The Feasibility Study on Cultural Participation in Care
How can the right to social and cultural participation be upheld for older people in need of care? This question drives the initiative “Out of the Care Home, Into the Theatre,” launched in 2022 by Bureau Ritter.
The initiative gives care-dependent seniors the opportunity to experience live dance and theatre performances on Berlin stages, accompanied by preparatory and follow-up sessions held directly in the care facilities. In doing so, the project not only brings cultural offerings on-site but also enables direct participation in the theatres themselves – meeting with an overwhelmingly positive response from everyone involved.
Building on this success, the project “Moving Care (“Bewegte Pflege”) is conducting a feasibility study, in close cooperation with the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences at the Deggendorf Institute of Technology, until November 2026. The goal is to explore how participation in long-term care can be strengthened. The project aims to issue concrete, practical recommendations for successful cultural programming in care facilities – making cultural and social participation in older age more broadly and sustainably accessible.
At the heart of the study lies the question of how to dismantle systemic barriers that hinder the widespread implementation of cultural offerings in long-term care settings. What are the professional, organizational, and financial obstacles? What options and degrees of flexibility already exist? What do care facilities and theatres need in order to develop and run participation projects successfully and independently? To answer these questions and to examine the impact of participation formats, the study gathers the expertise of facilities, residents, cultural practitioners, and external specialists through research, qualitative interviews, and an online survey.
The aim of “Moving Care” is to compile the study’s findings – and thus the combined expertise of theatre professionals and care experts – into a publicly accessible guide. With clear recommendations for action, this guide addresses stakeholders, practitioners, and interested parties in the cultural and care sectors, helping to ensure that even people in need of care can access cultural programmes – and make it possible for them to truly go “out of the home and into the theatre.”
Contact
Project Director Moving Care
Laura Böttinger
T. +49 (0)30 40 20 33 21 1
l.boettinger@bureau-ritter.de
Contact for stakeholders from the arts and culture sectors
Project Coordinator Moving Care
Tomke Behrmann
T. +49 (0)30 40 20 33 21 12
t.behrmann@bureau-ritter.de
Contact for stakeholders from the arts and culture sectors
In close cooperation with the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences at the Deggendorf Institute of Technology
Research Associate Care
Integration & Participation
Laura Schümann
T. +49 (0)991 3615 8342
laura.schuemann@th-deg.de
Contact for stakeholders from the care sector
Scientific supervision and consultation
Prof. Dr. Michael Bossle
Professor of Care and Health Sciences at the Deggendorf Institute of Technology
In Cooperation with:
Funded by:
