Art bears within it the potential to cast off the old, conceive of the new, and recontextualise the familiar. At the same time, however, arts and cultural institutions as well as arts universities are facing criticism to the effect that they stabilise existing power relations and elites (Jäger 2023: 29). This begins with instances of exclusion grounded in notions of exclusivity and excellence, which entail consequences such as rigorous entrance examinations that are heavy on prerequisites (Reitsamer/Prokopp 2018). Furthermore, precisely those persons who are marginalised by society also suffer frequent denigration and discrimination in everyday university life. Universities of the arts and of music are hence permeated in a special way by complex hierarchies, dependencies, and insecurities that stem not only from a male-dominated, heteronormative, and Eurocentric artistic canon but also from precarious employment conditions, fluid boundaries between training and professional practice, and body-centric forms of teaching as well as private lesson settings that are susceptible to violations of boundaries and abuses of power (Mayer/Müller 2025: 89f.). If one takes this into account, it quickly becomes evident that good will is by no means sufficient, here. Power dynamics run throughout a university’s structures and manifest themselves in all manner of domains such as language usage, personnel structure, and the matter of just how inclusively internal operations run. Against this backdrop, what is needed in order to sustainably address structurally anchored inequalities is a perspective on the structures, practices, and processes within the University that is both critical of discrimination and holistic.
The mdw Diversity Strategy represents one such approach that was guided from the outset by an understanding of diversity that integrates a critical eye for power dynamics. Central here is the University’s socio-political contextualisation and the pursuit of an anti-discriminatory approach in order to bolster opportunities for access and participation by as many people as possible while also anchoring diversity as a cross-cutting theme (Mayer/Müller 2025: 93). Such a strategy affects internal processes, perceptions, and norms, says Vice Rector Gerda Müller in the recently published volume Üben und Ver_üben. Diversität als diskriminierungskritische Praxis in Kunst, Kultur und Bildung [Practicing and Un_Practicing. Diversity in the Arts, Culture, and Education as an Anti-Discriminatory Practice] (Mayer 2025: 178). This publication arose from work on the mdw Diversity Strategy and takes a deeper look at the associated knowledge and reflections as well as at the measures that have been implemented since this strategy’s formal anchoring in 2017. Examples include the accommodation of alternative entrance examination methods in order to diminish exclusionary mechanisms in the admissions process, creation of the web tool “Tricky Moments” with its provision of knowledge geared to sensitising users in the interest of learning and teaching situations that are inclusive and minimise discriminatory phenomena, and the mentoring programme “Reach Higher, Reach Beyond”, which supports women, inter*, and non-binary persons in their pursuit of academic and/or artistic careers in order to counteract structural gender inequalities. A further important area of action addressed by mdw Diversity Strategy pertains to the revision of mdw curricula to include course offerings that impart competencies relating to gender and diversity. Moreover, the Administrative Department of Equality, Gender and Diversity is working on the development of knowledge mediation formats geared to further reinforcing gender and diversity-related competencies at the mdw such as a certification programme as well as an online tutorial concerning prejudice-aware personnel selection.
Important in these measures is that the aspect of learning—and thus also of un-learning—is not a merely individual matter but part of a comprehensive diversity-oriented organisational development process (Mayer/Müller 2025: 94). This entails that diversity is by no means a matter that can simply be checked off as having been taken care of. On the contrary, such a notion would pose the danger of failing to achieve the objectives that have been set. A warning voice here is that of gender researcher Sara Ahmed, who exposes how such rhetoric contributes to a failure to conceive of diversity and anti-discrimination as continual, self-reflective processes (Ahmed 2012). Moreover, as Nikita Dhawan writes in her contribution to the volume Ver_Üben, the claim that one already is self-critical frequently ends up consolidating the status quo rather than ensuring that it be questioned (Dhawan 2025: 32). What is therefore needed is for us to admit to ourselves that our respective spheres of influence all across the University can—despite initial steps and good intentions—produce exclusions that hinder the diversifica–tion of precisely these spaces (Jäger 2023: 30). Productive in this regard is cultivating one’s awareness of historically evolved power relations and discriminatory phenomena and engaging in repeated reflection on how these are rooted in our internalised stores of knowledge and institutional structures. Even so, continual contemplation of our own actions, our positionality, and our privileges is likewise part and parcel of this. And as Steffen Jäger sums up in conversation with Ulli Mayer, this entails repeated questioning of “who is really being given consideration, who is allowed to feel welcome or taken seriously, and for whom the space has not yet been prepared at all.” (Mayer 2025: 124). It follows that diversity conceived of as an anti-discriminatory practice requires constant attention and a willingness to continually negotiate how instances of discrimination can be prevented in the context of a university-level institution as well as what needs to change in order that the possibility of self-efficacious presence be afforded to persons who have thus far been marginalised (Jäger 2023: 32). It is entirely in this spirit that we must continue working with the realisations and experiences gained from the process underlying the Diversity Strategy—for diversity is not a project that could ever be checked off as finished.
Literature:
Ahmed, Sara (2012): On Being Included: Racism and Diversity in Institutional Life. Durham: Duke University Press.
Dhawan, Nikita (2025): “Welcher Unterschied macht einen Unterschied? Über das Verhältnis von Ästhetik, Politik und Ethik.” In: Mayer, Ulli; Ellmeier, Andrea; Müller, Gerda (eds.): üben und ver_üben. Diversität als diskriminierungskritische Praxis in Kunst, Kultur und Bildung. p. 27–36.
Jäger, Steffen (2023): “Diversität als Notwendigkeit. Kunsthochschulen müssen sich machtkritisch umstrukturieren – oder sie bleiben Teil des Problems.” Kritische Berichte, Zeitschrift für Kunst- und Kulturwissenschaften 51, 1 (2023).
Mayer, Ulli; Müller, Gerda (2025): “Qualitätskriterien diversitätsorientierter Organisationsentwicklung. Die mdw-Diversitätsstrategie als Beispiel.” In: Mayer, Ulli; Ellmeier, Andrea; Müller, Gerda (eds.): üben und ver_üben. Diversität als diskriminierungskritische Praxis in Kunst, Kultur und Bildung. p. 87–120.
Mayer, Ulli (2025): “Diskriminierungskritische Praxis am Theater. Ulli Mayer im Gespräch mit Steffen Jäger, Stefanie Sourial und Ella Steinmann.” In: Mayer, Ulli; Ellmeier, Andrea; Müller, Gerda (eds.): üben und ver_üben. Diversität als diskriminierungskritische Praxis in Kunst, Kultur und Bildung. p. 123–136.
Mayer, Ulli (2025): “Arbeit in/mit/gegen Institutionen. Diversitätsorientierte Organisationsentwicklung. Ulli Mayer im Gespräch mit Nathalie Amstutz, Galina Baeva, Gerda Müller, Ivana Pilić und Ella Steinmann.” In: Mayer, Ulli; Ellmeier, Andrea; Müller, Gerda (eds.): üben und ver_üben. Diversität als diskriminierungskritische Praxis in Kunst, Kultur und Bildung. p. 167–186.
Reitsamer, Rosa; Prokopp, Rainer (2018): “Zwischen Tradition und Innovation: Zur Bewertung musikalischer Leistungen an Kunsthochschulen.” In: Szabó-Knotik, Cornelia; Mayer-Hirzberger, Anita (eds.): Anklaenge – Wiener Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft. Vienna: Hollitzer Verlag. p. 161–175.
