Berlin Philharmonic

Through discussions with the local neighborhood management team, the Berlin Philharmonic’s Education Team identified a significant need for programs aimed at strengthening cultural participation among young people in Kreuzberg. Building on previous experience with mobile formats, the team developed Jugendkulturinitiative new, decentralized cooperation model as part of the Jugendkulturinitiative , with a clear focus on participation and social-spatial anchoring.
The funding made it possible to become active in a Berlin neighborhood on a long-term basis for the first time and to explore new approaches to community-based cultural work.

With “XBerg & Du,” the Berlin Philharmonic launched a participatory initiative in which teenagers and young adults from Kreuzberg curated and organized their own music festival.
In regular workshops, participants learned about all aspects of festival planning—from artistic conception to technology and logistics to public relations. Guided by experts in event organization, they developed a music festival step by step, from artist selection to the final program design and technical implementation, thereby strengthening their self-efficacy, teamwork, and sense of responsibility.

The intensive community-building process highlighted the increased time and personnel resources required for socio-spatially oriented cultural work. The Education Team was able to gain valuable insights from this and adapt internal structures to make the work more sustainable in future program phases.
At the same time, new expertise was developed in the areas of participatory production processes and the establishment of long-term local partnerships. The experiences from XBerg & Du not only informed the further development of our own work but also provided practical insights for the entire network of Jugendkulturinitiative