Coworker Festival Organization & Diversity Team
(15 hours/week on a fee basis, limited to 1 year)
The Internationale Photoszene Köln gUG is a non-profit institution for the promotion of photography in Cologne. It organizes the biennial Photoszene Festival, Germany's oldest photography festival, which has been held as a cross-city exhibition and event program since the 1980s. In addition to a curatorial core program of the festival, the numerous actors in Cologne are always invited to actively participate in the program with their own exhibition contribution. In addition, the Photoszene sees itself as a network for photography in Cologne and makes it visible through various projects and continuous impulses. As a cooperation partner of various actors, we want to promote, discuss and exhibit photography in all its facets.
The International Photoscene has been participatory since its foundation and its program is aimed at both professional visitors - artists, curators and scientists - and the general public.
In the future, Photoszene would like to work even harder to open up the festival in the long term and focus on various dimensions of diversity. In the future, it would like to review and, if necessary, refine the festival content through workshops and mediation programs in order to be more readable and accessible for people from different communities. On our own initiative, we want to represent the most diverse perspectives of artists and photographers on the Photoszene Festival 2025. Participatively, we want marginalized artists and photographers to have the same chances and opportunities to be perceived by a broader public in a photo festival that is critical of discrimination and low in barriers. With regard to the audience, we want to analyze our previous work and further develop it in a participatory and diversity-oriented manner.
For this holistic project for more cultural participation, the International Photoscene Cologne is looking for an honorary employee to join the Festival Organization & Diversity Team as soon as possible. We are looking for a goal- and team-oriented personality (f/m/d) who would like to contribute their curatorial and organizational knowledge in the broad field of photography to the work of a small but growing non-profit cultural institution.
We offer:
- an agile working environment in an open, diverse and spontaneous team of a cultural institution promoting photography
- an attractive workplace in the Mediapark in Cologne
- plenty of room for your own creative freedom
- a large active network of art and culture in Cologne consisting of renowned curators, international artists and established art spaces
- a fee-based position averaging approx. 15 hours/week
- flexible working hours
- the possibility to work from home
Job profile:
In cooperation with the festival organization and the curatorial, administrative and technical team of the Photoszene Festival, you will be responsible for:
- Analyzing the festival's previous communication media and creating an integrative communication strategy for the sphere of cultural participation
- Conception and organization of preparatory network meetings and workshops
- Setting up a mailing list to address the various communities, establishing contacts and building networks
- Researching potential exhibition and event venues in Cologne and maintaining contacts within the city of Cologne, responsible authorities
- Conception and organization of an event and mediation program consisting of guided tours, talks and workshop formats for the general public as well as artists for the festival in 2025
- Collaboration and exhibition organization for the central Open Call exhibition in the Co-Labs
- Organization of trips and residencies
- General organizational tasks
- Text work in German and English for press releases, accompanying texts and website
- During the festival: Conception of an awareness concept and guidance of a team to ensure safety and anti-discriminatory behavior for and with artists and visitors -> Festival & CommunityCare contact point
Requirements
For this versatile position with great creative freedom, we are looking for
- a person with a background in art and photography history, cultural and media studies or artistic/curatorial practice
- expressly also people with diverse biographical or cultural approaches to photography and art beyond the “classical” educational paths
- an open and proactive person who is familiar with the independent cultural scene
- a person who is familiar with the discourses on cultural participation
- a person with practical, preferably several years of experience in cultural work
- a creative and visionary person who maintains a sense of what is feasible
- a resilient person who enjoys both artistic and organizational tasks
- a structured person who enjoys working in a team but can make decisions independently
Please send your application documents (letter of motivation, CV, certificates as one PDF, max. 5 MB) exclusively by e-mail to
The application deadline is November 1, 2024
The selection interviews will take place in the first week of November
The position starts as soon as possible.
If you have any questions, please contact Heide Häusler (Management) or Rosanna D'Ortona (Festival Director): info@photoszene.de
We look forward to receiving your application!