Description of organisation

“Integration durch Kunst e.V.” is a non-profit association that was founded in 2011. We are a team of committed theater people and concentrate mainly on working with children and young people with a migration background and help them integrate into German society by working with the medium of theater (language skills, personal development). However, we are also committed to helping children and young people from difficult social backgrounds.
Young refugees have been active in our association for a number of years. They benefit from our integration assistance and language training. We feel enriched by them. We take care of their problems with the focus on creative activity and encouragement. Strengthening personal development is very important to us. In addition to personal development, the aim of our association is to convey tolerance towards others by bringing participants from different cultures together in combination with a diverse activity offer. For several years we have been organizing projects with partner organizations from all over the world on a regular basis.
We are a recognized provider of child and youth welfare in Bremen. For ten years we have been working with children and young people between the ages of 3 and 27, whom we help with their integration in Germany. We have already organized many different projects and received a variety of prizes and awards. Most recently the "German Democracy Prize 2020" for our project in EU youth dialogue with 30 young migrants. Our participants gain self-confidence through the medium of theater. This has a positive effect on their entire future life. So far, we have looked after more than 550 children and young people individually in our facility and organize up to 15 projects a year. These projects include, for example, theater, film and music workshops.
It makes no difference if it’s a youth exchange or a meeting of skilled workers, we are active on both a national and an international level. We built our facility ourselves with a lot of work and passion. Simultaneously to the various projects, we offer regular courses for children, adolescents and young adults in the field of theater.
Our projects are always oriented towards the realities of life for young people. As an example, we arrange and organize an annual international youth meeting "Kultur On Tour", as well as "My Planet", a new format that deals with topics in the field of environmental protection (in 2020 a garbage collection campaign on the North Sea) and "Heimat- wo wohnst du?" an educational work with the concept of home for young migrants.
The youth dialogue, funded by Erasmus +, has been part of our program since 2018. Here young people deal with (current) political issues.
The first project was: " Europa ohne Grenzen - zählt meine Stimme auch??" Our current topic is: " EU-Parlament - wie geht das?" In general, we work a lot with Erasmus + fundings. This format promotes our diverse activities at a local and European level as required.
Another offer of our association is the " Kinder Wissen Schule " (short: KiWi Schule). The first location is in the eastern part of the city - more locations are being planned. We consciously make our offer in the poorest parts of Bremen with a very high proportion of migrants. It is an extracurricular offer with the following courses: music education, (classical) dance, language and courses in the mother tongue, chess, art (painting) and theater for around 150 children in the age from 3 to 15 years. Most of the participants have a migration background or are young refugees. We currently have participants from over 10 nations in our projects, theater courses and in the KiWi school.
A German course will be offered again in the next school year. This course is aimed at refugee children and children who have problems starting school because of the language border. Through lessons in small study groups, the children will be able to develop and expand their artistic and creative abilities. Taking into account the individual needs of the children, the interest in language, literature and culture will also be aroused or maintained. The lessons are always very creative and cater to each child individually.
Our association is a member of Bremer Jugendring and has a wide network with many youth groups in the social or cultural scene (also internationally).
The founder Kira Petrov (38) came to Bremen from Russia with her parents. Her personal experiences gave her the inspiration to focus the association on integration work. Almost all employees of the association have a migration background themselves. Everyone has intercultural skills. The majority are under 35 years old. More than 20 volunteers actively support the association as well as the freelance workers in their daily work.