Musik der Jahrhunderte (MDJ)is one of the most important international producers of contemporary music. MDJ was founded in 1978. Today the house with its festivals and concert series is a well-known and demanded laboratory for young and representative composers. MDJ organizes the ECLAT Festival Neue Musik Stuttgart (in cooperation with the SWR). It manages new vocal soloists, does pioneering work in the development of digital and hybrid event formats and is one of the most important communication platforms for new music.

Stuttgart, Germany
mdjstuttgart.de

Sasha Waltz & Guests was founded in Berlin in 1993 by Sasha Waltz and Jochen Sandig and is now one of the most important institutions for contemporary dance in Berlin. In addition to the Berlin performances, national and international guest performances and the maintenance of the repertoire, Sasha Waltz & Guests is also very active in the field of "Education & Community" - starting with the children's dance company founded in 2007, the platform "Listening- Third Space for Art and Politics" which has been active since 2016 and various offers in the field of knowledge transfer.

Berlin, Germany
sashawaltz.de

The Grotowski Institute in Wrocław is a municipal arts institution committed to documenting and disseminating knowledge about Jerzy Grotowski and his Laboratory Theatre as well as hosting events corresponding to the ideas laid down by Grotowski’s creative practice. The primary venue of the Grotowski Institute is the historical home of the Laboratory Theatre in Przejście Żelaźnicze in Wrocław’s Market Square (Rynek). The Archive of the Grotowski Institute and the Laboratory Theatre Space, Ludwik Flaszen Reading Room and Office are located here. Na Grobli Studio opened in April 2010 at 30/32 Na Grobli Street, in the former home of the Wratislavia Rowing Association. Brzezinka, the forest base of the Grotowski Institute, is an isolated building near the village of Brzezinka, close to Oleśnica, 40 kilometres from Wrocław. In April 2019, a new space, the Bakery, opened at 62–70 Księcia Witolda Street. This professionally set-up theatre studio space houses the Centre for Performing Arts.

Wrocław, Poland
Instytut Grotowskiego

The Arsenal Gallery in Białystok was established in 1965 as one of the so-called Artistic Exhibitions Bureaux. It has been under Monika Szewczyk’s management since 1990. Today, it is a municipal institution of culture financed from the budget of the City of Białystok.
The Gallery has been following a comprehensive and consistent exhibition programme for years, presenting and fostering contemporary art in a variety of media and offering an excellent perspective of all the most important and interesting phenomena in current Polish art, while not sidestepping challenges and experiments. The Arsenal Gallery holds approximately 20 exhibitions per annum – not only at its two permanent venues in Białystok, but also at other domestic locations and abroad. Projects tying in with Eastern Partnership and Central European countries have a special place in the Gallery’s programme – they show all tendencies and changes in the contemporary art of these regions.
Exhibition activities are accompanied by an intensely developing educational programme – the Arsenal Playground – teaching about contemporary art at different levels and with the use of varying language. Projects implemented as part of the programme teachdialogue with art, presenting it as a platform for negotiating issues of social importance. Artists are frequently part of the educational process, new works created as part of workshops they deliver. Making all the most important phenomena in current art available to persons with sight and hearing impairments is a vital part of the Gallery’s educational activities.
Publishing is another of activity important to the Gallery. The institution produces catalogues and other publications accompanying most of its exhibitions. The Arsenal Gallery has been engaging in diverse activities fostering contemporary culture, such as panel discussions, lectures, seminars, conferences, concerts, book promotions, and film screenings. For a number of years, it has been organising the Children’s Art Book Fair with an extensive workshop offer for the youngest audience.

Białystok, Poland
Arsenal Gallery in Białystok

The cultural foundation Schloss Wiepersdorf offers artists and scholars as well as groups from the cultural and academic fields an international and interdisciplinary residency program. Schloss Wiepersdorf is located in a rural area about 75 kilometers south of Berlin, Germany.

Berlin, Germany
schloss-wiepersdorf.de

The Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin, which stands for post-migrant theater like no other German-language theater, is dedicated to socio-political subjects that make up and concern our present based on contemporary authors, many world premieres as well as theater classics. As a part of Berlin, the Gorki opens up to the city: everyone who has come to Berlin in the last few decades is welcome, whether through flight, exile, immigration or simply because of growing up in Berlin.

Berlin, Germany
Gorki

Founded in 1919, Magdalena Abakanowicz University of the Arts Poznan (UAP) is a leading European art school. It's the sole university among art schools in the country and a vital cultural center. UAP emphasizes pluralism and multidirectional education across various fine arts disciplines, architecture, curatorial studies, postgraduate, doctoral studies, Study in English, the University of Arts of the Third Age, and specialized courses.

UAP actively pursues research and innovative education approaches. In 2023, they are expanding with the Centre of Education and Culture at Marcinkowskiego av. and the University Digital Center – UAP Prototyping Center.

UAP remains dedicated to their founders' ideals, fostering values crucial for modern society: tradition and universal humanism, freedom of thought, and artistic expression. Notably, UAP earned an A+ scientific category in visual arts and art conservation by the Minister of Education and Science on February 16, 2023.

Poznan, Poland
Magdalena Abakanowicz University of the Arts Poznan (UAP)

KALEKTAR — a research platform on Belarusian contemporary art. Organizing and conducting cultural and educational activities.

Poznań, Poland
kalektar.org

The Künstlerhof Frohnau (KHF) is a center for artistic production and exchange in the north of Berlin. Since 1998, it has provided over 4,000 m² of studio space for more than 40 artists in a former forest hospital. In addition to renting out studios, the Künstlerhof organizes exhibitions, workshops, and cultural programs and awards the Dieter Ruckhaberle Prize. The project has been supported by the Reinickendorf District Office since its inception and thrives on the initiative of the artists.

Bydgoszcz, Poland
Künstlerhof Frohnau

HELLERAU acts as an interdisciplinary and international center for dance, performance, music, theater and media art. HELLERAU offers spaces for productions, festivals, concerts, performances, exhibitions and discourse, cooperates with various regional cultural partners and has a wide international network. The residential apartments and the opportunities for artistic research, production and encounters are unique. In various focal points and festival formats, HELLERAU deals with current social issues of our time. Due to its geographical location on the borders of Poland and the Czech Republic, but also due to its history, Dresden occupies an important position as an east-west hub within Germany. One focus of the program therefore deals with the role of the arts in the social transformation processes of the former Eastern Bloc countries after 1989.

Dresden, Germany
HELLERAU

Since 2002, the non-profit art center HALLE 14 has been a space for the presentation of, reflection on and communication about contemporary art. Its commitment to contemporary art serves the public through international group exhibitions, regular events, an art library, an art education program and a residency program for international artists. The art center is located in the heart of the Leipzig Baumwollspinnerei, a remarkable cosmos of contemporary art and culture, consisting of a dozen art galleries, 150 artist studios, print shops, workshops, creative offices, residency programs, a cinema, a theater and much more. Tours of the SpinnereiGalerien attract more than 45,000 guests every year.

Leipzig, Germany
halle14.org

BWA Wrocław are four venues linked by one programme presenting art and design in new, sometimes surprising forms. The shows, exhibitions, events and publications of BWA Wrocław concern contemporary visual practices and new social, political and spiritual ideas. Galleries belonging to BWA Wrocław are BWA Wrocław Główny, Dizajn, Studio and SIC!. They also publish BIURO – a magazine about art, culture and new thoughts.

Wrocław, Poland
BWA Wrocław

The LAKE Studios Berlin is a dance residency, research, and event space that supports a diverse mix of local and international dance, movement, and performance artists in their creative endeavors and processes. The studios offer long and short-term residencies where artists of various styles and backgrounds can work and exchange in a calm and focused atmosphere. They strive to foster a sense of community and engage artists in dialogue, reflections, and choreographic research through performances, festivals, forums, courses, workshops, and various exchange formats.

Berlin, Germany
The LAKE Studios Berlin

Sputnik Photos is an international collective of East-Central European photographers established in 2006. The experience of the transformation period in their region became a starting point for collective discussion of the social, cultural, and political processes that take place there. Using photography, film and photobooks, the collective has been creating a record of the transformations in the countries of the former Eastern Bloc. In pursuing their activity, Sputnik members collaborate with curators, writers, graphic designers, and cultural managers. Engaged in the documentary practice, they investigate its boundaries, modern dimension, and function. Importantly, Sputnik is engaged in creating a diversity of visual education platforms which support and promote young artists from the region.

Warsaw, Poland
Sputnik Photos

basis e.V. has been promoting and presenting international contemporary art in Frankfurt since 2006 through affordable workspaces, exhibitions, and exchange programs. In addition to providing workspaces, basis supports the early professionalization phase of young artists and creatives. The curated exhibition program showcases outstanding positions in international contemporary art and is complemented by readings, lectures, and performances. Through exchange programs, international emerging artists and curators receive work scholarships to network and gain new perspectives. Additionally, basis e.V. supports artists from crisis and conflict regions with residency programs, while the organization's general aim is to convey artistic content and explore the role of art in society.

Frankfurt, Germany
basis e.V.

GlogauAIR today is a non-profit art space and residency created in 2006 by Chema Alvargonzalez and nowadays supported by Memoria Artística Chema Alvargonzalez, in Kreuzberg, Berlin.The residency is located in a historic, modernist-style building that was originally designed to be a school. The building was one of the first projects erected by architect Ludwig Hoffmann in 1896, during his time as the Building Advisor of Berlin.

Focused on the principles of exploring, creating, and exhibiting, the residency offers an on-site and on-line program for international artists of all fields.

Berlin, Germany
glogauair.net

Komuna Warszawa is an artistic group currently operating in the building of a former school at 31 E. Plater Street, following the formula of a nationally pioneering social and cultural institution. For more than 30 years it has been engaged with theater in the broadest sense, treating it as an open space where different cultural disciplines interpenetrate. Its main task is to support the development of creativity and cooperation within the cultural environment from the bottom up.

Warsaw, Poland
Komuna Warszawa

Through its programme, TR Warszawa integrates Warsaw residents and visitors into the cultural life of the capital city. Together with other theaters and cultural institutions it shapes modern citizenship and contributes to the international reputation of Warsaw as an important centre of artistic life. It is a theatre that has now taken a permanent place in the landscape of the capital cultural institutions. TR Warszawa’s team under the direction of Grzegorz Jarzyna has developed modern performing forms and a new drama language. Here, in the late ‘90s a new model for the operation of theatres in Poland was introduced. It was here that a group of female and male creators, artists, actors and actresses, operators and managers, who shape Polish theatre today, gained their experience. Among the values that TR Warszawa team follows are: trust, responsibility, openness, courage, freedom and community.

Warsaw, Poland
TR Warszawa

Already in the Kunstkammer founded in 1560 by August I, Elector of Saxony, one could find exotic and curious items from other countries and continents. Today, the collection of the Ethnographic Museum Dresden includes approximately 100,000 objects.
Ethnological museums are currently the subject of much vigorous debate, not only regarding their colonial past but also concerning their future relevance and societal role. The Museum of Ethnology is embarking on a multifaceted restructuring path with new projects and event formats. Engaging in dialogue with, rather than speaking about, the source communities is an essential prerequisite. The Japanese Palais views the museum as a platform for this renewal, where new exhibition formats can be tested, and spaces for innovation can be created.

Dresden, Germany
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

Bydgoskie Centrum Sztuki  (BCS) is a cultural institution operating under the Take Care Foundation. Founded in 2017, BAC focuses on sculpture, organizing contemporary art exhibitions, lectures, and publishing projects. BCS supports emerging and established artists, collaborates with NGOs, and engages in social activism, including LGBTQ+ initiatives. It also publishes the free annual Sculpture Bulletin, available in galleries and bookstores across Poland.

Bydgoszcz, Poland
Bydgoskie Centrum Sztuki

Pawilon – Branch of the Arsenał Municipal Gallery.  
Pawilon is an open space where art meets experimentation. Here, theatrical performances, performance art, concerts, film screenings, discussions, and workshops come together to form a unique mosaic of artistic experiences. This dynamic environment invites artists and audiences to explore new forms of expression and break traditional boundaries, inspiring creative dialogue and reflection.

Poznań, Poland
Pawilon

Teatr Ósmego Dnia (Theatre of the Eighth Day) — one of the most famous Polish theatrical groups originating from the student countercultural theater of the 1960s, founded in 1964 by students of Polish studies at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. Today, the 'Eighth Day' is a legendary ensemble, a symbol of engaged theater pulsating with the rhythm of the most important political and social events. The 'Eighth Day' is known for its loud, dynamic performances filled with symbolic gestures, often facing the audience, and has become one of the leading groups in its genre in Europe. In addition to their performances, the educational and workshop activities of the group have always been significant. Over the years, hundreds of people have participated in theater workshops organized by our artists and invited guests.

Poznan, Poland
Teatr Ósmego Dnia

The Institut für Alles Mögliche is an experimental project that challenges conventional ways of presenting and institutionalizing contemporary art. It focuses on creating non-commercial spaces for exploring artistic practices, often through playful and ironic experiments. The institute emphasizes collaboration, collective learning, and artistic freedom, offering a platform for unconventional ideas and expressions outside the mainstream art market. Its events, usually lasting no more than three days, encourage experimental and unfinished artistic concepts.

Berlin, German
Institut für Alles Mögliche

Morphine Raum is where creativity converges with innovation. This dynamic space features an integrated wood workshop for crafting unique instruments and special projects, a professional recording studio, and an intimate venue designed for live presentations. By merging recording controls and live performance into one open-room concept, Morphine Raum offers artists real-time control over the tracking process and the chance to experiment in ways that traditional studios or venues simply can’t match. Focused on supporting musicians and creatives, it continuously seeks the highest quality equipment while keeping costs accessible, even offering live recording sessions that capture the energy of a live audience while reducing studio expenses.

Berlin, Germany
Morphine Raum

Ballhaus Prinzenallee is a space for dialogue and exchange, challenging societal divisions and broadening perspectives. With a diverse program, it creates an inclusive artistic home for Berlin-based artists from various backgrounds—ranging from emerging talents to established voices in the international cultural scene.
Since 2020, Ballhaus has been committed to breaking down barriers and fostering an open space beyond nationality, sexuality, and class. Operated by interkulturell Aktiv e.V. and in close partnership with Theater28, it connects Berlin’s cultural landscape with international guest performances.

Berlin, Germany
Ballhaus Prinzenallee

Galeria Labirynt is a modern, urban cultural institution focused on art and social issues. Actively responding to the changing artistic and social landscape, it particularly promotes contemporary Ukrainian art. Labirynt aspires to be a barrier-free institution, welcoming everyone regardless of language, age, origin, or ability. Their offerings cater to an international audience and consider the needs of various groups, including the deaf and visually impaired.

Lublin, Poland
Galeria Labirynt

Otwarta Pracowania — the association was established in 2011 in Lublin. It is the largest collective of art practitioners and theoreticians in the Lublin region: visual artists, performers, art historians, culture animators, educators, producers of artistic events, active in the field of art both at home and abroad.

Lublin, Poland
otwarta-pracownia.pl

Sokołowsko Międzynarodowe Laboratorium Kultury — is a cultural laboratory based in a small town of Sokolovsko in Poland. It hosts three international festivals and since 2007 has presented the work of over 1,200 artists from all over the world.

Sokolovsko, Poland
sokolowsko.org

The Pomeranian Culture Incubator — is an artistic centre, that was established on the initiative of the artistic non-governmental community, supported by the Marshal of the Pomeranian Voivodeship, Mieczysław Struk, and Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport. PIK will be a place not only for creative works but also a "school" providing knowledge for artists who wish to start their own business, and to implement their artistic projects (specialist support: mentoring, exhibition curators, art business).

Gdansk, Poland
pik.pomorskie.pl

zusa is a spin-off of MitOst e.V. working for and with cultural and civil society actors that create and urge changes in their contexts. They practice and promote the art of collaboration as a force for systemic change. They create, open and give space to process, playfulness and experimentation. They do it with people and organisations from different backgrounds, geographies, sectors and disciplines.
zusa is based in Berlin and works in Europe, North Africa, West Asia and beyond. At the core of their work and values is a do-it-together approach. Together with partners they create and implement programmes based on collaborative principles. They see their role primarily as supporting others to get better at their work by introducing tools of collaboration, acting as a backbone, and forging more alliances.
In this context, AiR zusa residency is primarily aimed at facilitating an opportune framework, a transdisciplinary and safer space for resilience in times of war and persecutions for artists, cultural managers, curators, culture and art activists from countries at risk. AiR zusa focuses on providing the time and sources to heal the mental health and well-being of cultural professionals living under pressure. Resilience residency is always prepared based on residents’ personal needs. They offer them the activities including i.e., external mental health and coaching support, local and international networking, exploration of the local cultural scene, research support, exploration of methods how to deal with fear and trauma and re-build the resilience, but their residents are also able to take none of these options and spend their time in Berlin relaxing, resting, regaining, and regenerating.

Berlin, Germany
zusa