Together with various European and international partners, Schlesische27 has developed numerous dialogue projects that shed light on issues of coexistence directly involving the creation of shared spaces and cultural transitions between societies and religions that tick differently.
For the past two years, we have also increasingly focussed our international youth exchange projects on young people who have moved to our city as refugees. They form our most international and at the same time most interculturally lively teams: Project Team ARRIVO BERLIN, CUCULA, DIE GÄRTNEREI, FRITZ2 STARTETAGE and the BAUHAUS Welcome Class.
Berlin-Mondiale: Schlesische27 initiated the Berlin-wide project in 2014 together with the Berlin Council for the Arts and, with the advice of the Berlin Refugee Council, initiated long-term collaborations between refugees in accommodation centres and Berlin cultural institutions. After the first year of the project, Schlesische27 is supporting the work of the steering committee at the initial contact point for refugees, Motardstraße Berlin-Spandau, and advising artists with their own refugee biographies on how to enter into artistic practice in cultural education.
Artists with refugee experiences, but also young people who are themselves experiencing major biographical ruptures and processes of change, bring their very own perspectives on what is humanly possible, how we can shape cultural coexistence in Berlin and give their future a solid foundation.
In future, the funding instruments for international youth encounters must also increasingly promote cooperation with partners in refugees’ countries of origin. Schlesische27 is in contact with NGOs and socio-cultural centres in Lebanon in particular.
