The DfdK mentoring program is entering its second round: As of now, independent performing artists and cultural practitioners with migration experience who would like to begin or resume their artistic practice in Hamburg can apply.
Within the mentoring program, we form four tandems. Each tandem consists of a mentor – a person with migration experience and/or an international family history, as well as professional expertise in the independent performing arts scene – and a mentee. The aim is to support the mentee in navigating and further developing their professional practice within the independent performing arts.
Each of the four tandems independently organizes at least four individual meetings during the program period. The focus lies on personal exchange about experiences and knowledge related to working in Hamburg’s independent scene.
In addition, the program is accompanied by several events: an opening and a closing meeting, as well as empowerment sessions that provide a protected space to share experiences of discrimination and strategies of resistance. Upon request, we also support tandems in attending a performance or cultural event together. Another element of the program is an introductory meeting with a Hamburg cultural institution.
A special feature this year is that the mentoring program is carried out in cooperation with the Interkulturelles Forum Hamburg. Together, and with the support of W3 Hamburg, we organize open, regular empowerment meetings for artists of all disciplines in Hamburg.
Strengthening migrant artists in Hamburg's cultural landscape.
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We aim to create a sustainable professional support network that contributes to further development within the independent performing arts scene. Migrant knowledge and expertise are to be made more visible, and networks of solidarity strengthened. The program focuses on the exchange of knowledge, navigating the professional environment, and the development of individual career paths.
Breaking down barriers and creating new opportunities for cooperation.
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The mentoring program actively contributes to a necessary development in Hamburg’s independent performing arts scene, benefiting all artists in the field. In a society shaped by diversity, it is essential to design artistic structures in ways that incorporate different perspectives, experiences, and working methods.
Promoting a more diverse and resilient cultural sector through mutual exchange.
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The program creates a space in which migrant artists are not only supported but also actively contribute to the development of the scene. Through the exchange between established artists with migration experience and/or an international family background and newly arrived artists, sustainable networks are formed that foster greater diversity in the long term. These structures generate new artistic impulses, encourage alternative ways of working, and make the independent scene more adaptable and resilient.
Supporting cultural policy processes by integrating new perspectives.
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The program offers an important opportunity: it helps to better understand the specific challenges faced by migrant artists and to actively integrate their perspectives into cultural policy processes. By initiating new collaborations, dismantling barriers, and making existing networks more accessible, a transformative process is created that enriches and develops the cultural landscape beyond Hamburg’s independent scene.
Mentoring as a mutual exchange and strengthening
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We understand mentoring not as a one-way flow of knowledge, but as a mutual exchange of experiences and resources that strengthens both mentors and mentees.
The mentors are artists and cultural practitioners with extensive experience in Hamburg’s independent performing arts scene who also have migration experience and/or an international family background.
Please note that the program is exclusively aimed at artists and cultural practitioners in the independent performing arts.
Program duration: 5. Mai – 15. Oktober 2026
Application deadline: March 22, 2026
Feedback on selection: April 07, 2026 at the latest
We invite all selected mentors and mentees to participate responsibly, attend the group meetings, and dedicate their time to organizing personal meetings within their tandems.
The program takes place in English and German, is organized by DfdK and the Interkulturelles Forum Hamburg, and is financially supported by the Hamburger Volksbankstiftung.
If you have any questions, please contact:
Elena Leskova
Development and coordination of the program:
Elena Leskova is an independent creative producer, curator and dramaturge in the field of dance and performance. Her professional focus is on supporting and promoting cultural practitioners in exile and cultural practitioners with migration experience in Germany. Fellow of the INTRO program 2024/25 of the Ministry of Culture and Media Hamburg
Before her emigration in 2022, she was active as a curator and producer, organized interdisciplinary festivals and laboratories and directed a long-term choreography program at the Alexandrinsky Theater in Saint Petersburg, Russia - with a focus on promoting international cultural collaboration. She has been working in the arts and culture sector since 2014 and started her career in the education department of the European nomadic biennial Manifesta 10. She holds a Master of Arts in Curatorial Studies from Bard College, USA.
Development and coordination of the program:
Elena Leskova is an independent creative producer, curator and dramaturge in the field of dance and performance. Her professional focus is on supporting and promoting cultural practitioners in exile and cultural practitioners with migration experience in Germany. Fellow of the INTRO program 2024/25 of the Ministry of Culture and Media Hamburg
Before her emigration in 2022, she was active as a curator and producer, organized interdisciplinary festivals and laboratories and directed a long-term choreography program at the Alexandrinsky Theater in Saint Petersburg, Russia - with a focus on promoting international cultural collaboration. She has been working in the arts and culture sector since 2014 and started her career in the education department of the European nomadic biennial Manifesta 10. She holds a Master of Arts in Curatorial Studies from Bard College, USA.
We thank the Hamburger Volksbankstiftung for the financial support, in cooperation with the Interkulturelles Forum Hamburg.