German Diversity Day

How about we organise a celebration on 3 October? A celebration that is open, thought-provoking and full of music and dance from a wide variety of cultures.

With conversations, cake, baklava, tea and wine.

A celebration against prejudice and fear. A celebration for everyone.
 

Let’s give it a go!

3 October commemorates German reunification – and reminds us that unity does not mean sameness. The Wall between East and West fell in 1989. Other walls still stand today: between East and West, North and South, and between people who remain strangers to one another. Walls built on ignorance, indifference and fear. And new walls are erected when what divides us becomes more important than what unites us.

With the Day of German Diversity, we are countering this with a different vision of living together: unity in diversity. A ‘Republic of Diversity’, in which difference is understood not as a threat but as part of our shared life – without denying real problems and conflicts.

We therefore celebrate 3 October as a festival of encounter and of the many cultures, perspectives and stories that shape this country. Not primarily through grand debates, but together: with music, dance, art, conversation and good food.

A day for German diversity.
 

‘That humanity, that universal brotherhood of mankind, that cosmopolitanism to which our great minds – Lessing, Herder, Schiller, Goethe, Jean Paul […] – have always paid homage.’
— Heinrich Heine
 

Admission is free. 

The programme:

From 2.30 pm: Doors open 

3.00 pm: Contemporary sounds, experimental elements and traditional musical styles with the Palimpsest Orchestra and the Fem Hinterhofchor, conducted by Kemal Dinç

3.30 pm: Panel discussion on the topic of ‘Prejudice’ with: 

• Phyllis Quartey, diversity management specialist, author and poet 
• Joud Nahhas, German-Syrian social and political scientist specialising in political economy, social change and the MENA region 
• Josefine Luka Simonsen, dancer, performer and co-founder of Netzwerk Nachwendekinder 
• Said Boluri, Iranian author, freelance journalist and social scientist 
• Moderators: Lina Haj Omar and Ann-Kathrin Allekotte
   

4.45 pm: Oriental sounds, flamenco and jazz with BIKAR – dervish dance meets poetry with members of the theatre ensemble Mohammad Saado Kharouf and Marie Schulte-Werning 

approx. 5.30 pm: Neo-soul sounds, vocals and real-talk rap with Mayak’el 

6.15 pm: Concert opener with Marie Schulte-Werning (vocals). Followed by a concert featuring participants from Müzik Köyü Ruhrgebiet, a concert project that brings together musicians, singers and music enthusiasts from different genres and with different voices, sounds and instruments (featuring Lale Koçgün, Kemal Dinç, Özlem Bulut, Ali Rıza Albayrak, Zilan Hasret and Nihat Iman, workshop leaders at Müzik Köyü) 
 

Refreshments are available: our theatre bar is open and we’re selling cake and baklava at a small price!