Making a Difference
Making a Difference is a Berlin-based network founded in 2018 to promote the independent work of disabled, d/Deaf and chronically ill artists in dance. Eight organisations have joined forces to create high-quality, accessible training and production opportunities through workshops, residencies and co-productions. The central guideline of the project is to fill all leadership and expert positions with disabled, d/Deaf and chronically ill people.
News and recommendations
Further funding through TANZPAKT Stadt-Land-Bund
Making a Difference has once again been selected for funding in the fourth round of applications for TANZPAKT Stadt-Land-Bund! Over the next three years, we will continue our work to empower disabled, Deaf, and chronically ill artists in dance!
We are particularly pleased that our network will continue to grow in the new project phase: with HAU Hebbel am Ufer / Tanz im August and Radialsystem, two important Berlin institutions are joining us. At the same time, we are establishing permanent collaborations in five other federal states for the first time with Kampnagel Hamburg, tanzhaus nrw, Theater RAMPE Stuttgart, Festival Theaterformen/Real Dance Festival Hannover/Braunschweig, and the University of the Arts in Social Work, Ottersberg.
The aim is to make the approaches developed in Berlin for barrier-free production and presentation processes accessible nationwide on a sustainable basis. Together with these partners, who already pursue inclusive programs, standards for barrier removal, fair working conditions, and long-term prospects in artistic work are being developed. Residencies, co-productions, guest performances, and knowledge transfer go hand in hand with peer-to-peer empowerment, awareness-raising, and mediation formats.
In this way, we are continuing on our path of not only demanding structural change, but also actively implementing it—and continuously strengthening the visibility of a growing community.
We look forward to the next three years!
“Unrenewable Energies”
September 15 – October 17, 2025
Making a Difference was hosting the festival Unrenewable Energies from September 15th undtil Ocotber 17th 2025. The dance festival centered time, energy, and resources from disabled, Deaf, and chronically ill perspectives.
Over the course of four weeks, the festival stretched what is often squeezed into weekend marathons: Unrenewable Energies featured two productions, two residencies, four practice sharings, three bed-side performances, peer-to-peer mentoring, exchange formats – and a final party. Boom! The festival also included a symposium, which took place in cooperation with the Inter-University Centre for Dance Berlin, at HAU Hebbel am Ufer.
Detailed information on the individual formats are still available at festival.making-a-difference-berlin.de.