Studio Advisory Board

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 Studio Advisory Board consists primarily of artists, but also includes other experts in the field of visual arts (e.g. curators or project space providers). The honorary members and representatives of the Advisory Board are appointed by the Berlin Senator for Culture for a period of 24 months; currently 01/2022-01/2024. 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 using subsidized spaces cannot be members or representatives of the Advisory Board. Applications by members or representatives of the Advisory Board are not possible during their membership. All Advisory Board members sign a non-disclosure and data protection agreement.

VOTING PROCEDURE

Each Advisory Board meeting is attended by five to nine voting members. Each member reviews all applications several days in advance. The aim is to find a tenant and a successor for each studio in several rounds of voting. In the first ballot (after individual screening), all Advisory Board members can vote for any number of applicants. Applicants who do not receive a vote or who cannot be classified as professionals in the field of visual arts on the basis of their submitted documents will be excluded from the process. The remaining applications will be discussed and voted on again by all Advisory Board members in alphabetical order. Based on the number of votes per applicant, this re-voting leads to a certain order of candidates. For group applications, the applicants with the most votes will be ranked. In the case of a tie, the final allocation of studios will be determined by a run-off vote after further discussion.

THE SELECTION CRITERIA

The selection is based on criteria of urgency regarding the social and professional situation of the applicants, as well as the suitability of the room and location for the respective way of working (emissions, freight elevator, ceiling height, room size, etc.). The following aspects may also be considered How long have the applicants lived and worked in Berlin? Are they active in the local scene? And how many times have they applied for a subsidized studio through the Studio Rental Program?  Artistic work requires professional work spaces. Therefore, access to this program should be open to any professional artist, regardless of background, age, gender, or artistic status.

The Advisory Board believes that the Working Space Program should be accessible to all professional artists. All the above-mentioned aspects do not follow any order of priority. They are weighed up again in each ballot. In principle, the number of Advisory Board members and their different professional orientations should ensure that all artists represented in the applications can be adequately considered in the decision-making process. In its ongoing discussions, the Advisory Board also seeks to raise awareness concerning unconscious bias and emerging stereotypes. The insights gained from this process, as well as their potential impact on the program's application process, are continuously incorporated into the work and decisions of the Advisory Board.

The Studio Advisory Board Berlin, 28.10.2020 updated 24.04.2023

[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/).