Fair Pay! – Workshop #3: Berlin Model 


After the Bundesverband Freie Darstellende Künste (the German Federal Association of the Independent Performing Arts) discussed and further thought out important aspects of the existing minimum fee limits and recommendations with the Fair Pay! – Workshops in Bremen and in Cologne, the discussion will now continue in cooperation with the Performing Arts Program in Berlin.

With presentations, table conversations and a workshop discussion, we are inviting all members of the community, representatives of performance venues and artists to discuss their experiences with the current fee system together with state and national advocacy organizations, unions, politicians and administrators and to approach the next steps for improving the fee structure. How are the minimum fee limit recommendations working at the moment at the place where they were created? What changes are coming? How can the necessary increases be financed? How can projects be calculated effectively and fairly? And, very importantly: what do the next steps look like in terms of interdisciplinary work?

Schedule of Events

From 11:00 am
Accrediation and Organization
We warmly invite you to take a look at our event reader in the lobby before the official beginning of the event. Experts have described their current fee systems in it and it serves as a great foundation for the schedule of events that are to come!

11:30 am
Opening Greeting and a Look at the Schedule of Events
The entire event is moderated by: Tobias Pflug (Agentur für fast alles, managing board member, Landesverband Freie Darstellende Künste Bremen)

11:40 am
Fair Pay! – A Participatory Process for a Reorientation of the Minimum Fee Recommendations
With Helge-Björn Meyer (BFDK)
The one-year participatory and exchange process of the BFDK has been used to take a look at the current minimum fee limits and recommendations. In light of the fee matrix that has to be filled in at the KMK (Kultusministerkonferenz, The Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the German States in the Federal Republic of Germany) and the coming budget negotiations, the idea is to define shared goals for the long-term social safeguarding of independent artists. This keynote speech will provide insight into the goals and interim results of the series of events and will place the Berlin workshop within a national context.

11:50 am
HUG – A Success Story from Berlin
With Anne Schneider (director and conceptualizer)
Everyone is talking about it: the minimum fee limit of LAFT Berlin. To kick things off, we will start by taking a look back and asking: when did the first calls for minimum fee limits arise in the independent performing arts and who made them? What were the reasons for this? And what framework conditions were ultimately responsible for making the minimum fee limit possible?

12:00 pm
Application of the HUG - A Practical Example
With Gob Squad
How do artists working within the independent performing arts community in Berlin use the minimum fee limit and the various recommendations? The collective Gob Squad will present its payment system and provide insight into the challenges of possible solutions in the determination and negotiation of fair pay.

12:10 pm
Flexible and Yet Still Reliable – Considerations for Future Fee Models in the Independent Arts Community and Their Contradictions
With Janina Benduski (LAFT Berlin)
Many recommendations have been revised and some new models have been placed on the table for discussion. What types of considerations exist at the moment in terms of the future shaping of fees in Berlin? How can those who are formally employed and work within the independent performing arts community be taken into account in the considerations? What specific points must be kept in mind in terms of the conflicts between reliability and flexibility? This keynote speech is dedicated to the upcoming next steps.

Coffee Break

12:30 pm
In-Depth Session: Table Conversations with Experts

Table A:
The Fee Matrix of the KMK (Kultusministerkonferenz, The Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the German States in the Federal Republic of Germany) - How To Move On From Here?
With Helge-Björn Meyer (Bundesverband freie darstellende Künste)
How does the fee matrix of the KMK work, what challenges does it bring with it and: what can steps to fill the table in with specific numbers look like? We would like to discuss the existing matrix while taking all disciplines into account.

Table B:
Another Berlin Model - Plans for Differentiations
With Hannah Pelny (LAFT Berlin) & Anne Schneider (director and conceptualizer)
LAFT Berlin has been working internally on a four-level fee system for the last few years that could make a contribution to forming a foundation for the differentiation of the previous recommendations. How does this system relate to the previous recommenations? What can still be improved upon there? We invite the participants to take a look at the suggestion and to introduce their own perspectives.

Table C:
Reliability of Fees in Berlin
With Andreas Köhn (ver.di – visual art, specialist group for music, union of German authors) & Janina Benduski (LAFT Berlin)
They do exist, models that provide reliable fees. While we in the independent (performing) arts still have room for improvement, we will turn our gaze to regulations in other working areas – from music school teachers to art in Berlin’s Senate Department for Justice.

Table D:
Submitting Funding Applications and Calculation - How Does It Work?
With Fabian Rosonsky (production manager) & Gob Squad (invited)
Calling all production managers: anyone who has not yet collected much experience in calculating the minimum fee limits has found exactly the right place here. We will take a look at funding applications, but also at the backgrounds and contexts as well: How do I calculate my fee as an artist in accordance with the minimum fee limit or minimum fee recommendations?

Lunch break beginning at 1:30 pm

2:30 pm
Workshop Discussion: Berlin Models - Next Steps
With the initiators, all table guests, Anne-Cathrin Lessel (Board BFDK), Stephan Behrmann (FA Labor and Social Affairs of the German Cultural Council) and other expert guests as well as Melanie Kühnemann-Grunow (MdA, Spokesperson for Culture and Media of the SPD Parliamentary Group)
Many challenges become visible when taking the existing fee models into consideration and some solutions for overcoming them have already been put on the table. Does the Berlin model change the minimum fee limits in a substantial way or is the existing system being continued? How many guidelines and checks should there be in the future? How can funding be distributed so that the coming increases can also be realized by the institutions and projects? Together with everyone in attendance, we will discuss the suggestions during the workshop discussion and sketch out the initial subsequent steps. Following this, we will summarize the insights gained over the course of the day and provide an outlook for additional steps on the part of the national association and the state associations.

From 4:30 pm
Closing Reception and Conversations