The grant was established to offer awardees time and space to focus on their creative practice without any production obligations. The program fellows are invited to actively engage with Berlin’s and Germany’s vibrant cultural scenes, as well as with different communities within the city. Each year, around twenty outstanding practitioners from diverse cultural backgrounds are invited to Berlin. The Artists-in-Berlin Program is committed to including and presenting a wide array of voices and perspectives, and to advancing gender equality.

Throughout its history, the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program has been a key player when it comes to fostering the internationalization of contemporary arts in Germany. Nevertheless, there is still much work to be done in terms of acknowledging the value and relevance of contemporary practices beyond Eurocentric frameworks. At this given moment in history, we consider it our responsibility to demonstrate a clear commitment to creating equality of access, visibility, and resources through our institutional practice without measuring artistic positions against a Western arts & culture system and its market.

Who are they looking for?

The program is an award for outstanding practitioners. It is conceived for established artists who have already developed their own voice and standing. There is no age limitation (upwards). We support gender equality and diversity of origins. While an academic background is not required for selection, the Artists-in-Berlin Program is interested in work that intellectually examines and takes a critical approach toward historical and current issues and discourses. We therefore prefer artists who go beyond pure aesthetics and address the relevant topics of our times.

Applications for literature, music & sound (12 months residency) and film grants (6 months residency) can be submitted from October 17 until December 1, 2022. In the visual arts section, an appointment committee proposes invitations to internationally renowned artists; i.e. applications in the visual arts section are not possible.

More information on the programme and how to apply here: BerlinerKünstlerProgramm