German ministries earmark grants for freelance artists, educators and other cultural workers to make cultural projects with children asylum seekers within Germany. This website is the results of a worker inquiry into these projects, done under the state logic of either “integration” or “work with youth at risk”.

Refugee settlement homes (Flüchtlingsunterkunft) are places where people seeking asylum (Flüchtlinge) are housed while their asylum claims are adjudicated. Large NGO’s like Caritas and Red Cross and smaller organizations run these places for the state. The cultural projects, where artists and children engage, provide precarious workers with meaningful temporary employment and the children with the possibility for unique exchanges.

The inquiry is motivated by a desire to understand what is actually possible when precarious artists and precarious children meet in contexts with little structural support.

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This is a study by Dr. Marc Herbst, who holds a PhD in cultural studies. Ehab Assadi worked as project advisor. It is funded by the German Stiftung Kunstfonds. This is a part of a wider project that will also include a more artistic book of writing and illustrations. For more info, contact marc (at) joaap.org