The Project Space Prize has not only saved many spaces and kept them alive for a longer period but basically generated a unique experimental and diverse art scene in Berlin. The Prize has also very much encouraged the founding of new spaces, fueled by the hope of receiving funding at some point. More than anything, it is an example of how much a certain public funding strategy can completely shape a local art scene.For many decades Berlin has developed a lively, diverse, and independent way of producing culture and counteracting government decisions, based on, local, generous, and enthusiastic, but also worried, social communities that exchanged resources and ideas within a larger political debate. The city became a “natural” shelter and fertile environment for dissidents, artists, political refugees, and immigrants with any background also due to the need to overcome a traumatic past full of human generated atrocities that are still present in people memories and behaviour.Ich sehe die Arbeit des Vereins als sehr wichtig an. Er ist Teil von dem, was vor etwa einem Jahrzehnt oder länger mit Initiativen wie Haben & Brauchen, der Koalition der Freien Szene und anderen losgetreten wurde. Alles braucht eine Lobby und ich bin froh, dass es nun eine Vertretung gibt. Zu meiner Mutter sage ich immer: „Solange man symbolisch-kulturelles Kapital (Pierre Bourdieu) nicht konkret in Zahlen bemessen kann, hat jegliche Freie Szene einen fragilen Stand.“