Access

In the years 2022 to 2025, under the leadership of Elisa Ricci, we have pursued a targeted focus on equity (equity of opportunity), in the form of internal further training, public specialist events and concrete measures to reduce barriers and improve accessibility for our offerings.
The term “equity” indicates that not all people have a level playing field and therefore it is not sufficient to provide equal support to all (= “equality”) in order to actually create justice for all. Equal opportunities for all means, instead, ensuring individual support tailored to each individual (“equity”).

By equity we mean a sustainable commitment in the reflection of our structures and actions from a discrimination-sensitive perspective. In the process, we orientate ourselves towards diversity-oriented organizational development at the level of personnel, audience, program and access (Aikins, Gyamerah - 2016).
Conscious that our teams (both the project team of Offensive Dance - consisting of three people - and those of the partners) are mainly composed of multiple privileged, white and non-disabled people, we are working to further expand and ensure the accessibility of the structures and working methods of Offensive Dance within the framework of our resources. In doing so, we are aware that our existing team structures represent a special situation for additional BIPoC and people with disabilities. It is important to us to establish non-violent structures and working cultures.

How do we implement accessibility?

In line with the experience gained in our equity work, we deliberately aim for quality rather than quantity in terms of accessibility, through focused measures in specific formats and the integration of strategies and resources regarding accessibility in our work processes.

Program offers / events

In the funding period 2026-2029, we will cooperate with the FELD Theater in order to take the first steps towards opening up the T*dove community on the one hand and to further explore intergenerational approaches involving senior citizens on the other. In addition, we will realize part of our program in cooperation with blind/visually impaired artists, especially building on the increasing expertise of Theater o.N..

Relaxed performance and early boarding formats including accompanying staff are provided for our performances. The implementation of specialist events is based on the format of relaxed performances, access information and contacts are available in advance and during the events. In the preparation and support of events, we incorporate the expertise of access consultants. Artistic work processes are accompanied dramaturgically and organizationally by people who share the perspectives of the artists' team and the target audience. The budget planning takes into account the necessary resources for accompanying staff, communication and public relations.

The Offensive Tanz also makes a financial contribution to support access measures as part of the FRATZ International and PURPLE Festival for Young Audiences partner festivals.

Furthermore, we are strongly committed to ensuring that young people, regardless of their social background and place of residence in Berlin, can participate in art and culture. We founded the Offensive Kulturbus ,, which brings kindergarten and school children to a variety of Berlin cultural places free of charge, on the basis of this concern. Among other things, it connects day-care centres and schools on the outskirts of the city with the city's cultural centres. In addition, our offers can be found in various districts of Berlin, also beyond the usual theater venues such as the FRATZ Festival, which invites young spectators to theater and dance performances in youth leisure facilities, family centers and senior:interior facilities in Lichtenberg or in Wedding.

Accessibility on the net

Accessibility is a high priority for us and we want to make our website as accessible as possible. We strive to meet the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) criteria for accessible websites – the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) – at level AA. We are aware that this is a continuous process and that we have not yet exhausted all current possibilities. We are constantly working to break down the remaining barriers.

If you have any criticism, feedback or questions, please feel free to contact us:
Lena Lenz
email: presse[at]offensive-tanz.de

What we have already implemented:

• We have rebuilt the main navigation so that it is easy to use with screen reader and keyboard operation. The navigation has received an additional label, the open and closed state of the menu is communicated. Voice navigation has been given new accessible labels, so that the language of assistance technology is read out in full (and not the visible abbreviations ‘EN’ and ‘DE’).
• So-called ‘jump links’ have been installed above the header of the page and above the large graphic on the start page. This allows people who use the keyboard to shorten their click distances and jump directly to the content.
• The animated illustration on the home page no longer expires automatically when the page is called up. It can be started by a start button. This makes it easier for people with balance and/or concentration disorders to visit the site.
• The headings are designed so that they can be read aloud by assistance technology and also reflect the correct structure of the content structure.
• The visibility of the focus state has been significantly increased and adapted to the different backgrounds.
• The color contrasts of font colors to the background are now always at least 4.5:1.
• The individual sections of the website and especially the lower section of the website (footer) now have an accessible designation. So - The links within texts have meaningful link texts, so that they can also specify their link destination outside of their environment.

What we will gradually improve:

• The alternative texts to all content images are still added.
• The trailer film on the front page gets a transcript so that blind and deaf-blind people are able to fully perceive the content of the film.

Anti-discrimination clause

In 2023, as part of the programmatic implementation of equity, we organised two team-internal workshops with lawyer Sonja Laaser of the law firm Laaser, in which employees from different areas participated (management, mediation, administration, finance, production, ÖA, etc.).
The aim of the workshops was to develop an updated, extended and suitable anti-discrimination clause for our contracts according to the model proposal of the law firm Laaser. In the workshops, we looked with Sonja Laaser at the anti-discrimination clause developed by her law firm (it is a model with different building blocks) and discussed it from our perspective as a small institution/initiative. We discussed what the adoption of an extended, updated clause means and how best to integrate it into the contracts.
Subsequently, in close cooperation with Offensive Tanz Partner:institution Theater o.N., we developed a final version that focuses on the perspective of those affected, offers action options that can be implemented as far as possible and is suitable for us and our working context.
We have finally decided to make this version of the anti-discrimination clause, which can be particularly suitable for smaller institutions and initiatives of the free scene, available as an open source version on our website.

Material and links:

Text of the clause: PDF TO DOWNLOAD Notes
on how to handle the clause: PDF TO DOWNLOAD

Clause and clause-related topics on the website of the law firm Laaser, e.g. further wording suggestions and best practice examples here.

We are aware that the diversity-oriented, power- and discrimination-critical transformation that we strive for can only be realized within the framework of a long-term and sustainable commitment and that it is about processes that always want to be revitalized and nourished and need resources.