Orta Okul (Middle School in English) is a participatory learning initiative aimed at empowering marginalized communities through arts and culture while challenging systemic discrimination in the field. 

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Our Open Call for 2025 is now open for applications for educational programs that will be realized throughout the year.

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What Does Your Community Need? ​

 

seeks to support  culturally relevant, participatory, and socially engaged art education in Berlin. Despite its claims of celebrating diverse and (post-)migration identities, Berlin has yet to embrace these values. The rise of the political far-right, the severe funding cuts to cultural and civil society projects, and the shrinking support for social justice movements pose serious threats to democracy in general and to marginalized communities in particular.

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Meanwhile, arts education remains (un)intentionally entrenched in hegemonic  Western standards. We want to challenge this injustice by creating spaces for those who have often been excluded from arts education because of their language, faith, class and age - through participation in arts and culture. What does your community need? seeks to encourage these communities and foster inclusive educational spaces in an increasingly hostile environment.

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We are an interdisciplinary, multilingual, nomadic initiative. Our methodology focuses on observing community needs and developing participatory and sustainable artistic formats that work with communities to empower them. In our program, What does your community need? we want to widen our scope and share our resources with 5 facilitators so they can create their own educational programs fit for the communities they work with.

 

What are we offering?​

 

• An honorarium of 1,820 EUR (Gross) for your role as a facilitator.

• Production support of up to 400 EUR for materials and a final event (if applicable).

• Training for Trainers: As part of our mentorship program, we offer training on a topic of your choice, such as critical awareness, communication methodologies, and more. We will connect you with an expert in your chosen field and provide two mentoring sessions.

• Mentorship on participatory and socially engaged art practices.

• Coordination support with institutions and communities you wish to collaborate with.

• Written and visual documentation, as well as visibility through our channels.

 

Which applications do we encourage?​

 

Orta Okul is guided by three principles—“art with community, not art for community,” “participants before curriculum,” and “maintenance over development”*—We specifically encourage the programs that aligns with our basic principles, including but not limited to:​

 

• Programs developed by community-based artists, art educators, cultural workers, activists using artistic methodologies, and experts in areas such as diversity, anti-discrimination, and social justice within the arts and culture field.

• Programs using participatory methodologies and fostering active involvement of communities. 

• Programs facilitated by members of communities, offering informal, supportive, and culturally relevant curricula.

• Programs conducted in diverse languages (The application form should be filled out in English or German for our jury. After the selection process, we can communicate with you in English, German, or Turkish, and we very welcome programs realized in any language.)

• Programs challenging eurocentric universalism of art education. 

• Programs employing ecologically sustainable strategies. 

• Programs designed for longer-term impact, prioritizing maintenance over development. 

• Programs that are courageous, ambitious, and unapologetic—whether they aim empowerment, inspire change, or channel collective frustration into action.

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What else?​

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If you don’t fit this description but still see a need in your community, you can still fill out the application form to describe it—it will be considered by the jury. If the need you describe moves forward in the process, we will be in touch and will take care of finding a facilitator to work on the topic.

 

If you are interested in, send your applications to us until June 1st 2025, 23:59 (CET). For further questions, please contact us via ortaokulproject@gmail.com. Please note, however, that we are a small team and are unable to provide guidance during the application process.​

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* Maintenance over development is inspired by Manifesto for Maintenance Art 1969 by Mierle Laderman Ukeles, who contrasted the celebrated idea of development with the overlooked labor of maintenance. She committed to valuing maintenance—work that, as she put it, takes “all the fucking time.” Following this spirit, Orta Okul embraces maintenance over the relentless pursuit of the new, the exciting, or the prestigious, instead we center care, sustainability, and community engagement.

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