Dear members of UdK Berlin,

In the summer semester 2026, we warmly invite you to take part in a series of workshops on anti-discrimination, empowerment and diversity in the university context.

The programme creates spaces for collective reflection and shared learning, aiming to strengthen critical perspectives on discrimination at UdK Berlin. Key topics include critical whiteness, classism in art universities, discrimination-sensitive admission processes, approaches to right-wing populism, and empowerment spaces for students affected by racism. The programme is further complemented by legal perspectives on anti-discrimination and participation, particularly in relation to anti-discrimination law and the PartMigG.

In addition, artistic approaches open up pathways to empowerment and resistance, understanding creative forms of expression as spaces for reflection, solidarity, and collective practice.

Unless otherwise stated, the workshops and events are open to both students and staff of UdK Berlin.

Participation in the workshops requires prior registration. Please note that places are limited, and early registration is therefore recommended.
ECTS credits can be earned through participation in the workshop series.

If you have any access needs or specific requirements, please inform us in advance via email so that we can support the most accessible participation possible.

Register via e-mail at: antidis_ @udk-berlin.de

We look forward to welcoming you!

CRITICAL WHITENESS
Date and location: April 27, 16:00–20:00 | Room 343, Bundesallee 1–12, 10719 Berlin
Accessibility: The room is wheelchair accessible.
Who should participate? This workshop is aimed at interested students and staff of UdK Berlin. It is exclusively for white positioned participants (without own experiences of racism) who wish to critically reflect on their own position of power as white individuals.
Language: Spoken German.

Content: For white people, whiteness and belonging to the majority often appear “normal” and are rarely named. At the same time, white people benefit from racism in numerous ways and contribute to racist structures—often unintentionally. Through exercises and short inputs in plenary and small groups, participants will engage with the following questions:

• What is racism?
• What role do I play within a society shaped by racism?
• What are white privileges, and which ones do I have?
• How can I better recognize and unlearn my own racist thinking and actions?

Workshop facilitator: Aşkın-Hayat Doğan (he/him) works as a diversity and empowerment trainer, sensitivity reader, and author, focusing on feminism, Islamophobia, queerness, gender, and racism. Through his workshops, he advocates for more equitable and less discriminatory forms of coexistence and hosts the monthly Twitch talk “Diverser Lesen mit Ask.”

THE CLASS SYSTEM: CLASSISM AT ART UNIVERSITIES FROM AN INTERSECTIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Date and location: May 5, 16:00–20:00 | Room 151, Hardenbergstraße 33, 10623 Berlin.
Accessibility: The room is wheelchair accessible.
Who should participate? This workshop is aimed at interested students and staff of UdK Berlin.
Language: Spoken German.

Content: The arts and art universities are deeply shaped by classism and social inequality. This workshop examines how social and economic backgrounds influence access to artistic education and production, unevenly distribute professional and life opportunities, and create exclusions within artistic fields.

The workshop introduces three different approaches to addressing classism and social inequality at art universities. From a power-critical perspective, particular attention is given to the intersections of classism with other forms of discrimination such as racism and ableism. In addition to input sessions, collective reflection and engagement with participants’ own positionalities are central.

Key questions include:

• How does classism manifest concretely in the arts?
• What role do power relations play in artistic and educational institutions?
• How do different forms of discrimination intersect?
• What possibilities exist for solidarity and change?

Workshop facilitator: Michael Annoff (he/him) is a cultural theorist, performer, and curator. He has worked as a research associate at UdK Berlin and FH Potsdam. His performances, installations, and curatorial work have been presented at institutions including Haus der Kulturen der Welt, HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Museum für Kunst & Gewerbe Hamburg, and Bundeskunsthalle. Since 2024, he has co-published the performative publicationwww.thewordsoftheartyclass.com with Nuray Demir, focusing on classism and racism in the arts.

DISCRIMINATION-SENSITIVE ADMISSION PROCESSES
Date and location: May 28, 16:00–20:00 | Room 340, Bundesallee 1–12, 10719 Berlin
Accessibility: The room is wheelchair accessible.
Who should participate? This workshop is aimed at interested students and staff of UdK Berlin.
Language: Spoken German.

Content: This workshop explores how admission procedures at art universities can be designed in a discrimination-sensitive way. It focuses on mechanisms of social selection, implicit evaluation criteria, and the interplay between classism and other dimensions of discrimination. Based on a critical analysis of existing procedures, participants will reflect on criteria, evaluation logics, and institutional routines, and develop concrete approaches for improvement.

• Raising awareness of discriminatory effects in admission and selection processes
• Reflecting on evaluation criteria, access logics, and institutional responsibilities
• Developing practical approaches for discrimination-sensitive admissions

Workshop facilitator: Francis Seeck is Professor of Social Work with a focus on democracy and human rights education at TH Nürnberg. Seeck studied Cultural Studies (B.A.) at Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) and American University (Washington, DC), and European Ethnology (M.A.) at Humboldt University of Berlin, where Seeck also completed a PhD with an ethnographic study on queer care work. Their research and teaching focus on classism critique, anti-discrimination political education, gender and queer studies, and human rights-oriented social work. Since 2009, Seeck has been active in anti-discrimination education and combines academic research with pedagogical practice.

MOUTH FULL OF FIRE: POETRY AS RESISTANCE
Date and location: June 5, 16:00–20:00 | Room 151, Hardenbergstraße 33, 10623 Berlin
Accessibility: The room is wheelchair accessible.
Who should participate? This workshop is aimed at interested international students of UdK Berlin, particularly those affected by racism.
Language: Spoken English.

Content:A Mouth Full of Fire explores poetry and spoken word as tools of resistance and reflection. Poetry is a versatile and vibrant medium of empowerment and collective resistance to racism. Through guided writing exercises, discussion, and optional performance, participants will explore how intuitive creative expression can transform experiences of marginalization into powerful acts of storytelling and solidarity.

Workshop facilitator:  Day Eve Komet is a poet, performer, facilitator and interdisciplinary artist whose work explores race, embodiment and collective imagination. Through poetry, performance and participatory artistic practices, they create spaces for reflection, empowerment and the imagining of more just futures. Their work has been presented at the Cambridge Film Festival, Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Camden People's Theatre and the XJAZZ Festival.

TAKING ACTION AGAINST DISCRIMINATION AND RIGHT-WING POPULISM
Date and Location: June 8, 4:00–8:00 PM | Room 340, Bundesallee 1–12, 10719 Berlin
Accessibility: The room is wheelchair accessible.
Who should attend? The event is open to interested students and staff of UdK Berlin.
Language: Spoken German

Content: Right-wing populist statements and experiences of discrimination are part of many people’s everyday lives – in studies, at work, or in private contexts. This four-hour workshop offers a compact introduction to engaging with discrimination and right-wing populism, and supports participants in reflecting on their own positions, recognizing common patterns of right-wing populist argumentation, and remaining capable of taking action.

Depending on the interests of the group, the workshop will focus on topics such as racism, hostility towards people with refugee experiences, or sexism. At its core, the workshop encourages participants to reflect on their own positionalities and to explore how to respond to discriminatory or right-wing populist statements while strengthening their own stance.

Workshop facilitator:Kribi Kollektiv is a Berlin-based collective for political and cultural education. It consists of educators, artists, political scientists, and sociologists with many years of experience in youth and adult political education as well as in various initiatives and social movements. The collective works with a diversity- and bias-aware approach and employs age-appropriate methods and concepts.

HOLDING SPACE – EMPOWERMENT & COLLECTIVE CARE FOR STUDENTS FACING ANTI-MUSLIM, ANTI-ARAB AND ANTI-PALESTINIAN RACISM
Date and location: June 11, 16:00–20:00 | Room 151, Hardenbergstraße 33, 10623 Berlin
Accessibility: The room is wheelchair accessible.
Who should participate? This workshop is aimed at students affected by anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian racism.
Language: Spoken English.

Content: This workshop offers a safer and supportive space for students affected by anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian racism. In a university context that can feel isolating, silencing, or even hostile, this space is dedicated to collective care, empowerment, and mutual support.

How can we stay grounded and connected to ourselves in environments shaped by discrimination, political pressure, and erasure? How do we navigate experiences of silencing, cancellation, or marginalisation—while holding on to our voices, dignity, and sense of belonging?

Together, we will explore strategies to strengthen resilience and support mental well-being. The workshop centres participants’ experiences and creates room to share, reflect, and reconnect with inner resources. This space understands empowerment not as an individual task, but as a collective practice rooted in solidarity, care, and shared resistance.

Workshop facilitator: Jamila Al-Yousef is an anti-racism and empowerment trainer, musician, and theatre maker working with a power-critical and trauma-informed approach.

ANTIFASCIST TEACHING AS A STANCE AND PRACTICE
Date and location: July 3, 12:00–16:00 | Aula, Medienhaus, Grunewaldstraße 2–5, 10823 Berlin.
Accessibility: The room is wheelchair accessible.
Who should participate? This workshop is aimed at teaching degree students and staff of UdK Berlin.
Language: Spoken German.

Content: This workshop combines critical self-reflection with the development of concrete teaching practices. It takes the current political context—marked by the rise of right-wing and fascist movements in Germany and Europe—as a starting point to reflect on the role of higher education as a site of either reproducing or transforming social power relations.

In the first part, participants position themselves in relation to their roles as educators within institutional power structures. Theoretical inputs on institutional racism and antifascist pedagogy provide a basis for collective analysis. In the second part, participants develop concrete strategies for their own teaching practice. The workshop concludes with individual and collective commitments—practical steps to be implemented in the coming weeks.

Workshop facilitator: Tarah-Tanita Truderung (she/her) is an Afro-German social worker, social scientist, and educator with a Master’s degree in “Pedagogy and Management in Social Work.” Her work focuses on anti-racist social work, intersectional feminism, empowerment, and decolonial knowledge production. She supports organizations in power-critical transformation processes and works as a facilitator, lecturer, and moderator.

LAW AS PRACTICE: ANTI-DISCRIMINATION LAW AND THE PARTMIGG IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Date and Location: August 6, 9:00 AM–2:00 PM | Room 411, Einsteinufer 43–54, 10587 Berlin.
Accessibility: The room is wheelchair accessible.
Who should attend? The event is open to interested staff and students of UdK Berlin, particularly those involved in selection procedures, committees, or administrative processes.
Language: Spoken German

Content: This workshop provides an introduction to the key foundations of anti-discrimination law as well as the Berlin Act on the Promotion of Participation in a Migration Society (PartMigG) within the context of higher education. The focus lies on legal frameworks at both federal and state levels—particularly the AGG, LADG Berlin, and the Berlin Higher Education Act—and their relevance to everyday university practices. In addition, the workshop introduces the objectives, structure, and key concepts of the PartMigG, situating them in relation to existing equality and anti-discrimination instruments.

A particular focus is placed on discrimination-sensitive selection processes as well as on decision-making practices and the composition of committees. The workshop also addresses bias-aware communication and approaches to dealing with discrimination in everyday academic and workplace contexts. Participants are invited to reflect on and further develop existing structures and procedures, and to collectively consider responsibilities in implementing anti-discrimination and participation measures.

Workshop Facilitator: Lino Agbalaka is a lawyer based in Berlin, specializing in labor law, anti-discrimination law, and administrative law. Through his work in cultural institutions at both state and federal levels, he has developed particular expertise in legal issues at the intersection of cultural policy and practice. He advises individuals and organizations in these areas and regularly conducts workshops and lectures.