About the Platform for Cultural Education Brandenburg

We bring culture to everyone in Brandenburg – across generations. As the central specialist agency for cultural education, we have been advising, networking and supporting cultural initiatives throughout the state since 2010.

Originally founded by over 90 cultural institutions and artists through Kulturland Brandenburg e.V., we have been part of the Brandenburg Society for Culture and History since 2023. In order to be close to people throughout the state, we operate from three regional offices: Potsdam, Eberswalde and Lübbenau. From here, we connect cultural professionals and advise on projects. We offer further training and organise knowledge transfer. We also implement our own projects and programmes. In this way, we provide important impetus for professional cultural education in the state.

We are involved in a wide range of formats.

With the ‘Cultural Education and Participation’ funding programme, we have been supporting cultural projects in Brandenburg since 2015 with currently 400,000 euros annually. The Ministry of Science, Research and Culture of the State of Brandenburg (MWFK) launched the programme – we implement it.

The ‘MAX – Artists in Residence at Brandenburg Schools’ programme brings freelance artists directly to Brandenburg schools. In doing so, we are continuing the successful work of the nationwide programme ‘Creative Potential in Dialogue’ (2014-2022) run by the Mercator Foundation and the State Institute for Schools and Media (LISUM). Cultural education is firmly anchored in everyday school life. The scholarship programme currently brings freelance artists together with four schools in Brandenburg.

We advise, develop and evaluate.

In addition, since 2018 we have been advising on funding opportunities under the federal programme ‘Culture Makes Strong. Alliances for Education’, which is aimed particularly at children and young people in difficult life situations.

In 2024, we developed a new experimental fund together with the MWFK: our aim is to promote innovative cultural formats that reach people who previously had little or no access to cultural education.

In 2022/23, we also conducted a study to better understand how cultural education can be successful, especially in rural areas.

Our goal is to make high-quality cultural education accessible to everyone in Brandenburg, in line with the state’s cultural policy strategy. To this end, we work closely with politicians, administrators and cultural institutions in the state.

Cultural education creates access to art and culture and enables people to engage with cultural heritage, cultural identity and cultural diversity. It is a key factor for cultural and social participation and integration, but also for critically engaging with the challenges and conflicts of our world.

Source: www.unesco.de/node/822

For us, ‘cultural participation’ means that individuals or groups actively participate in cultural activities and events and actively help to shape them. Every person, whether young or old, has the right to cultural participation and access to aesthetic education processes appropriate to their stage of life. Successful cultural education is fundamental to this and is characterised by its relevance to the lives of its recipients.