The Future Forums

Spanning all artforms and disciplines, the first forum seeks to identify the systemic commonalities between the various initiatives and projects, and in doing so to forge initial connections for collaboration and cooperation. Through an alternation of talks and workshops, it lays the groundwork for a relationship of trust and productive working partnership over the months ahead. For “Übermorgen” is about more than finding new perspectives together — it is equally about gaining, through collegial exchange, the support that is necessary to bring about real change.

When cultural organisations seek to open up their spaces and buildings, speak of third places, affirm their social relevance and define themselves as a common good, participation becomes an increasingly significant concern. Participatory projects have long since become an important element of programme work, and processes around diversity and inclusion have sharpened awareness of their relevance. At the same time, they also raise the critical question of long-term structural embeddedness, turning the spotlight on the internal structures of cultural institutions themselves. What role, then, do participatory processes play in the structural development and transformation of institutions? And how do they relate to the substantive artistic and programmatic direction of each organisation? These are the questions that the second Zukunftsforum sets out to explore.

The web of political fault lines is becoming ever harder to navigate, and culture has become a central arena of contestation. While cultural organisations are questioning themselves and searching for new directions under difficult social and financial conditions, they are, like most civic institutions, increasingly subject to critical scrutiny and at times to systematic destabilisation. Cultural institutions are affected by the great social debates of our time not only in their programme work — they also carry those debates within their own walls. On the one hand, art and culture both wish and are expected to take positions in society, to intervene, to be relevant. On the other hand, they must safeguard their freedom, offer safe spaces for dialogue, and protect their staff. It is a balancing act that confronts cultural institutions with a host of questions striking at the very core of their work and their structures.

Social relevance is frequently stated as an objective without any precise account of what it actually consists of. One strategy, therefore, is to examine the impact of cultural institutions more closely — looking beyond audiences, user figures and revenue. In other countries, this kind of impact analysis is often tied to funder expectations: a practice towards which we in Germany have so far tended to look with mixed feelings. The Zukunftsforum presents one approach to connecting artistic practice and impact in such a way that self-defined goals can give rise to compelling arguments in the field of cultural policy. Taking decisions is part of the daily reality of leadership. In times of change, those decisions carry particular weight and not infrequently lead into dilemmas or apparent contradictions. How precisely such tensions can be turned into productive moments of agency and shaping is therefore a further focus of this fourth Zukunftsforum.

The relationship between inside and outside — stakeholders and principals, and the relationships with them — productive, trust-based collaboration between governing bodies, administration and cultural policy — strategic alliances — the responsibilities of cultural policy — buildings and built infrastructure — sustainability

Presentation of the 50 future initiatives by their project leads.