your own artistic practice during your studies in order to start a career in Germany? What career fields are open to graduates? How can you find your own path between the demands you place on yourself, on your artistic work, on securing your livelihood, and other personal needs and ambitions? What obstacles do international students face in transitioning to professional careers in Germany?

The Beyond UdK_Talks from June 2022-23 are documented here.

On April 22, 2021, stakeholders and artists in exile in Berlin, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, and Potsdam-Babelsberg met again for a follow-up to ARTIST CAREER FORUM II: Strategies for Diversity-Sensitive Transformation Processes in Cultural and Educational Institutions for networking and lively exchange. The aim of the symposium was to develop recommendations for action for cultural and educational institutions.The program can be found here. And the documentation here.

An initial working meeting took place in December 2016 as part of the ESF-funded Artist Training: Refugee Class for Professionals at the UdK Berlin Career College. The documentation of the first conference can be found here.

The Artist Training ARTISTIC COLLECTIVES project was a continuing education program at the UdK Berlin Career College for the qualification, counseling, and networking of artists in exile. In three editions from April 2020 to December 2021, five artist collectives in the fields of music, visual arts, performing arts, film, and an interdisciplinary group received 4 to 6 months of support. The program offered a 30-hour training unit with monthly workshops based on individual goals, two individual consultations, the presentation of their own work at an event venue, and an exchange between all groups. In addition, Digital BASICS taught basic topics related to self-employment with two hours of online instruction and twelve hours of in-depth workshops. The goals were to network within Berlin's cultural and creative industries by getting to know the institutions, establishing a presence in the Berlin job market, and strategically positioning oneself within one's respective artistic field. Further information about all past projects can be found here.

“Fit for the Arts” was a free course offered from 2016 to 2023 to help refugees prepare for studying at a German art or music college. The workshops were divided into three different areas:

Study Skills: You can acquire interdisciplinary skills for study and work, such as presentation techniques, academic writing, and reading.

Technical Language: We offer technical German courses for four different artistic fields starting at level B1.

Intercultural skills: Here you will learn the basics of intercultural communication that are relevant for studying.

More information can be found here.

All workshops were free of charge. They were funded by the DAAD as part of the INTEGRA program 2019/20 with funds from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

The ARTIST TRAINING for Professionals project was a continuing education program at Berlin Career College offering training, counseling, and networking opportunities for artists in exile. In three editions from July 2018 to January 2020, in addition to a basic module covering fundamental knowledge, four in-depth modules offered information and contacts in the following industries: music, visual arts, performing arts, and film.

The ARTIST TRAINING: Refugee Class for Professionals project was a continuing education program offered in two editions from November 2016 to March 2018.  

More information about the program can be found here.

The Artist Training for Professionals and Artist Training: Refugee Class for Professionals projects were funded by the European Union (European Social Fund). In cooperation with the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF.

In the Migration Working Group, stakeholders from the university and interested guests met regularly on Bundesallee to discuss projects by and for refugees at the Berlin University of the Arts. The aim was to bring refugees interested in studying or already trained in the arts into contact with artistic projects at the Berlin University of the Arts that can be understood in the broadest sense as projects in a social context.

The refugee in need of help, the overwhelmed aid worker, and the violent PEGIDA supporter—students examined stereotypes and collected material for the documentary film “Colliding Lives—A One-Day Documentary,” which was screened as part of the 2016 tour.

As part of the 2016 Rundgang, the participants of Common Ground / AG Migration presented artistic and social projects from the Berlin University of the Arts with and for people with refugee backgrounds, as well as projects that visitors could participate in.

At Hardenbergstraße 33, information boards, films, and photos showed which initiatives were currently in the planning stages. In addition, films from the Colliding Lives project and the experimental film seminar Common Ground – Orte der Gemeinschaft (Common Ground – Places of Community) were shown there and at the Medienhaus in Grunewaldstraße. The groups involved were: Common Ground Seminar, Colliding Lives, Common Ground Artlab, Refugee Class, K:T:B, and Enter the Scene.

Natalia Ali was a student in Prof. Neugebauer's class and was awarded the DAAD Prize in 2016. In her work as a language mediator, she has repeatedly encountered cultural differences. She used her artistic work to report on these experiences. In her film, she puts herself in the shoes of the different women she has met and acts out their stories. Their fates and her own are intertwined in her work.
 

Music has always been a powerful connecting element.

A network of international artists wanted to enable refugees to enter into a creative everyday life. The bridge of traditional music was intended to create new perspectives and forms of belonging in chaotic times. It was a project by Lima Vafadar from the Fine Arts program and Iman Rajabi Tabar, George Upton, Thomas Scheele, Annie Given, and Kyle Gollob.

This project, organized by the Master's program in Theater Education and Common Ground, was aimed toward native speakers, foreign language speakers, polyglots, nonverbal communicators, and anyone interested in language. What is my language, what is your language, what is our language? What can be translated? What possibilities and limitations does my language offer me, what emotions are associated with it? These and other questions were explored and investigated through theater, dance, performance, and thematic activities from April to June 2016 in the buildings of the UdK Berlin.

Starting in September 2015, 24 children from the football club “Champions ohne Grenzen e.V.” worked with Timm Hartmann, a visual communication student, to design, create, and print their own football jerseys. In January 2016, the resulting works were displayed and available for purchase online at www.afanshop.de and at the Kreuzberg Pavillon art gallery. All proceeds were donated to the soccer club “Champions ohne Grenzen e.V.,” which trains and supports refugee children. This project was part of Timm Hartmann's master's thesis, supervised by Prof. Fons Hickmann.
 

The exhibition on the design project by architecture students at TU Braunschweig in cooperation with UdK Berlin (Prof. Hickmann's class) and other partners took place from September 14 to 18, 2016, at the AEDES Gallery in Berlin.

The exhibition focused on designs and ideas for a possible shelter in Nord-Irak für geflüchtete Waisenkinder. The exhibition provided information about the special conditions and history of the project, which was initiated by young Yazidis living in Germany.

“home sweet home” was a long-term installation controlled by viewers, a workshop for refugees, new Berliners and Berliners, residents, volunteers, and anyone else interested in issues relating to the city and urban planning. It dealt with questions of wanting to live together (Miteinander-Leben-Wollens), the meaning of home and neighborhood. How are conflicts negotiated in cities, and what public spaces are needed for this?

In their installation, British artists Abigail Conway and Lucy Hayhoe worked playfully with new and old Berliners for a weekend to design a new way of living together: a miniature city made of cardboard that could be built by the participants themselves. Each viewer was allowed to choose a house, build it, and design it. The boundaries of the city were marked out in advance, as were some important environmental and geographical factors. Infrastructure and building plots were also provided. Students from the theater education program took part. Further information can be found here.

In cooperation with Berlin Mondiale and Berlin University of the Arts.

Children from welcome classes were able to discover the picture book workshop designed by Olafur Eliasson as participants. Afterwards, the children had the opportunity to express their own pictures in the studio.

The project was developed by artist and Berlin University of the Arts graduate Stella Konstantinou in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Kirsten Winderlich, head of the Elementary School of the Arts, and students from various faculties at the Berlin University of the Arts.

Further information can be found here.
 

Students have been testing new ways of promoting language acquisition among children from welcome classes using artistic means in the “welcome room.” The Welcome Room was a project of the grund_schule der künste (elementary school of the arts) at the Berlin University of the Arts. Thanks to funding from the Senate Department for Education, Youth, and Science, children from four welcome classes have had the opportunity since the 2016/17 winter semester to look at books and pictures, listen to stories, draw, and thus immerse themselves in the world of books and their own imagination.

Publication

An art collection box from LaGeSo Malprojekte has been placed in the foyer at Hardenbergstrasse 33 for clothing donations (men's clothing, sizes S-M, and shoes, sizes 40-45).
 

This project was a collaboration between the Marzahn Art Workshop, visitors to the Betonia Youth Center, and unaccompanied minor refugees who wanted to get to know their new neighborhood and help shape it, rather than just passively accepting it. Working in teams and with the help of architecture students from the Berlin University of the Arts, they were able to design an architectural model or urban design for a location in Marzahn that they had previously chosen together. At the end of the project in April 2017, the various ideas for public space in and for Marzahn were presented in an exhibition on site and at the Berlin University of the Arts.
 

Creating a place and space for encounters—especially against the backdrop of film education—was the goal of Prof. Thomas Arslan's class “Narration in and with Technical Image Media.” To this end, they joined the “M-Power” project, an initiative to promote education and participation among girls aged 12 to 19 with refugee and migration experiences, sponsored by KommMit – für Migranten und Flüchtlinge e.V.

In the winter semester of 2016/17, the cooperation with M-Power was continued as part of the seminar “Documentary Positions: Diaries, Notes & Sketches or - Auto/Biographical Writing.” In the form of a film mentoring program, the participants had the opportunity to refine and implement their film ideas together with students from the UdK film class and to gain insights into everyday student life in joint events. On October 27, 2016, a public event was held, featuring director and actress Serpil Turhan with her film “Dilim Dönmüyor - Meine Zunge dreht sich nicht” (2013).

A benefit concert with Aeham Ahmad, Michael Barenboim, and international artists in aid of “Willkommen im Westend”

Students from the Berlin University of the Arts and international artists invited guests to a charity concert in aid of a youth project with refugees at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin on June 10, 2016, at 6 p.m. The program included contemporary Syrian music and works by Maurice Ravel and Max Bruch. Donations were requested for “MyWestend – gemeinsam Zukunft gestalten” a youth project with refugees.
 

This project by music education students Johannes Vent, Sebastian Tomaszewski, Jeruscha Strelow, and Ines Bellaliz was carried out in cooperation with the Elementary School of the Arts.  Schools in Charlottenburg were involved. The aim of the UdK students involved in the project was to support welcome classes in the integration of children and young people with a refugee background through musical and aesthetic education and musical and artistic work, and to gain practical experience by working in a school context.

Activities such as body percussion/drumming/Orff circles, instrumental lessons, band, choir, painting/drawing/crafts took place in the welcome classes of the respective schools in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf.

In the winter semester 2016/17, the seminar “Common Ground II - Belonging” was offered in the Art and Media program under the direction of Lilli Kuschel. Students, refugee artists, and filmmakers were invited to engage in a dialogue about belonging, identity, racism, and migration, as well as the role and possibilities of art. You can find more information here.

Between 2015 and 2018, the AStA of the Berlin University of the Arts regularly organized open meetings for all volunteers and interested parties who were committed to helping refugees. Reports were given on current projects, and a platform was provided for new ideas and suggestions.

To welcome refugees to the city, a number of Berlin artists joined forces in spring 2015 and launched the Berlin Mondiale initiative. Since May 2014, cultural institutions such as the Deutsches Theater and the Uferstudios have been bringing residents of hostels and emergency shelters into contact with Berlin artists and art. Once a week, Jo Parkes, together with Sophie Brunner, a student at the Inter-University Center for Dance (HZT), and various guest artists, visited the residents, knocked on their doors, and invited them to dance. Children and young people joined in, but adults also joined the choreographer and developed their own improvisations.

This was the first event in the discussion series "Syrische Frauen im Umbruch"  which took place on February 19, 2016, at the Berlin University of the Arts.

Conflict situations are always times of upheaval, and the situation of women living in Syria is also changing. This was the topic of discussion that evening, based on the film “True Stories about Love, Life, Death and sometimes Revolution.” Afterwards, there was a discussion with the audience in Arabic and German with director Nidal Hassan and writer Rosa Yassin Hassan. The discussion series took place in cooperation with the AStA initiative Support Refugees at the Berlin University of the Arts. More information at: http://friedenskreis-syrien.de/ 

An initiative of the Berlin Scientific Society was the UdK Welcome Class on January 14, 2016, at 4 p.m. at designtransfer, Einsteinufer 43 in Charlottenburg. The event, organized by Prof. Dr. Ulrike Hentschel, was aimed at those interested in the Theater Education program at the UdK Berlin.
 

To promote intercultural coexistence and support refugee projects in Berlin, two concerts were held at the Berlin University of the Arts in December 2015. Musicians from the Berlin jazz scene and students from the Jazz Institute Berlin (JIB) joined forces to support refugees and reflect on the social power of jazz. Donations were also collected for Flüchtlingsrat Berlin e.V. 
 

Under the supervision of Markus Brück, chamber singer at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and lecturer at the Berlin University of the Arts, students presented vocal and instrumental pieces by composers such as Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Gershwin, and Lloyd Webber in the Joseph Joachim Concert Hall on December 5, 2016. Donations were collected for the MOABIT hilft welcome initiative.

Further information is available here.