Friendly Reminder – Mail out with important deadlines and to-do lists for artists and cultural practitioners by Sparx

Migros Culture Percentage Sparx uses the «friendly reminder» to help you keep track of important deadlines and to‑dos. From budget planning and insurance to mental health, the friendly reminder regularly drops tips and reminders into your inbox and helps you get everything done on time and without stress.

Once a month, a friendly reminder is sent out. Each month is dedicated to a specific topic. The friendly reminder shares different tips, points out important tasks, and offers additional support.

Important: Only those who have registered will receive the friendly reminder!

What does this tool consist of?

Regular email updates with tips and tricks

Why is this tool needed?

To explain complex topics such as tax or finance in a simple and straightforward way.

What can this tool do?

It provides an overview and offers further support to artists and cultural practitioners with administrative and organisational tasks.

Who is this tool for?

Artists and cultural practitioners who wish to professionalise themselves.

Impressum

Authorship:
Migros Culture Percentage Sparx

Contact:
Lilli Megerle, lilli.megerle@mgb.ch

Published 15.5.2026

Working conditions for the costume industry

This tool is a reference document drawn up by Costumières & Cie to define fair, clear and respectful working conditions for the costume professions. It is the result of collective work by members of the association, based on their practical experience in the field.

Faced with practices that are often unclear, unequal or precarious, it proposes a common framework for recognising the artistic contribution, responsibilities and specific needs of costume designers and costume teams.

Conditions de travail – Costumières & Cie (FR)

This document is not a legal contract, but a tool for dialogue and professional positioning. It aims to strengthen recognition of the profession and support fairer collaboration in cultural productions.

Whom is this tool designed for?

It is primarily for costume designers and costume teams, but also companies, productions, cultural institutions, funding departments and partners wishing to work together in respectful and professional conditions.

What does this tool consist of?

This document contains detailed recommendations on the roles, missions, remuneration, material conditions and work organisation of professional costume designers. It lays down a common basis for approaching a mandate, from the design phase through to the end of a production’s operation.

What’s the purpose of this tool?

The members of Costumières & Cie have found that the working conditions offered vary greatly from one project to another, and do not always reflect the reality of the job. The lack of a shared framework makes professionals vulnerable and individual negotiations difficult. This tool meets a collective need for recognition.

What can this tool do?

It enables discussions on a shared basis, makes collective professional requirements visible, and supports a better understanding of costume work by employers, institutions and cultural partners.

Costumières & Cie – collective work resulting from a participative process with the members of the association’s committee

info@costumieres-et-cie.ch

www.costumieres-et-cie.ch

Published 19.03.2026

Kleintheater Luzern: «All Inclusive» – A Box for More

As people without a disability perspective, how can we contribute to making access to society and culture more inclusive? Kleintheater Luzern is working hard to find an answer. As a first step, the theatre’s co-management, inclusion officer and an inclusive working group have developed the «All Inclusive» toolbox. It supports individuals, groups and institutions from the spheres of culture, school and public administration on their path to greater inclusion. The toolbox helps jump-start efforts to break down barriers. Inclusion starts everywhere. «All Inclusive» is practical, light-hearted and result-focused.

Here is more information about the Kleintheater Luzern project «Inclusive cultural sector» and the documentary film «Alle inklusive – ein Kleintheater will mehr».

What does this tool consist of?

The physical toolbox consists of 3 parts.

No Taboo: a word game teaching inclusion terminology.
Workshop: a guide to help teams develop concrete measures.
Bits and Pieces: a website offering exercises, insights and important links on the topic of inclusion.

Who is this tool for?

«All Inclusive» is aimed at non-disabled individuals, groups and institutions from culture, schools or public administration.

Buy the «All Inclusive» toolbox

Why is this tool needed?

«All Inclusive» poses key questions and invites us to answer them together:

What does inclusion mean in this context?
What knowledge is already available, what do we still need to learn?
What goals do we want to achieve and what challenges do we face in the process?
What motivates us to keep going and what support do we need?

What can this tool do?

«All Inclusive» makes people aware of barriers and empowers them to start breaking them down.

Download workshop guide (FR)

Tags

#inclusion
#culture
#inclusive
#society game
#workshop
#workshop
#theatre
#disability
#small theatreluzern
#barriers

Impressum

Kleintheater Luzern www.kleintheater.ch

Fabienne Mathis, Janine Bürkli

Publisher: Der gesunde Menschenversand GmbH, menschenversand.ch

«All Inclusive» was developed in collaboration with the Competence Centre for Diversity, Disability, and Inclusion (CCDI) at the University of St.Gallen amongst others. It has been tested by Theater Neumarkt Zurich, Theater Stadelhofen, the Lucerne Museums, Kunstmuseum Luzern and the ThiK Theater im Kornhaus Baden.

More Impact with Culture

In collaboration with Büro für Wagemut, m2act has created a short guide to help you gauge the potential impact of your project idea.

What does this tool consist of?

The tool consists of a two-page step-by-step guide with a case study and a template for individual use.

Tags

#Effect
#Overview
#Focus

Download guide

What can this tool do?

This short guide has three aims:

Overview: It helps you summarise your project quickly and clearly. This can serve as a basis for presentations to partners, foundations, the public or other interested parties.
Focus on the essentials: It helps you to stay focused on your goal and distinguish the essentials from the non-essentials during the project.
More impact: It can help you recognise gaps, add points, adjust things and sharpen the project where necessary.

Who is this tool for?

More Impact with Culture is aimed, in particular, at people who have a project idea with which they want to contribute to a fairer, more inclusive and sustainable culture and society.

Download template

Why is this tool needed?

Projects aiming to bring about social change offer activities that are intended to trigger certain ways of thinking and acting which would not occur to the target group without the project. The impact of the project is measured in terms of this way of thinking and acting.

In order to design a project effectively, it helps to roll up the project from the back and to understand its impact chain more precisely.

Impressum

Authors: Büro für Wagemut on behalf of Migros Culture Percentage m2act
Methodological basis: IOOI model

art+care Newsletter – Visibility of current topics and activities of the community

The art+care newsletter is a collaborative publication format that brings visibility to topics, actors, and activities within the community. It is published monthly and serves as a curatorial tool for the network, bringing together discourses on care, art, and solidarity practices and offering different perspectives. This format provides a publicly accessible platform for networks, projects, and resources.

Most of the content shared in the newsletter comes from the multilingual Signal groups of the art+care community, where all chat members can contribute.

The tool shows that a newsletter can be used not only as an information channel but also as a participatory knowledge archive. Such a newsletter can support communities in continuously promoting visibility, exchange, and networking.

Newsletter subscription

What does this tool consist of?

Updates on art+care activities and current contributions from the entire community (called art+care Cosmos)

Why is this tool needed?

Strengthening the care discourse and interdisciplinary exchange in art and culture

What can this tool do?

Creating visibility and knowledge transfer

Who is this tool for?

A newsletter for anyone interested in contributions and formats related to the topic of art and care work

Concept & editing:
art+care core team

Content:
Contributions from members of the Signal groups (art+care Cosmos)

Contact:
contact@artandcare.org

Website:
artandcare.org

Newsletter registration

Signal Group (art+care Cosmos)

Published 05.03.2026

A:Practice

Action Matrix – Turning Cultural Institutions into Ecological Players

A:Practice enables a global perspective on the planet’s ecological situation and defines four fields of action that can help to restore balance.

The tool was developed in collaboration with The Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative (FATC), South Africa, and KlimaKontor Basel, Switzerland.

What does this tool comprise?

A:Practice is centred around its “matrix of action”. This matrix provides guidance; it facilitates immediate action and the simultaneous implementation of various sustainability concepts. It is compatible with other approaches to organisational development.

Why is this tool important?

We see that ecological crises continue to escalate while social upheaval is on the rise. At the same time, we see the great potential of cultural institutions to contribute to a society that thinks and acts ecologically. We meet people in charge of institutions who feel the need to move from knowledge to action.

What does this tool do?

The A:Practice Matrix of Action

supports the development of institutional ecological competences
empowers the organisation to take action in line with its specific location, resources and qualifications
facilitates immediate action across all levels of the organisation
invites all members of the organisation to contribute in line with their skills, motivation and personal interests
makes it possible to implement multiple measures simultaneously
reduces bureaucracy
promotes trans-institutional networking
provides a dramaturgical framework for ecological narratives

Who can use this tool?

A:Practice can be used by any individual, group, company, etc. Above all, it is intended for those who work in cultural institutions. It is also aimed at the people in charge of these institutions’ positioning and content: artistic directors, directors, management teams, authors, dramaturges, artists, curators, mediators, etc.

Barbara Ellenberger (A:Practice Switzerland)
Matthias Michel (A:Practice Switzerland)
Peter John Sabbagha (A:Practice South Africa)

produktionsDOCK: Guide – Producing in the Swiss independent performing art scene

This guide provides practical orientation for artists and production managers in the independent performing arts scene of German-speaking Switzerland. Step by step, it guides you through the central phases of an artistic project – from the initial idea to its concrete realisation, distribution and touring. The focus is on practical information and realistic insights into the typical process of a production as it is realised in collaboration with established event organisers in German-speaking Switzerland.

What does the tool consist of?

The content is based on the current work experiences of the production managers of produktionsDOCK, a Basel office of production managers (2017-2024), and reflects practice in 2024. This guide is intended as a snapshot that offers a comprehensive insight into the working methods of the Swiss independent performing art scene, without any general claim to completeness or binding force.

It is divided into three main chapters that accompany the phases of an artistic project in a structured and practical way: conception, production, diffusion/touring.

In addition, two detailed discussions provide in-depth insights into the topics of personnel and association administration, which are important for successful project work.

Who is this tool aimed at?

The guide is aimed at anyone who is active in the independent scene in German-speaking Switzerland or would like to establish themselves there: young artists and production managers who are gaining their first experience but also experienced producers who are looking for inspiration or a useful tool for promoting young talent.

Download Guide

DOWNLOAD DOCUMENTS:

Guide – Producing in the Swiss independent performing art scene

Excursion Personnel Administration

Excursion Association Administration

Impressum

Publisher: produktionsDOCK

Editors: Annina Birrer, Bernhard la Dous, Regula Schelling, Juliana Simonetti, Salomé Rodríguez Bär

Design: Céline Müller
Proofreading: Heike Dürscheid

The realisation of the guide was made possible by the generous support of m2act, the funding and network project of the Migros Culture Percentage for the performing arts, the Christoph Merian Foundation and the Ernst Göhner Foundation.

SPARK THE FLAME! – art+care Meet-up format to adopt

SPARK THE FLAME! is an adaptive event format by art+care that combines artistic practice and care work in an open, supportive setting. The focus is on lighting a fire together – as a collective action in physical space and as an experience of shared attention, care and community.

The format creates a accessible setting for exchange, resonance and collective presence. Participants and organisers are equally understood as actors; the act of being together becomes a collective artistic practice.

As a ready-to-use setting, SPARK THE FLAME! can be independently adapted and implemented by individuals, initiatives or institutions – from studio gardens to festivals, in a wide variety of contexts. It is not the size of the event that matters, but the quality of the encounter.

art+care provides the handout ‘How to SPARK THE FLAME!’ to anyone interested in hosting SPARK THE FLAME!

What does this tool consist of?

An adaptive, consciously simple event format with a clear, open structure: a fire (real or symbolic) forms the centrepiece, complemented by moderated exchange, optional artistic contributions and a host checklist for independent implementation. Simplicity is part of the concept.

Host Checklist «How to SPARK THE FLAME!»

What can this tool do?

Create community and spaces for resonance
Initiate new perspectives and collaborations
Make participation tangible as an artistic practice
Activate discourses on art and care
Enable inclusive, intergenerational encounters
People with care responsibilities

Why is this tool needed?

Care work in the arts and culture sector often remains invisible. At the same time, there is a lack of low-threshold, solidarity-based meeting places and corresponding structures.

The format focuses on bringing together people of all generations. Through joint action and being together, people who do not feel addressed by or are excluded from conventional art and culture formats due to their care situations also enter into relationships with each other.

SPARK THE FLAME! promotes participation: all those present become active contributors and are equally understood as actors in the event. Afterwards, they can explicitly identify their involvement as artistic participation (e.g. in their own artistic CV). The gathering itself becomes a collective artistic performance.

Who is this tool for?

Cultural creators with care responsibilities
Artists and cultural workers
Institutions, festivals, and initiatives
Communities that want to strengthen practices of solidarity
People of all generations who are interested in the topics of art and care

Published 05.03.2026

Artists Take Action

This guide supports cultural workers from all disciplines with questions about social security.

With this comprehensive knowledge database, Artists Take Action provides information on important topics such as retirement, family, stays abroad, accidents, and illnesses. It also explains which insurances are mandatory and which are optional. Regardless of how much you already know about social security, this guide—created by cultural workers for cultural workers—answers the most pressing questions.

Due to the legal content, the Artist Take Action guide is in German, French and Italian.

Who is this tool for?

Artists Take Action is aimed at all cultural workers who live and work in Switzerland.

What does this tool consist of?

Artists Take Action is the most comprehensive cross-disciplinary guide to social security in the cultural sector. It provides answers to specific questions about social insurance and forms of employment. For further inquiries, it facilitates contact with the respective professional association.

Artists Take Action (DE)

Why is this tool needed?

Many cultural workers receive little to no education about the basic principles of the labor market during their training. Artists Take Action helps to fill fundamental gaps regarding labor law, self-employment, social security, and insurance.

Impressum

Suisseculture Sociale

info@suisseculturesociale.ch

artists-take-action.ch

Disrupting Harm in Dance

This is an online self-directed course put together by Whistle in collaboration with multiple experts – Crip Movement Lab, The Dance Union, J Bouey, and OFEN Co-Arts – in the dance field. They offer information and tools for dancers, performers, and adjacent professionals to work together while feeling safe, connected, and empowered.

Whistle is an international platform founded by Frances Chiaverini and Robyn Doty in 2017 which aims to confront gender-based harm in dance workspaces along with other forms of discrimination and abuse. Their current offerings include resources and referrals that support a holistic support system for change-making in dance culture.

Who is this course for?

The course’s content is first and foremost for dancers.

Dancers, dance teachers, choreographers, directors, rehearsal directors and assistants, and any people working in dance administration and production might all benefit from elements of these resources.

Tags

#dance community
#faire practice
#make change
#empower
#speak up

What does this curriculum consist of?

This curriculum offers a wide range of tools, online courses, videos, talks, worksheets, workshop materials as well as all contacts of international expert contributors.

Crip Movement Lab

a critical methodology for practicing, teaching, and creating dance accessibly and inclusively

The Dance Union

Dismantling White Supremacy

J Bouey

Somatic Astrology for Dancers Guide

OFEN Co-Arts Platform

Embodying Anti-Capitalist Process
Levelling Hierarchy in Dance
Support and Universal Access
Speaking Up as an Act of Care

Whistle

Messy Talks: A Discussion Toolkit
Boundaries and Consent: A Worksheet
Working with Consent
When Considering Touch (for Teachers, Choreographers)
On publicly asking, “Who doesn’t pay?”
Practical Tips for Talking to a Journalist [About Your Abuse]
Signs of an Emotionally Abusive Choreographer
Providing (Self) Care
Writing an Impact Statement
When Considering Accountability
CARA’s Model of Accountability: A Worksheet

Why are these resources needed?

Dance culture is dysfunctional. It’s built on promoting and rewarding dance subordination and submission. It can strip dancers of their autonomy and intuition, and it can displace their own sense of value for narrow ideals of discipline, perfection, and virtuosity. There is a staggering lack of support at an institutional level for dancers experiencing abuse.

Download / Link

All resources are available in English.

disruptingdance.com

Download the Workbook as PDF

What can these resources do?

These resources can be used to help workers in institutions better support dance artists via believability, implementing private complaint processes, and building nutritive environments with wellbeing in mind.

Impressum

Whistle

disruptingdance.com

whistlewhileyouwork.art

Note: These resources are free of charge for individual dancers. If this course is being applied at an institutional level, a donation should be considered to Whistle and/or to the individual collaborators involved in the making of the course. Whistle strongly recommends finding the contributors online or in real life, checking out their respective catalogs of works – and booking and hiring them!