about – United Networks

about us

United Networks emerged from recognizing a pattern of exclusion in the arts and culture sector, where racialized and marginalized (RaM) communities are consulted as research subjects but excluded from creative roles or decision-making — their contributions are often uncredited or appropriated.

These positions remain urgent today, and we invite cultural decision-makers, institutions, and practitioners to join us in realizing them—because creating a just cultural landscape requires more than declarations; it demands shared responsibility and collective action.

How westarted

In 2019, following protests against these practices, artists and activists came together to share their experiences and realized that, even in cultural advocacy work, racialized and marginalized (RaM) perspectives are often overlooked or deprioritized. Those conversations planted the seed for the creation of an organization committed to centering racialized and marginalized (RaM) perspectives and transforming cultural structures.

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Photo: Michael Tibes

Photo: Julia Santoso

Here we are

United Networks (UN) gUG is a Germany-wide alliance and non-profit organization, founded in 2021 by six self-organized initiatives led by racialized and marginalized (RaM) artists and cultural workers. Today, we bring together eight partners from six federal states: Bavaria, Berlin, Hamburg, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Saxony-Anhalt.

We work across regions and disciplines — united by a shared commitment to equity, cultural justice, and collaborative action for change.

how we operate

We are building dynamic, self-organizing circles instead of a fixed hierarchy

Inspired by holacracy, we are in an ongoing process of building dynamic, self-organizing circles instead of a fixed hierarchy. Our evolving structure includes:

The Alliance Circle

The Alliance Circle, centering racialized and marginalized communities whose lived knowledge and experiences are at the heart of our work.

The Allies Circle

The Allies Circle, with antiracist cooperation and partners supporting our shared mission.

The Core gUG Circle

The Core gUG Circle, consisting of the current shareholders – four of the six founding partners – provides the legal framework and continues to guide the organization’s vision and ongoing evolution.

Operational Circles

Operational Circles, forming a collaborative leadership model across four focus areas, coordinated around our “UN Handbook” — a living document we have been developing and refining together since 2021, with the support of Handan Kaymak.

This process helps us move toward more responsive, equitable, and connected ways of working across communities, partners, and our team.

organizational structure

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our alliance

Our alliance brings together partners across Germany who are rooted in their local communities and united by a shared commitment to empowering racialized and marginalized (RaM) artists and cultural workers.

Bavaria

CHAKKARS

Berlin

DECOLONOIZE

Sisyphos, der Flugelefant (SdF)

#Mygration

Hamburg

House of Brownies

Hessen & Berlin

MSG & Friends

Rhineland-Palatinate & Bavaria

hannahmadance

Saxony-Anhalt & Berlin

Asian Performing Artists Lab (APAL)

our team

Guided by a vision collectively developed and continuously shaped by our founding members and shareholders, our decentralized team is committed to building structurally anchored, intersectional, and solidary empowerment for racialized and marginalized (RaM) communities in the arts and culture sector.

Rooted in community knowledge, lived experiences, and creative practices, our work evolves through ongoing collaboration with partners and the wider network—while supporting each partner’s autonomy and local engagement.

the people behindunited networks

Natali BhalchandraAbhyankar

Community Curation

Natali Bhalchandra Abhyankar is a bookseller, moderator, performer, educational consultant, author and musician based in Hamburg. She has been part of self-organized community- and cultural events for decades. All of her actions are focused on creating and sustaining structures that are empowering, relevant and future-oriented while at the same time acknowledging and learning from elders who have fought before us. At United Networks she heads the community curation.

nataliemail.unitednetworks.eu

Chang
Nai Wen

Overall Programme Curation

Shareholder & Voluntary Executive Management

Nai Wen works as a director and producer across theater, live art and film in Asia, Europe, and North America. Her work is rooted in the search for a home that holds many worlds. She is the founder and producing artistic director of “Sisyphos, der Flugelefant (SdF)” in Berlin, as well as initiator and co-founder of both the international directors collective “World Wide Lab” and the Germany-wide RaM-centered alliance “United Networks gUG”. At United Networks, she practices the art of holistic collaborative leadership and compassionate transformation.

naiwenemail.unitednetworks.eu

Ava
Houshmand

Project and Digital Office Coordination

Ava Houshmand is an educational consultant, project manager, and cultural worker. She was born in Offenbach and, after several stops, has (for now) found her home in Berlin. From here, she has been engaged for nearly a decade in the cultural and educational policy field, with a focus on anti-racism work and decolonial art and culture. She moves with curiosity through in-between spaces and believes in collective change through listening, dissent, and power-critical, solidarity-based structures. Her practice combines strategic planning, digital infrastructure, and collaborative process design. At United Networks, she heads the project and digital office coordination.

avaemail.unitednetworks.eu

Matthias
Krause-Bürger

Finance & Organization Management

Matthias Krause-Bürger holds a degree in business administration and has been working for many years in advising, instructing, and supporting individuals in the cultural sector. He has been involved in various pilot projects, ecological associations, and initiatives for regional development in Lower Saxony and Bremen. At United Networks, he heads the finance and organizational department.

matthiasemail.unitednetworks.eu

Hannah
Ma

Shareholder & Honorary Executive Management

Hannah Ma has roots in Hong Kong and Berchtesgaden. She works as a performer, choreographer, curator, mentor, and producer mainly in Germany, Luxembourg, and South Africa. Hannah Ma has published several artistic-philosophical texts and an interdisciplinary publication. She is the artistic director of the BIPoC centering initiatives: hannahmadance and The People United. Hannah is co-founder of United Networks gUG and Transform(D)ance. Her artistic practice focuses on intersectional storytelling, the representation of multi-perspective narratives and discrimination-sensitive artistic research and staging. She works in the field of hospice care and as a coach for somatic transformation and decolonization processes.

hannahemail.unitednetworks.eu

Mindy
Pham

Shareholder

Artist name: Marque Pham

Marque Pham is a multi-disciplinary theater performer, artist, and community organizer from California & New York that works in the mediums of poetry, film, dance, mixed media, and experimental music. With a background in acting, German, and sociology, they specialize in intercultural and post-colonial theory, with a focus on performance and dramaturgy. They founded MSG & Friends, a queer-led Berlin-based artist collective that is independently organized to provide event opportunities and spaces for artists of Asian heritage. Their current projects are with Humanity in Action as a Berlin Fellow and the United Networks gUG as a shareholder. Both are initiatives geared to help combat racial inequity in German cultural politics.

marqueemail.unitednetworks.eu

Wei Meng
Poon

Shareholder

Artist name: Ming Poon

Ming Poon is a choreographer based in Berlin. His works usually take the form of collaborative performances, public interventions, and intimate encounters. He initiated Asian Performing Artists Lab (APAL) in 2020, a platform for artists of Asian background, and is a founding member of United Networks gUG. He is also a part of Urgent Bodies, a collective whose goal is to bring dance and activism together, and manages The Farm, an independent space that combines performance-making with activism and co-living. In 2022-2023 he is a fellow in the Berlin Artistic Research Programme.

mingemail.unitednetworks.eu

Yvette
Robertson

Organizational Development & Transformation Consultancy

Yvette Robertson is an expert in the areas of Change, Transformation, and Systemic Organisation; Intersectional Ethical Cultural Competence; Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Social Justice, and Allyship. She trains, coaches, consults, and manages projects for individuals, companies, educational institutions, and non-profit organisations. Since her move to Germany 24 years ago, she has assembled a wealth of knowledge and experience from her role as an educator as well as her interactions with various communities in Berlin and worldwide. She is currently consulting the UN team with her expertise in organizational and systemically transformative matters.

yvetteemail.unitednetworks.eu

Jingyun
Li

Social Media Support

Jingyun Li, born in Xi’an in 1995, studied Communication Studies and later completed a Master’s in Dramaturgy in Amsterdam. Since moving to Berlin in 2019, they have worked as a freelance theatre maker and producer. Their artistic and production work is shaped by a multilingual approach that explores (mis-)understanding and communication with care. At United Networks, they have supported organisational and publicity work since 2023.

cpremail.unitednetworks.eu

our support and future

UN is part of the national program “Verbindungen fördern” by the German Association of Independent Performing Arts (BFDK).

This program strengthens alliances across Germany through funding, exchange, and learning formats—creating new possibilities for collaboration within the independent arts scene.

Looking Ahead

As the first and currently only alliance centering racialized and marginalized artists and cultural workers in Germany’s independent performing arts scene and beyond, we have relied on this structural funding since 2022. With this funding cycle ending in 2025, our ability to operate sustainably will change.

To keep advancing equity and inclusion in the arts, we welcome new collaborations and support.