Studio Office - Information and Statements

The studio rental programme has existed for over 30 years and has grown during this time - it has also changed. It is now integrated into the cooperation with Kulturraum gGmbH, which takes on the organisational tasks for the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion in cooperation with the Atelierbüro and the Raumbüro Freie Szene of the Coalition of the Independent Scene.

The studio programme is the most important funding for visual artists in Berlin. Expanding it further - but often enough also simply defending it - is the central concern of the studio commissioners for Berlin - Julia Brodauf and Lennart Siebert have been part of the team since 2024. Here we present our current projects and statements.

Please compare our press releases

Unfortunately, not all of the linked information is available in English. We are endeavoring to make up for this. 

Culture needs spaces! Whether for rehearsing, producing, performing, storing, exhibiting or selling – spaces are perhaps the most invisible, yet indispensable resource of cultural work. And it is precisely this resource that is under constant threat, not just individual venues, but an entire ecosystem that is fragile – yet vital for survival.

Under this motto, the ‘Spaces’ working group of the Berlin Culture Conference and the Atelierbüro at the kulturwerk of the bbk berlin began efforts in the summer of 2025 to establish a Round Table on Spaces for Culture.

We cordially invite you to the 2nd network meeting – Round Table on Spaces for Culture

‘We urge politicians to take responsibility for all artists who use studios with a binding funding commitment and to guarantee the legally secure preservation of workspaces! In addition, a reorganisation and reliable planning for the further development of the space infrastructure for the visual arts must be tackled together.’
Julia Brodauf and Lennart Siebert, studio representatives 

Meanwhile, the subsidised studios are creating what Berlin stands for: great art. Many thanks to all (over twohundred!) artists who provided us with the material for this purpose in such an uncomplicated and prompt manner. 

As part of the registration for the newsletter, the studio office continuously collects current data from studio seekers on an annual basis. In spring 2023, an additional survey was sent out in which around 16% of Berlin artists took part. These results paint a dramatic picture of the working situation of Berlin's artists - 63% currently do not have their own studio, and the number of studios rented on the open market exceeds the number of spaces created within the rental program by a factor of seven in the period 2017 - 2023.

The survey results including the questionnaire can be found in this PDF: