The goal of this survey is to determine the space needs of the disciplines performing arts, dance, music, literature and project spaces within Berlin’s independent arts community. The features of the existing spaces as well as those to be created should be oriented to the results of this survey. These include, amongst others, questions of what “affordable” means and the roles played by the accessibility, the location in the city as well as the infrastructure necessary for the work.

The survey is conducted in two parts: first of all, an academic team used qualitative interviews to gather initial information and develop the questionnaire. This questionnaire is then used to query and evaluate the space needs of independent artists. In order for this survey to be suitable for the work of artists, special focus has been placed on the discipline-specific as well as interdisciplinary artistic everyday practices.

The needs and space uses of artists are dynamic. They adapt to the developments in the city, their social as well as material infrastructure, the funding landscape as well as the forms of individual and collective artistic forms of expression. This makes them dependent upon urban development and planning decisions and are directly and indirectly controlled by these.

The provision of space is tied to political goals and their realization. Art needs space! This is why a recurring quantitative survey can be a basis for making decisions and/or a strategic tool for the distribution of existing workspaces or the creation of new workspaces for the independent arts community. Within the context of the urban development of the last decades, the querying of space needs has already provided an important instrument for the future urban development for the common good that takes the needs of Berlin’s artists into consideration. This must be continued in order to remain effective in the future.

So tell us what you need! Take part in the survey now!

You can download badges for websites and social media to draw attention to the survey here. >Downloads

This survey is being carried out by an academic team from the Berlin University of Technology on behalf of Kulturraum Berlin GmbH together with PROSA (Projekt zur Schaffung künstlerischer Arbeitsräume [Project to Create Artistic Workspaces] of Bündnis Freie Szene Berlin e.V.).

Scientific team:
Dr. Séverine Marguin, sociologist; TU Berlin, Dr. Ing. Dagmar Pelger, architect, UdK Berlin/coopdisco; Dr. Martin Schinagl, sociologist; Martha Ingund Wegewitz, urban designer, TU Berlin/coopdisco.

Survey