Studio Office 

Studio Advisory Board

The independent studio advisory board is appointed by Berlin's Senate Department for Culture and Europe for a term of two years.

The majority of the members of the Studio Advisory Board are artists. It consists of nine voting members and up to nine representatives:

  • Five members and up to five representatives (currently three representatives) are named by the bbk berlin e.V. 
  • One member and one representative are named by a recognised institution of contemporary fine art in Berlin 
  • Three members and up to three representatives (currently no representative) are named by Berlin Senate's Department for Culture and Europe

The members of the board and representatives are appointed for a period of 24 months by the Senator for Culture; the current term extends from January 2022 to January 2024.

The advisory board elects a chairperson and a deputy chairperson by simple majority. The chairperson chairs the respective meetings and represents the advisory committee vis-à-vis third parties. The advisory committee has a quorum if at least five members are present and the majority is formed by artists. The office of the advisory committee is the Studio Office at the kulturwerk of the bbk berlin GmbH.

Artists who use subsidised spaces cannot be members or representatives of the advisory board. Applications from members or representatives of the advisory board are excluded during their term of membership.

We would like to point out that contacting any member of the board may lead to your being unable to submit an application for a studio!

 

Transparency Declaration of the Studio Advisory Board

THE ADVISORY BOARD

The independent Atelierbeirat (Advisory Board) consists mainly of artists; other experts in the field of visual arts (e.g. curators or project space operators) are also included. The honorary Advisory Board members and representatives are appointed by the Berlin Senator for Culture for a period of 24 months; currently (Jan. 2022 - Jan. 2024) these are:

Lidiya Anastasova, Layla Burger-Lichtenstein, Yishay Garbasz, Karø Goldt, Eva Laufer, Matthias Mayer, Isabelle Meiffert, Irina Novarese, Kathy-Ann Tan , Susanne Wehr, Andreas Wolf, Miriam Yammad and Claudia Zweifel.

Artists who use subsidised spaces cannot be members or representatives of the Advisory Board. Applications by members or representatives of the Advisory Board are excluded during the membership.

THE VOTING PROCEDURE

Five to nine voting members of the Advisory Board attend each meeting. Each member reviews all applications over a period of several days before the meeting. The aim is to find a tenant and successors for each studio in several rounds of voting. In the first round of voting, only the professionalism of the applications received is decided, with focus on the visual arts.[1] From the second round of voting, the allocation of the studios is decided. All members of the Advisory Board may vote for as many applicants as they wish. Applicants who do not receive a vote after the second round are eliminated from the process. The remaining applications are discussed. Following the next round of voting, a decision is made as to how many yes votes entitle the candidate to remain in the process. (This depends on the ratio of the number of applications to the number of studios to be awarded). In the final round of voting, a run-off will be held in the event of a tie.

THE SELECTION CRITERIA

The selection will be based on criteria of urgency with regard to the social and professional situation of the applicants as well as the suitability of a space and location for the respective working method (emissions, freight lift, room height, room size, etc.). In addition, the following aspects can be taken into account: how long the applicants have been living and working in Berlin, whether they are actively involved in the local scene and how often they have already applied for a funded studio from the studio rental programme. The applicants' artistic position is also taken into account, although it is not a primary decision-making criterion.

These aspects are not ranked. They are weighed again in each round. The number of Advisory Board members and their different professional orientations ensure that all artistic media and working methods represented in the applications can be adequately considered in the decision-making process.

 

The Studio Advisory Board

Berlin, 28.10.2020

 

[1] Applications outside the priority area of visual arts, such as from the performing arts (theatre, dance), music and literature or from applied creative professional groups, cannot be considered. In some cases, other funding instruments are available for them (see: https://kulturraeume.berlin/).

Atelierbüro im Kulturwerk des bbk berlin
Köthener Straße 44
10963 Berlin

Email: atelierbuero@bbk-kulturwerk.de

Telephone office hours:

Tuesdays: 10 am to 1 pm
Thursdays: 1 to 4 pm
 

Contact

Birgit Nowack: Tel. 030 230 899-22
Anna Fiegen: Tel. 030 230 899-23
Jana Burkhardt: Tel. 030 230 899-20

Dr. Martin Schwegmann, Studio Commissioner
Tel. 030 230 899-21