Students Develop Concepts for Public Service Broadcasting Youth Cultural Platform
How can public cultural programming connect with young people, get them involved, and make them more visible? Students from the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and the University of Erfurt tackled this question as part of a collaboration with ARD Kultur and the TeleVisionale Film and Media Festival. Their findings were presented during the festival, which was held for the first in Weimar from 1 to 5 December 2025, and expressed clear recommendations for cultural programming.
A recurring theme was the wish for participation, something the students understood as more than a commentary function and as an active element of cultural public life. Digital platforms and social media channels were identified as key spaces for democratic participation thanks to the fact that they enable exchange regardless of location, time, and individual circumstances. »I believe in the importance of democratic participation — and social media is great at allowing everyone to participate«, said one student.
Within this context, many students were critical of linear programming, in which they often feel ignored or unrepresented. Consequently, they called for more dialogue-based formats, genuine participation in cultural discourse, and improved networking with cultural initiatives. They also pointed out the clear need for better orientation and bundling of existing offers: »A European platform where everything is accessible at a glance would be really nice«, said one participant.
The collaboration with ARD Kultur comprised several stages: In April 2025, students from the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and the University of Erfurt had already come up with initial ideas during a »World-Café« event as part of the Medientage Mitteldeutschland Media Conference. The event focussed on how public cultural offers can reflect the realities of young people’s lives more realistically and how to communicate these realities more effectively.
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At the Faculty of Media, Medienkultur Bachelor degree programme students joined the TeleVisionale from an academic perspective: In a practical module led by Prof. Lorenz Engell from the Professorship of Media Philosophy, students worked closely together with ARD Kultur. Together with Programme Director Bettina Kasten and editor Ineke Hagedorn, participants discussed the duties, scope, and limits of public cultural programming with a focus on youth.
Students went on to develop concrete concepts for a contemporary cultural platform. The starting point was a critical analysis of existing offers: social media such as »funk« and short news formats were well-received, but a desire for easier searchability, more diversity, and a more direct approach was expressed: »The good content already exists – it just needs to be findable«, one participant summed it up. Others criticised the confusing media libraries, stereotypical role models, and insufficient advertising for existing content on TikTok.
In the end, four prototypes for public cultural programming offers were created in groups – some modelled using Lego, some sketched on paper. Each of the designs included a broad concept of culture that included everyday culture as well as classic formats and a desire for exchange on »equal footing«. In addition to digital offers, students also expressed wanting real meeting places: Collaborating with local cultural centres, concerts, discussion sessions – culture may begin online, but it has a local impact.
The results of the students from Weimar and Erfurt were presented on 4 December 2025, during the ARD Kultur-Empfang as part of the TeleVisionale. Selected statements have been published on the ARD Kultur platform:https://www.ardkultur.de/netzwerke/studierende-aus-thueringen-gestalten-kulturportal-der-zukunft-100