Maddalena is a student from Italy who decided to study a three-year degree in political science in Berlin. She loves speaking many languages, for now she is fluent in Italian, English, German and Spanish and has been studying Arabic for about two years. She did a university exchange in Oman in order to deepen her knowledge of Arabic and to get to know a new and different culture. She is interested in politics, travelling and music. She is a sunny girl, always smiling, who loves dancing, eating or just spending time with people.

Maddalena wants to pursue a career in the political, social and cultural field and is therefore interested in working at Give Something Back to Berlin. She is our student worker in Communications, Community and Admin.

Antonina, born and raised in Poland, holds a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology and a master’s degree in Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology. In her academic work, her primary area of interest is the subject of loneliness, adolescence, and girlhood. In her professional work, she has always been involved in projects related to community building.

Contacting GSBTB and asking if can help with the Open Hearts Space (which was back then called Open Art Shelter)  project seemed to be a natural step for her after arriving in Berlin. She started off as a volunteer and is now the Manager of the Open Hearts Space.

Photo by Anna Rapoport

Ben Osborn is a writer, songwriter, composer and sound designer from Oxford, UK, now based in Berlin, Germany. Coming from a poetic folk song tradition, his work draws also from electronica and classical music to create a space in which highly personal and deeply political stories can be told. He regularly collaborates with visual artists, dancers, theatre companies, filmmakers, podcasters, musicians and composers and has created works with institutions such as the Young Vic, Bristol Old Vic, National Theatre, National Portrait Gallery (UK), Folkteatern (Sweden), Literaturhaus Berlin, Kunsthaus Dortmund (Germany), Festival Lyric de Aix-En-Provence (France) and Teatro Orteuv (Mexico) among others, and has won several awards for his soundtracks, sound designs and songs. He gives writing and composition workshops in a variety of cultural and education institutions and is a visiting lecturer at Mountview University (UK).

Since 2017, Ben has been one of the directors of Give Something Back to Berlin’s Open Music Lab: an activist-led musical cooperative and collaborative learning space for refugees, migrants and others from marginalised communities. He previously worked for the HOPE not hate anti-racism campaign and the UCU trade union.

Bissan is from Syria and arrived in Germany in 2016. She first met the Give Something Back To Berlin team when they hosted an art workshop at Tempelhofer Hafen refugee camp. After joining the creative workshop at Tempelhofer Hafen, she became more involved at GSBTB, specifically, working with women and helping out at the Open Heart Space events. She also assisted with Arabic and English translations and contributed an article about feminism in music for the GSBTB blog. She is passionate about feminism, human rights, music, and psychology. She is currently studying at night school and hopes to bring her passion for medicine and women’s rights to a career in midwifery.

Currently, Bissan is supporting project activities and assisting in communications at GSBTB.

Dina has worked in music tech, underground music and subculture in Berlin, the UK and the world for close to ten years and has an academic background in politics with a focus on more just forms of government and society. She also feels that safer spaces and more awareness are needed for conversations around mental health and mutual support. Dina strongly believes in healing in community and that music holds the power to bring us together and bring out the best in us.

She studied at The University of Edinburgh and has a Master of Arts in Psychology. She has always had a keen interest in social issues and people’s wellbeing. Over the last decade she has been finding ways to support people through difficulties, either by volunteering at refugee centers or by offering assistance to children with disabilities. With extensive experience in the creative industry, from art and design to music, she’s adopted a keen interest in using creative means to build a supportive network where one feels safe and has a sense of care from people around.

Gaby is the co-founder and co-manager of the Open Music Lab. She hopes to offer a hub for music lovers to feel welcomed and help encourage each to reach their full potential.

Joe started volunteering as a teacher at the Open Music School in 2017 and enjoyed how the classes have their own special way of connecting people. He has great enthusiasm for the improvement of social and environmental conditions in local communities, and holds an M.Sc. in environmental planning with a focus on the value in communities of open spaces, such as urban garden initiatives. He sees similarities at the Open Music School: A project which can only evolve and grow with the participation and influence of those it serves.

Originally from Aotearoa (New Zealand), he has contributed as a researcher, facilitator and manager to many projects and inititavies in different parts of the world. A music fan and musician, Joe is also often tinkering with his own creative projects.

Contact Joe for all things regarding the Open Music School!

Lizzy is a current graduate student of Global MINDs, an Erasmus Mundus joint masters program in social and intercultural psychology. Although originally from the United States, she has spent many years exploring, working and studying abroad. Lizzy hopes to dedicate her academic and professional life to understanding the relationship between creative intergroup contact and social integration.

She moved to Berlin in September 2022 to become a project intern for GSBTB and is thrilled to begin another unique experience of multicultural immersion. Lizzy is also a dancer, EFL teacher and aspiring polyglot.

Having studied in Maastricht, Istanbul and Lund, Mine holds a BA in European Studies and a MA in Middle Eastern Studies. After gaining work experience abroad, she settled in Berlin in 2017. Since then she has been working in political communication, project management and fundraising for non-profits. She is passionate about politics, bringing people together and creating space of belonging for marginalized communities in Berlin.

At GSBTB, Mine is your Community Manager and Fundraiser. So message her on all questions on the Community Hub, the Sprechstunde, on how to get involved with us!

Having done a Master in Fashion Marketing in the UK, Ricarda moved back to her native Germany in 2012. Here she briefly got involved with the cooking group before spending a year in Nepal and India, mainly doing earthquake relief work and teaching English to Tibetan monks. Upon returning in 2015, she took over the role of coordinating the GSBTB Open Kitchen project. Since November 2020 she has also taken on the coordination of the language cafés.

At GSBTB, Ricarda manages the Open Kitchen and Open Language Cafés.

Tom is originally from Aotearoa (New Zealand) and has lived in Berlin for more than 10 years. Amongst many other creative projects, he has spent the last 20 years recording albums and touring the world in many bands and with his solo act, Freddy Fudd Pucker. He continues to make music and visual art himself and sees the creative process as one of the most valuable tools we have to bring diverse groups of people together.