Seeking Academic Support – Study on Club Culture After the Pandemic

This summer, the Club Commission plans to conduct a quantitative study on Berlin’s club culture and the impact that the closure of clubs and music venues—which has now lasted more than a year—has had on the expectations of audiences, staff, artists, and operators. As representatives of Berlin’s club culture, we are asking ourselves how club culture can be reimagined after the pandemic to be more inclusive, equitable, and free from discrimination.

The study focuses on the club as a meeting place. As a space defined by time and boundaries, it is used, shaped, and imbued with meaning by its patrons. It serves as an escape from everyday life, gives rise to distinct subcultures, and allows patrons to break free from norms and control and express their individuality. Despite the enormous popularity of clubs and Berlin’s nightlife, clubs are and remain safe havens for communities that do not conform to the ideals of mainstream society.

These various usage scenarios, which intersect within a club, create a tension that this study aims to examine. Furthermore, club culture is not immune to broader societal power dynamics and structural inequalities.
Therefore, a second research focus will be the investigation of experiences of discrimination as well as the representation of people with regard to gender, sexual identity, ethnic origin, religion and worldview, disability, physical appearance, age, and social status within Berlin’s club culture.
The goal is to create a representative dataset on the patterns and frequency of experiences of discrimination before, behind, and on the stages of club culture venues, and to analyze the extent to which societal diversity is reflected there across individual trades and functional groups. In addition, the study will examine which discrimination-sensitive measures are already being taken in club culture, what obstacles exist in this regard, and what can contribute to the creation of safer spaces in the future. These topics are being addressed as part of the Clubcommission’s Awareness Academy project.

The research findings are intended to help us understand these inevitable changes and restructuring of club culture as a catalyst for sustainable and positive change. The Club Commission sees itself as a mediator between the interests of the audience, the operators, the staff, and the artists.

Our survey is scheduled for early July and will remain open for one month before we begin analyzing the results. We then plan to publish the findings and host events to present and discuss the survey results.

To this end, the Club Commission is currently seeking partners from the fields of research, politics, and media. We welcome any form of support, particularly regarding the scientific development of the research design, the construction of the questionnaire, and the analysis of the collected data. Research groups, university projects, and academics who share our research interests are welcome to contact us at any time. It would also be helpful if you could help spread the word about our call for participation among your colleagues and through your mailing lists.

Contact:
Katharin Ahrend: forschung@clubcommission.de
030 – 27 57 66 99