LAFT Berlin – Landesverband freie darstellende Künste e.V. represents the interests of its more than 500 members, including the essential performance venues, groups and individual artists of Berlin in dealing with politicians and the public. It supports its members through networking activities, consultation, coordination and services. With the state association, the independent performing arts community of Berlin has created an instrument it can use to effectively support its artistic work through the power of representation, public awareness and services. Berlin's diverse and extremely flexible professional independent performing arts community requires an advocacy group that publicly formulates the shared interests and needs of the community and which conducts continuous and passionate lobbying.

LAFT Berlin helps to establish a constructive dialogue regarding the problem areas and challenges for the independent performing arts in Berlin. Alongside the direct cultural policy work through meetings, consultation and concepts, the association is represented in numerous committees and networks, including, amongst others, the Koalition der Freien Szene, the Bundesverband Freie Darstellende Künste, the Rat für die Künste Berlin and the Berliner Kulturkonferenz.
 

LAFT Berlin as the Legal Entity Behind the Berlin Performing Arts Program

LAFT Berlin is the legal entity behind a variety of projects, including the Berlin Performing Arts Program and Berlin Performing Arts Festival as well as the pilot project FAIRSTAGE. With the first funding for the Performing Arts Program, LAFT Berlin transformed from an advocacy organization with a board of directors working on a voluntary basis into a project administrator.

The association has now become an employer responsible both to its employees as well as its funders. It conducts a wide variety of new tasks that arise with the projects. Due to the conditions of the funding, many of these tasks must be financed from sources outside of the funds provided for the projects. Examples of these are insurance policies for the association, overlapping contracts, the annual tax declaration, the financing of advance payments, pension situation inspections or all kinds of catering costs.

Because of this, both now and in the future, it is the desire of LAFT Berlin not to lose this philosophical and structural flexibility for all accounting and administrative work which makes the work in the independent performing arts community so vital and without which the association would be forced to bid its own farewell to the community. 

Board of Directors and Business Office

LAFT Berlin does not receive public funding. The association is supported by the voluntary work of the Board of Directors and the dedicated members and is financed by the membership fees.

Since November 2024, the board of directors authorized to represent the association consists of: Lonnie Jasper, Ute Kahmann, Pamela Moraga, Anke Politz, Elke Weber, Franziska Werner and Lars Zühlke. Non-voting board members are Janina Benduski, Daniel Brunet, Tina Pfurr and Anne Schneider.

Dr. Peggy Mädler and Elisa Müller (guest editorials) are responsible for the editorial work.

The Goals of LAFT Berlin

• The creation of a foundation for coordinated forms of networking within the independent performing arts
• The networking of the different artistic genres and their respective socio-political advocacy groups
• Lobbying work for wider public and political recognition and a regular exchange with the cultural policy makers
• The achievement of an increase in the budget available for the independent performing arts
• The bringing about of structural changes in the cultural landscape
• Bringing about innovative changes in the economic and sociopolitical framework conditions for independent creative and knowledge workers