Johannes Zerger defined the term as such, "Racism comprises ideologies and forms of practice based on the construction of human groups as communities of descent and communities of origin, to which collective characteristics are ascribed. The characteristics are implicitly or explicitly evaluated and interpreted as not changeable or changeable only with difficulty".

This definition shows that racism is undeniably widespread in Germany, both on an individual and a structural level. Right-wing populist movements such as the AfD and their counterparts in neighbouring countries is rising rapidly. This situation, together with the blatant racism in parts of the Bundeswehr and the racist-motivated serial murders by the NSU, makes anti-racist work of utmost importance to the WERKSTATT DER KULTUREN.

The core strategy of WERKSTATT DER KULTUREN to counter racism, is to provide empowerment-competent agents who have experience of racism with the necessary venues and social media forums to present their artistic, discursive, cultural activistic empowerment strategies.

Curators and producers, often with non-European biographical references and cultural competences, make up the majority of the artistic and discursive programme in the WERKSTATT DER KULTUREN. Only in this way can we ensure that we address our diverse audiences with individual events, series and festival formats that are relevant to them.

The WERKSTATT DER KULTUREN ensures that the company's knowledge about representative positions and debates is constantly being updated in order to be able to competently initiate and help shape discourses in the fields relevant to us.

In addition, the WERKSTATT DER KULTUREN offers migrant organisations and other marginalised groups the space they need, as well as the technology, content advice and logistical support in the realisation of their own event activities.

• Empowerment is the main motivation of large parts of BLACK HISTORY MONTH, which takes place annually in February in the WERKSTATT DER KULTUREN. It combines concerts, readings, films, dance and theatre performances with reflections on the history of Africa and its cultural connections to the Black Atlantic as well as their significance for the various Afro-diasporic communities in Berlin.
• Empowerment is what it’s about at events such as the comedy show by Hari Kondabolu (2016), numerous events by Roma organisations such as Amaro Foro e.V. or the Hildegard Lagrenne Foundation, regular conferences by the Kirmancî Institute for Language and Culture, moveGlobal e.V. ("Social Responsibility in Berlin: Challenges and Perspectives") or the Federal Conference of New German Media Makers (Bundeskonferenz der Neuen deutschen Medienmacher e.V.) are all about empowerment.
• Numerous discursive formats such as the family event "Kinderbuch-Party" or the live political talk series "Playing in the Dark" with Michel Friedman as prominent participant, which aimed to set counterpoints vis-à-vis aggressive mainstream debates that make use of clichés and foreign attributions.
• The series "Racism in the courtroom" carried out with ReachOut e.V.
• The discussion evenings with the initiative Salam Schalom
• The long-standing cooperation with the Korean Association
• In addition there were numerous book presentations and panels, for example by and with Guardian journalist Gary Younge (The Speech. The Story behind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Dream), or Marion Kraft (ed.) (Children of Liberation).

For a long time, the consequences of labour migration from South and Southeast Europe, Turkey and the Maghreb were the focus of public discourse (and labour migrants from other EU countries, North America or East Asia remained largely unnoticed - not to mention the numerous people with transcultural biographies). In the current context however, the most urgent political representational challenge is posed by war-related asylum migration from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Eritrea and other countries to Berlin.

For more than two decades now, the WERKSTATT DER KULTUREN has been regularly hosting a variety of different projects on the themes of migration and asylum. Since the 1990s, the WERKSTATT DER KULTUREN has organised information and cultural events on specific topics and regions in cooperation with NGOs such as the German-Iranian Refugee Association, the Medibüro e.V., the Afghan Cultural Centre, Korientation e.V. and RAA.

Every Wednesday since 2015, the WERKSTATT DER KULTUREN has been making its premises, technology and event technicians available to self-organised Refugee initiatives for various event formats under the heading "Space for Escape".
Regardless of whether it is a matter of providing marginalised groups with the legal knowledge they require to participate in society, or highlighting the significance of cultural differences in various areas of society from a macrosociological perspective, our company is open to a wide variety of content. The aim of the event "Space for Escape" is to support as many Berlin initiatives as possible who work on the subject of asylum migration and exile. It will be continued in 2018.