Publications & Discourse

Culture, the Arts and the COVID-19 Pandemic

New study published

The pandemic has closed museums, shuttered concert halls and cancelled theatre performances across the globe, threatening the livelihoods of artists, technicians and musicians and leaving many in the cultural industries fighting for survival. A new study by the Hertie School’s Helmut Anheier, Katrin Winkler and the Technische Universität Berlin’s Janet Merkel explores how five cultural capitals – Berlin, London, Paris, Toronto and New York City – supported their artists, creatives and cultural organisations during this unprecedented crisis. Berlin’s Senator for Culture and Europe, Klaus Lederer, will discuss the findings of the report at the Re:Writing the Future Festival on 26 February 2021.

Download the full study here.

Imagine Philanthropy for Europe

In these challenging times for European solidarity, the Allianz Kulturstiftung and the European Cultural Foundation decided to hit the road to imagine together philanthropy for Europe. With the support of Wider Sense, we discussed with thinkers, cultural practitioners and philanthropists. What should we do to increase the impact of the philanthropic sector on cross-border solidarity? This paper is the first result of this insightful exchange.

Download the discussion paper here.

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Book series Berliner Korrespondenzen

In bookstores

In time for Christmas, four new volumes of our bilingual book series Berliner Korrespondenzen have been published, featuring contributions by Seyla Benhabib, Souleymane B. Diagne, Mathias Énard and Max Czollek, among others. Each volume brings together two inspiring thinkers, provoking thought on order and disorder in our present times, in surprising constellations and across the boundaries of discourse. The publication accompanies our eponymous series of events and is available starting immediately in bookstores and directly from the publisher, Nicolai Verlag (in German).

Art and culture on the road to sustainable development

Esra Küçük and Harald Welzer in conversation

Are the topics sustainability and climate protection cultural projects? What influence does the corona pandemic have on our environmental awareness, does the crisis also represent an opportunity? Esra Küçük and Harald Welzer discussed these and other questions at the interface of culture and sustainability as part of the "Kultur und Nachhaltigkeit" ( "Culture and Sustainability") discussion series organized by the Stiftung Genshagen in cooperation with the Allianz Umweltstiftung.

If the stream does not work, click here . Further information on the discussion series "Culture and Sustainability" can be found here (in German).

A Plea for Democracy and Culture

A special event at the international literature festival berlin with Nora Bossong, Daniel Kehlmann, Pankaj Mishra, Sharon Dodua Otoo and Mario Vargas Lllosa.

The current pandemic is one of the greatest challenges. Art and culture, like all areas of life, have been severely affected by the crisis and their very existence is threatened. Culture is a way for citizens to participate in a discourse that gives substance to the process of democratization. Reflections by the invited authors on culture and its role in challenging times constitute the core of the event. How can culture contribute to strengthening democracies and containing nationalist tendencies in times of crisis?

You can watch the event here (please register).

Philanthropy with a European Purpose

An interview with Rien van Gendt, May 2020

In these challenging times for European solidarity, the Allianz Kulturstiftung and the European Cultural Foundation decided to hit the road together into the future of European philanthropy. With the support of Wider Sense, we are in discussion with thinkers, cultural practitioners and philanthropists about philanthropy with a European purpose.

To begin this series, we discussed with the Dutch expert Rien van Gendt, who has been advising many foundations and philanthropists for decades. Spurred by a profound European engagement, Rien van Gendt touches on how many Europeans were taking Europe for granted only ten years ago, and pleads now for a renewed awareness of what constitutes our culture: the freedom of speech, the freedom of thought, the power of diversity. On a way forward: “it’s actually culture that can unite us”.

Read the full interview here.

Freedom of opinion and solidarity

How can we effectively support persons affected by censorship and persecution?

18 October 2019, 10 am, Frankfurt Book Fair Frankfurt Pavilion (Agora)

In many countries journalists, authors, publishers and booksellers are endangered, persecuted and imprisoned because they exercise their rights on freedom of opinion. What can we do to effectively support these persons? What opportunities for practical solidarity exist?

Participants:
Jennifer Clement, President, PEN International
Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide, Minister of Foreign Affairs Norway
Alexander Skipis, Managing Director, German Publishers and Booksellers Association
Deniz Yücel, Journalist and Publisher
Esra Küçük, Moderation, Managing Director Allianz Kulturstiftung

Panel: Empathy beyond the limits of the nation-state

7 September 2019, 6 am, Mousonturm, Frankfurt a. M.

Filmmaker Maryam Zaree ("Born in Evim"), Anti-Racism-Trainer Arpana Aischa Berndt, dramaturge Laura Paetau and Esra Kücük, Managing Director of the Allianz Cultural Foundation, discuss transnational European protest movements, and how to establish new alliances across borders, while social gaps are growing wider and wider within Europe and are driving people apart.

Here you can find informations about the panel and the festival.

Eurotopia: Future Visions for Europe. The sea as Bridge and Barrier.

Panel discussion at the Deutsches Historisches Museum (Zeughauskino)

The second panel discussion on the topic "The Sea as Bridge and Barrier" will take place on 10 December 2018: After questioning the status quo of a Europe "Between Freedom and Frontex" at the preceding event in September, Pauline Endres de Oliveira (Amnesty International Germany), Dr. Frank Dörner (Sea Watch e.V.), Prof. Dr. Jochen Oltmer (Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies at the University of Osnabrück), and Jean Peters (Peng! art collective/ Seebrücke) will discuss alternative ideas for our European future. The event is a cooperation with the Deutsche Historisches Museum and will be moderated by Esra Küçük, Managing Director of the Allianz Cultural Foundation.

You can listen to the event on the soundcloud-chanel of DHM here (in German).