From the very beginning, we at the Pop-Kultur festival have placed a strong emphasis on creating fair access for everyone. Promoting the cultural participation of people with disabilities is a particularly important concern for us.
We see inclusion as a process and accessibility as a quality feature of a good festival. This means that the active involvement of participants with disabilities onstage, in the audience, and behind the scenes is of great significance to us.
Since 2018, we have been working with experts in their own field to develop accessibility measures in order to increase the visibility and self-determination of people with disabilities at our festival.
At this special anniversary edition, we look back with gratitude on the developments that have made our festival a nationwide model project for accessibility. Along with our inclusive network, we want to celebrate these successes and milestones.
Thanks to the valuable collaboration with experts in their own field leading up to and during the festival, we have been able to create a festival that is truly for everyone. We are particularly proud of our intersectional awareness team, including the active involvement of people with disabilities.
Our festival site is designed to be easy for everyone by means of an accessible routing system, and people with disabilities can be represented onstage, in the audience, and behind the scenes. For us, however, accessibility has always meant more than just a ramp and floor panels. With the use of sign language interpreters and performances by D/deaf artists, we were able to add an important dimension to the programme that promotes greater participation and representation.
During the pandemic, we felt it was important to maintain this participation by providing subtitles and producing audio descriptions for music videos.
We are particularly pleased that more than 40 accessible online contributions are now available in our »Inclutheque«, Pop-Kultur’s accessible media library. This unique platform allows festival content to be accessible to everyone beyond the event itself.
Another highlight was the successful placement of a participant with a disability from our Pop-Kultur Nachwuchs programme, who got to know our cooperation partners from the initiative Barrierefrei Feiern at Pop-Kultur, later even supporting us himself as a professional consultant – an inspiring example of the importance of equal access when it comes to networking.
Our long-standing collaboration with the RambaZamba Theater and the annual cooperation with the inclusive band 21downbeat are further valuable partnerships that enrich Pop-Kultur artistically while also representing vastly underrepresented groups of people.
Let’s look back on these successes together and look forward to an inclusive pop future.
Here are three highlights from the programme:
Stage artist Ulla is developing a new piece especially for Pop-Kultur. In his exclusive performance »Toxic Maskfedideldi« he will present the topic of toxic masculinity in a totally new way. What exactly does that mean? We don’t know, but we’re sure that it will be a quite a spectacle.
As regular guests at Pop-Kultur, 21downbeat are putting on a very special programme this year. That’s because they are turning their principles into a programme: exhilaration, ecstasy, noise, and confetti! They will bring all of this and much more to the Maschinenhaus stage this year with their pop opera »WOZZECK«.
It’s high time to finally discuss the ideal infrastructure for D/deaf people at cultural events, and who better to do this than people from the community? In the German-language talk »Festivals, Events und DisCo (disabled community)«, Inna Shparber, Martin Vahemäe-Zierold, and Xenia Dürr will take this topic to the stage, not only talking about their experiences but also highlighting strategies and solutions for the inclusion of D/deaf people. The talk will be hosted by Ulrich »Ulla« Hartmann.
Come in, get in, get along
As a quality feature of our festival, once again this year we will be ensuring physical and communicative accessibility on site:
- All events are wheelchair accessible
- There are several accessible toilets on the site (also for guests with disabilities that aren’t visible)
- A selection of the »Pop-Kultur Diskurs« programme will be translated into German Sign Language
- There is mobile comprehension assistance in Leichter Sprache (easy German language)
- Our service team is available to provide support and answer questions for visitors with disabilities before and during the festival. Please email inklusion@pop-kultur.berlin or call/WhatsApp: +49 157 38 79 5555. Team members are mobile on the festival grounds and can be recognised by their white waistcoats.
An overview of all services for visitors with disabilities can be found in the FAQ: https://www.pop-kultur.berlin/en/accessibility/
We look forward to celebrating this special anniversary year with you in the Kulturbrauerei from 28 to 30 August 2024 and to experiencing these exciting and inclusive festival days together.
Here is an overview of our programme recommendations featuring participants with disabilities
Wednesday, 28 August 2024:
Live: Ulla: »Toxic Maskfedideldi«
19:40 – 20:20, Maschinenhaus
Live: Unlimited T with Olympia Bukkakis, Oozin Gloop and Lawunda Richardson
20:00 – 22:00 Karaoke, 22:00 – 23:00 Performance, Çaystube
Donnerstag, 29 August 2024:
Talk: »Releases & Strategies mit Amy Zayed«
19:00 – 20:00, RambaZamba Café
Freitag, 30 August 2024:
Talk: »Festivals, Events und DisCo (disabled community): Wie sind die Infrastrukturen?«
19:00 – 20:00, RambaZamba Café (Talk in German Sign Language and German)
Live: FÜR ELISE (Elise Neumann & Khan of Finland)
19:20 – 20:00, Alte Kantine
Live: 21 downbeat: »WOZZECK – eine Pop-Oper nach Alban Berg«
21:00 – 21:50, Maschinenhaus