About
S27, Art and Education is a Berlin institution with roots stretching back to the late 1970s, when Christel Hartmann-Fritsch conceived the idea for Schlesische27 in Kreuzberg. Initiated in the context of the International Building Exhibition of 1980, the project developed into the International Youth Art and Culture Centre Schlesische27, financially stabilised over the long term through a public private partnership in which the state of Berlin covered basic costs while private sponsors, drawn from Berlin's business and political communities and the cultural circle of the Federation of German Industries, financed individual projects. Hartmann-Fritsch directed the institution for almost thirty years.
Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Schlesische27 developed pioneering formats for East West encounter, bringing together artists and young people from across the divided city. Its youth work expanded into other European countries during the early 1990s, a period marked by Hartmann-Fritsch's appointment as an advisor to the European Commission on youth affairs and by the founding of the European network Creative Cooperations in 1996, which enabled young people across Europe to take part in the European Voluntary Service. Toward the end of the decade, the institution's theatre work gained particular recognition, with formats such as Metropolis disco theatre and Klub27 invited to the Theatertreffen der Jugend. In the early 2000s, the institution began combining artistic work with vocational orientation through projects such as inVolve, and its young participants were received by German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and French Ambassador Claude Martin in 2004 to present their vision for a Europe of Cultures. During this period the institution also founded the Wrangelnetz neighbourhood management project and received distinctions including the Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge Award and the German Children's Culture Award.
Since 2009, under the direction of Barbara Meyer, S27 has developed into an urban laboratory for artistic research conducted by and with children, teenagers and young adults, addressing themes such as housing and leisure space for young people, the integration of refugees into the labour market, urban history, and the future of urban culture through what the institution describes as Urbane Praxis. Central projects from this period include Wohnwut, Bildungsmanufaktur, ARRIVO BERLIN, CUCULA, Die Gärtnerei, Weltstadt and Monument Valley, work that has been recognised with the Roman Herzog Prize, the BKM Prize for Cultural Education, and a nomination for the Beazley Design of the Year Award.
In recent years, S27 has broadened its circle of cooperation to include partners from the trades, science and political education, among them the Berlin Central and Regional Library and the WZB Berlin Social Science Center, while also supporting the emergence of migrant oriented initiatives such as CUCULA e.V. and LAIAL e.V. Its international work has extended beyond Europe through cooperation projects in Mali, Kenya and Lebanon.
S27's core organisational pillars rest on this combination of artistic practice, education and social engagement, sustained by basic funding from the Berlin Senate Department for Education, Youth and Family together with its active support association, which together enable a broader portfolio of projects financed through additional Senate and federal funds as well as various foundations.