Kultur[Gut]Schutz | Cultural Heritage Protection

Preserving Dance Together

Thursday | 15 January 2026 | 2:00 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.
Public Expert Forum
in Berlin | Plenary Hall, Academy of Arts, Pariser Platz 4, 10117 Berlin

In 2023, the Association of German Dance Archives presented a study funded by the Cultural Foundation of the German States on the structural conditions and work processes in dance archives and dance collections. The results of the study show that it is not enough to improve the situation of individual archives. In order to ensure the resilience of individual institutions and facilities, it is urgently necessary to establish and sustainably strengthen a competence network for dance archives. In view of national crises and global upheavals, it is becoming increasingly clear that archives are the indispensable memory of society and must remain reliable and accessible for future generations.

In the public expert forum, representatives from the fields of dance practice and dance studies, as well as experts from other archives, will discuss best practice examples of competence network formation and issues of active cultural property protection for the intangible heritage of dance.

As part of the meeting, a guided tour of the current exhibition ‘Out of the Box’ marking the 75th anniversary of the Academy of Arts Archive will be offered.

The programme can be found here.