Our Work

The Culture and International Affairs team consists of six employees and a varying number of student assistants and interns. 21 residence tutors complement the team. In addition, we employ a large number of students for a wide variety of tasks, such as catering, seating set-up, sound and lighting, artistic activities, etc., as part of our events.

You can reach us at kultur@stw.berlin or by telephone on 030 93939 8341.

If you would like to be part of our events, please contact us via kultur@stw.berlin as well.


What is the cultural work of the StudierendenWERK BERLIN?

"Promoting Creativity", "Giving Space" and "Living Diversity" are the three main guiding principles of the cultural work of the StudierendenWERK BERLIN. They were developed at the beginning of 2015 through co-creative workshops with students. They are an expression of the students' wishes and correspond to the general objective of promoting the motivation, abilities, performance and initiatives of students, which the studierendenWERK BERLIN has laid down in its statutes.

The studierendenWERK BERLIN sees the challenge of its cultural work against the background of the strong megatrends of internationalisation and globalisation of students' living environments, which are particularly prevalent in Berlin. This makes a clear definition of the concept of culture difficult. "Culture" is therefore continuously developed from the discourse with the students and is to be understood and researched in different ways.

The cultural work of the studierendenWERK BERLIN is explicitly aimed at all students and is cross-university and cross-faculty. According to its statutes, it also focuses on intercultural approaches, the promotion of disadvantaged groups, international students, as well as students with a migration background and educationally disadvantaged groups.

The cultural work serves the studierendenWERKs BERLIN to achieve the goal of creating a space which is free of discrimination and which is determined by cooperative behaviour, respect for human dignity and personality, integration and equal treatment, transparency and open information. Due to the neutral position of the studierendenWERK, however, political or religiously motivated actions cannot be part of the cultural work.

The studierendenWERK BERLIN also understands its cultural work as a contribution to the individual cultural education of its students. They should have the opportunity to pursue their own cultural interests, develop their creative abilities and actively participate in Berlin's cultural life. Because "cultural education strengthens the sensitivity for the fact that cultural variety and cultural difference between regions, milieus, ethnic groups and sexes and also between generations are a precious development resource of the society. (...) Culture is a key to social development.“ (source: Recommendations of the Enquete Commission of the German Bundestag on Culture in Germany)

How is the cultural work of the studierendenWERK BERLIN developed?

The actions, projects and events arising from the cultural work of the studierendenWERK should be initiated primarily by students and oriented towards the needs of the students. The cultural work is understood as participative and interactive. To this end, the needs of the students are regularly determined and the results evaluated so that the funds are used in a target-group-oriented and sustainable manner.

Where do the actions and events take place?

The studierendenWERK has a large number of rooms and places where students from all universities can come together. These rooms are to be opened to students so that they can live and experience creativity. A good example are the ongoing projects in the "Kunstraum studierendenWERK" programme, which play at a wide variety of locations and open them up as "art spaces". The most prominent example is certainly the Kunstraum Potsdamer Straße.

The venue "Freiraum im Studentenhaus" in Hardenbergstraße 35 plays a special role in the cultural work of the studierendenWERK BERLIN. This venue is primarily to be used as a venue for students. In the foreground are events and projects which, according to the outlined guiding principles, promote the creativity of the students and turn the "Alte Mensa" into a place where diversity is lived.