Our Dates

On Sunday, September 13, 2026, "Performing the Unfinished" continues with a performative rose parade and an interactive tea salon. Unfolding in three parts, the work connects local history with global contexts—from the ceremonial inauguration of the Square of Children's Rights to the working conditions behind Pinneberg's rose industry and the entangled histories of colonialism and care embedded in Northern Germany's tea culture.

The second production within "Citizen-Commissioned Dance and Performance" is coming up. Unfolding in three parts, "Performing the Unfinished" by Nuray Demir & Minh Duc Pham for the New Patrons of Pinneberg connects local history with global contexts—from the ceremonial inauguration of the Square of Children's Rights to the working conditions behind Pinneberg's rose industry and the entangled histories of colonialism and care embedded in Northern Germany's tea culture. On Saturday, September 12, 2026, the series kicks off.

The first presentation within "Citizen-Commissioned Dance and Performance" takes place on June 27, 2026, on Ummanz, near Rügen. Here, Amanda Piña will present the opening event of her three-parted piece "Atlantic Undercurrent Circulation" honoring coastal Bodden fishermen and marine life. Her work is conceived for the New Patrons of Ummanz.

In "Ecology of Care", we draw on impulses from Sonja Leboš and Hannah Mevis to explore how social and ecological responsibility can be brought together. Care is understood here as a systemic, ethical, and political attitude that extends beyond humans to include plants, animals, and other non-human actors. Feminist and posthumanist perspectives on everyday, often invisible care work form a central focus. Kunstverein Rügen e. V. and Circus Eins Projekte present this workshop as part of "Art Living Lab to Repair the Land", a collaboration between international New Patrons initiatives.

Within the series of talks at Radialsystem, organised by the OnCurating Academy Berlin and Dorothee Richter, Lea Schleiffenbaum, New Patrons mediator, speaks about "Artistic Production Reconfigured: Actor Constellations and Knowledge Exchange in the New Patrons Model".

Mediator Diana Wesser is a guest at the “Botanical Salon” of the Botanical Garden/University of Leipzig. In this edition of the Botanical Salon, participants will discuss on site how art in public space comes into being. Who commissions such works, and what possibilities do artists have to realize their ideas? How long does such a process take, and what does “public space” really mean when private interests and societal expectations come into play? Practical examples from Leipzig will illustrate these questions.

The “Repair the Land” conference brings together researchers, mediators, local residents, and artists on May 24 and 25, 2025, in Ponferrada and Barruelo de Santullán, Spain, as part of the project "Art Living Lab to Repair the Land" by European New Patrons organizations. The conference focuses on the role of participatory art as a tool for repair in territories marked by industrial legacy, extractivism and abandonment. From Germany, Susanne Burmester — mediator and chair of the Society for Citizen-Commissioned Art and Mediation — will participate.

The German Association of Cities and the German Association of Towns and Municipalities support Neue Auftraggeber's participation model for public artworks and recommend it as “a cultural, social and urban policy model that can complement and enrich cultural life in the city.”

The State Capital Kiel is the first municipality in Germany to implement the New Patrons model in its own local structures. In the Mettenhof district, a three-year participatory process for a public artwork has now been launched, commissioned by local residents and accompanied by mediator Pascal Simm. In connection with the district and in the spirit of the community, the commission is intended to address site-specific local issues, wishes, pressing concerns or challenges.

In 2024, Künstlerhaus Stuttgart will become an anchor point of the New Patrons, meaning a local partner institution and regional contact point for activities of the New Patrons in Stuttgart and Baden-Württemberg. On this occasion, Kathrin Jentjens and Gerrit Gohlke will be guests at Künstlerhaus Stuttgart on April 13, 2024 and will report on their experiences from the pilot phase of the New Patrons in Germany.