Following a two-year development phase, the continuing education program Art as Social Practice will be continued from 2026 at the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences (UAS) and further developed in collaboration with the Hessian Theatre Academy.
The program is designed for the long term and will be established as a joint format for continuing education and artistic research. Its aim is to strengthen artistic practice in social and public contexts and to build a sustainable network at the intersection of art, education, and society.
For the coming years, the following are planned:
– a new cohort (2026/27)
– as well as three artistic research positions closely linked to the thematic focus of Modules 2–4
The open call for the 2026/27 cohort is now open.
→ Apply via WAkE, the continuing education institute of Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences
The program is fully funded. Travel, accommodation, and meals during the modules are covered.
Art as Social Practice is an interdisciplinary continuing education programme consisting of five multi-day modules. It is aimed at artists from all disciplines who wish to situate or further develop their work in social, public, or political contexts.
The programme is designed for artists who work with groups, neighbourhoods, educational institutions, social service providers, initiatives, or other social actors, or who would like to engage more strongly with social fields in the future.
At its core are artistic practices that become effective in social contexts: collaborative projects with young people, participatory formats in public space, artistic interventions in social institutions, or long-term collaborations with local communities. Participants explore how such processes can generate new forms of learning, collaboration, and knowledge exchange both within and beyond institutions, and how sustainable relationships with different groups and institutions can emerge from them.
The programme combines artistic practice, reflection, and collective learning. It offers an experimental platform in which participants can sharpen their working methods, test new formats, and connect with colleagues.
In terms of content, the cohort is closely linked to the programme’s artistic-research focuses. Alongside the continuing education programme, three artists are researching practice-based projects at the intersection of art and the social. The modules are developed and carried out in close collaboration with the artistic leadership team and the three programme artists, so that current findings, methods, and questions flow directly into the teaching. The focus lies on artistic work with social questions, collective learning processes, and the shaping of social conditions, cooperation, and public spaces of action. In this way, the programme strengthens artists in their self-efficacy and capacity to act in collaboration with social, educational, and arts institutions.
The programme is designed as a certificate programme worth 10 ECTS credits and requires binding participation in all modules.
Participation is free of charge; travel, accommodation, and catering costs related to the modules are covered or organised by the programme.
Initiated and funded by the Crespo Foundation, Art as Social Practice II is offered at Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences in collaboration with the Centre for Continuing Education and Human Resource Development (WAkE), the Hessian Theatre Academy, and the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts.
The programme consists of five modules as well as additional support formats:
Module 1: Listening
Arriving together, perceiving, locating oneself. Work on attention, context, and relationship-building.
Module 2: Materializing the Political
Artistic practice as a concrete engagement with social situations, imaginaries, and participation.
Module 3: Inventing Learning
Learning as a shared practice. Developing formats in which knowledge emerges through doing, in order to deal with uncertainty in learning goals and the absence of future perspectives.
Module 4: Shaping Social Conditions
Interaction and intervention by and with artistic projects in social fields, with a focus on conditions for success and key challenges, as well as their long-term embedding in networks, institutions, and local structures.
Module 5: Taking Root
Reflection, visibility within the network, and further development of one’s own practice.
Monthly consultations
Consultation hours with the programme leadership and the artistic research positions,
individual support for projects, professional practice questions, and conceptual development.
Taking Root – Alumni Gathering
Annual meeting of the current cohort and alumni for exchange, joint work, and network-building.
The modules take place between November 2026 and June 2027.
They are structured so that arrival takes place on Wednesday and departure on Sunday.
Applications are only possible if binding participation in all dates can be guaranteed. Please refer to the detailed call on the WAkE website.
Cohort 23/24
Setareh Alipour, Larissa Bertonasco, Anne-Sophie Brunhold, Nina deLudemann, Gregor Glogowski, Saskia Henning von Lange, Sonja Drolma Herrmann, Haytham Hmeidan, Lara Jakobi, Donata Koschel, Jule Kriesel, Naho Matsuda, Ira Melkonyan, Ana Clara Montenegro, Lisa Peil, Colette Utama Sarjano McDonald, Marc Szpuner, Tristan Marie Trotz and Azad Yesilmen
Cohort 24/25
Olcay Acet, Janina Albrecht, Nazanin Bahrami, Magdalena Dzeco, Nastya Dzyuban, Damla Ekin Tokel, Delphina Hennig, Rike Hoppse, Hwa Young Jung, Astrid Lembcke-Thiel, Isobel MacKinnon, Hien Mai, Svetlana Mijić, Charlotte Perka, Anja Schneidereit, Anke Schüttler, Elena Seubert, Lionel Tomm, Miriam Worek, Maria Zaikina
Applications for the 2026/27 cohort are submitted via the continuing education institute WAkE. Applications are open from now on.
Application deadline: Wednesday, 3 June 2026
→ Full information and application
To stay informed, write to us or follow us on Instagram.
We want to make participation in the programme as accessible as possible and take different needs, languages, and life situations into account.
Where needed, suitable accommodation during the modules will be organised. Catering during the module days is covered, and travel costs are reimbursed as a flat rate.
The programme takes place in spoken German and English by arrangement. If needed, sign language interpreters can be arranged.
Bringing children in your care to the modules is possible.
We understand accessibility as an ongoing process. At the same time, this programme is also part of a world that continues to produce exclusions. In order to reduce existing barriers, we depend on feedback.
If you need support or have questions or suggestions, please feel free to contact us.
Jihae An
Jihae An, MA in Fine Arts, works as an artist, mediator, and curator in the field of social practice. In her work, she understands artistic practice as a form of social infrastructure and develops formats in which shared action, relationships, and responsibility are organised in public space. Her projects are created in collaboration with neighbourhoods, institutions, and a wide range of social actors.
At Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, she leads the continuing education programme Art as Social Practice and further develops it conceptually at the intersection of artistic practice, teaching, and research.
Sebastian Matthias
Sebastian Matthias is a choreographer and Professor of Dance as Researching Practice in Social Fields at Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences. His work focuses on artistic research in social transformation processes and on the role of bodies and choreography in social phenomena. From 2022 to 2024 he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Performative Practice, Art and Education at the Braunschweig University of Art, and from 2019 to 2021 at the Institute Culture of the Metropolis at HafenCity University Hamburg.
He is part of the leadership team of Art as Social Practice and supervises the research components of the artistic projects. Within the framework of the programme Art as Social Practice II, he is an Affiliate Scholar at the Research Institute for Sustainability at the Potsdam Geoscience Centre.
sebastian.matthias_at_fra-uas.de
Katharina Stephan
Katharina Stephan is a theatre maker, performance artist, and Professor of Theatre and Performance in Social Fields at Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences. Since 2005, she has worked independently in the field of theatre and performance. Since 2008, she has initiated artistic projects in social fields with a focus on cross-group concepts – intergenerational, cross-milieu, intercultural, interdisciplinary, and mixed abled – including as part of the collective Mobile Albania.
At Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, she teaches in the BA programme in Social Work, with a focus on Culture and Media, as well as in the MA programme Performative Arts in Social Fields. Within the programme Art as Social Practice, she supports its conceptual development and contributes her expertise in theatre, performance, and artistic practice in social fields.
katharina.stephan_at_fra-uas.de
General enquiries:
Instagram:
@kunst_als_soziale_praxis