United Inclusion

With the project United Inclusion, we bring cultural actors with disabilities and representatives of the cultural funding sectors together. The guiding question of United Inclusion asks, how can federal, state and municipal funding, as well as private initatives, be organized so that equal access and participateion in the cultural field for people with disabilities becomes both a reality and an obvious condition for a just society? Our methods build on the findings of the international network “European Disability Arts Cluster”.

People with disabilities are still marginalized as cultural actors and audience members. Since cultural funding is important for shaping equal access and participation, this is where our work starts.

Project duration: March 2021 to December 2022

How can arts and culture funding effectively promote the artistic activity and participation of people with disabilities – both as creators of culture and as audiences? Un-Label has addressed this question with the project United Inclusion. In eight moderated online discussion rounds, cultural workers with disabilities together with representatives of funding measures of the federal government, the states, municipalities and private foundations formulated needs and developed concrete ideas for the implementation of equitably designed cultural funding in Germany. The project results were summarized in a publication in German language that can be downloaded free of charge.

Docu 1 Implementation ideas for the funding landscape (PDF german)

In the second phase of the project (2022), United Inclusion again brought together represantives of funding measures and cultural workers with disabilities. In a series of online events, which were preceded by many preliminary discussions with stakeholders in the fields of film, theater and music, foundational knowledge regarding inclusive cultural production was presented and new knowledge accumulated. Topics of the events included issues like barrier-free application procedures (such as application forms, website accessibility and consulting). Representatives of the British Council and the Arts Council England gave concrete suggestions on how funding concepts can be reinforced in order to actively support applicants and cultural audiences with disabilities. Participants discussed how accessibility can be structurally planned and implemented, and how Aesthetics of Access can be integrated into those structures. The question of state assistance for cultural workers with disabilities was also discussed.

Approximately 300 people took part in the events. The result is a guideline that is available for download free of charge.

Docu 2 Guideline fair promotion of culture (PDF german)

The report „Disabled artists in the mainstream: a new cultural agenda for Europe“ serves as a basis for this work. The network “European Disability Arts Cluster” created the report in March 2020 with the aim of re-accentuating the activities of future EU cultural programs with a view to actors and cultural users with disabilities. The cluster includes organizations, ensembles and freelance artists from the international inclusive arts and culture sector, as well as major European venues and festivals from over 18 countries. Un-Label has played a leading role in this process as the coordinator of three inclusive EU projects. On this basis, the participants of United Inclusion have developed their proposals for the re-accentuation and re-design of funding programs in Germany.