During the COVID-19 pandemic, residency programs for artists have proved their worth as highly effective and viable structures for international cultural and knowledge exchange. Particularly in this time of crisis, the enormous importance of international cooperation has become clear. In their role as laboratories prompting shifts in perspective, residency programs often serve as models for the question of how we want to live together.

Cultural and knowledge exchange thrives on polyphony and diversity. How can this be guaranteed in the long term? The presence of artists on site is essential to social and cultural interaction. How can the mobility of artists be preserved – even in times of crisis? What spaces are required to create social cohesion in times of sometimes radical change, and how can residency programs contribute to this?

The Arbeitskreis Deutscher Internationaler Residenzprogramme (ADIR - Working Group of German International Residency Programs) invites you to a digital symposium on June 23, 2021, to discuss the future of international artistic exchange during and after the pandemic. After an opening statement by Minister of State Michelle Müntefering, Members of the German Bundestag Claudia Roth and Ursula Groden-Kranich, DJ and producer Sarah Farina and writer Deniz Utlu will explore forms of encounter required in future in conversation with the ADIR speakers, Elke aus dem Moore (Akademie Schloss Solitude), Silvia Fehrmann (DAAD Berlin Artists-in-Residence Program) and Stefan Hilterhaus (PACT Zollverein Essen).

What is the impact of local presence on cultural exchange and social understanding? What are the benefits of formats of digital encounter, and how much personal contact does international dialogue need? How do we maintain protected spaces for artistic and creative thinking, action and research?

The digital symposium will be opened by Johannes Ebert, Secretary General of the Goethe-Institut and will include an initial address by Michelle Müntefering, Minister of State for International Cultural Policy at the Federal Foreign Office.