To mark the kick-off of the third funding phase after ten years of „Kultur macht stark“ , the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) organised the programme conference "Kultur macht stark: Gemeinsam für mehr Bildungschancen" (Culture makes you strong: Together for more educational opportunities) in Berlin on 23 June 2023, at which cultural education stakeholders took a look at the goals achieved so far and discussed ways to achieve greater educational equality. Prasanna Oommen moderated the conference, which was broadcast live to around 200 participants on site.
State Secretary Judith Pirscher opened the conference and in her welcoming speech highlighted the successes of the programme and the importance of cultural education in promoting more equitable educational opportunities. The theses of the subsequent keynote address by Björn Lengwenus, head of the Alter Teichweg primary and district school in Hamburg and a long-standing alliance partner of "Kultur macht stark", were explored in greater depth in a panel discussion moderated by Prasanna Oommen with experts in cultural education: In addition to Björn Lengwenus, Professor Andrea Tober (Chair of the "Kultur macht stark" jury), Mustafa Akça (Komische Oper Berlin), Professor Christian Höppner (Deutscher Kulturrat) and Professor Benjamin Jörissen (Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg) examined the topic of educational equality from different perspectives.
In the afternoon, the conference participants discussed the development potential of the programme in specialist forums, including questions of digitalisation, local anchoring and integration into all-day schooling. Scientists provided insights into the current state of research and experts from the "Kultur macht stark" practice reported on their work. In addition, the participants exchanged views on various topics in World Cafés. Prasanna Oommen moderated a forum on the topic of "municipal networks for cultural education" with experts Prof. Dr. Vanessa-Isabelle Reinwand-Weiss (Federal Academy for Cultural Education Wolfenbüttel) and Marleen Mützlaff (Department of Culture, City of Goslar) as well as the forum on "Cultural education in all-day school life" with inputs from Prof. Dr. Saskia Bender (University of Bielefeld) and Annegret Meyer (IGS Flötenteich Oldenburg).
The recording of the morning programme will soon be available here .
Image: © BMBF