COVID19 FAQs

Since the 1st of April, all COVID-19 restrictions in Berlin have been cancelled. Masks are only required on public transport, in hospitals and nursing homes. Testing is no longer mandatory to enter the city's venues and clubs, however the Senate and our team encourage everyone to continue testing after gathering in order to keep the community safe. You can read up-to-date information here.

Classes are being delivered on-site and the newest regulation also allows us to host events, group tours and gatherings in our spaces at Funkhaus again!

Visit our events page for upcoming opportunities to connect with our community.

We anticipate all courses running in the summer and starting in September to be running normally with a hygiene protocol in place to keep our community safe.

However, if you are concerned about how the situation may develop, our COVID-19 money-back guarantee still applies.

Our team are all available online as normal. Our applications for the 2022 short courses and longer courses will open in November 2021. From the opening of the application submissions period, any applications submitted before April 30, 2022 are considered priority applications and will receive a guaranteed place on their course of choice. The standard application for all long courses is June 30th. After the 30th deadline any remaining spots will be given on a first come first serve basis, please reach out to admissions@catalyst-berlin.com for updates on your preferred course.

If you make an enrolment payment (and a single tuition fee payment) to guarantee your place on any of our courses and you are unable to attend the course for any reason directly related to the Coronavirus outbreak, we will offer a full refund of your monies, as per the following situations:

1. If our course delivery is onsite in Berlin and you are either not able to travel due to provable travel restrictions in your own country (or country of residence) or because you are denied entry to Germany by the German authorities.
2. If you become ill with COVID-19 before the start of the year and have to take an extended period of time in recuperation such that you are unable to study or unable to catch up with missed work as proven by a doctor’s note
3. Should you become ill during your studies with us you are already covered by point 9.2 of our Terms and Conditions.

Alternatively, you may also choose to defer your place for one year. If you have paid your enrolment fee and defer your place for one year, the course cost will be fixed at the 2022 prices.

We offering regular Virtual Open Days and taster workshops throughout the year with a break during the summer.

We currently expect our summer courses to be running normally with a distancing and hygiene protocol in place to keep students safe. We benefit from small class sizes and a large facility which makes it relatively easy to set this up.

The vaccine programme in Germany is now picking up speed. As of October 28th 2021 nearly 67 million people have been fully vaccinated and nearly 71% have now received at least one dose. Approximately 464,00 people are still being vaccinated every day. You can monitor this number with the link below.

We currently expect students from all countries to be able to access Germany by Summer 2022 given that already in September 2021 exemptions were made for all students travelling to Germany. To facilitate that we issued all of our students an “Imperative Need To Travel” letter. You will be receiving this letter 3 weeks before the start of your course. The second page of the Acceptance Letter also contains a document confirming your enrolment on our course. These two items combined will allow you to travel into Germany to attend the course of your choice. We advise all students requiring visas to apply as soon as possible as many visa offices are still not working at capacity.

Rather than giving general refunds or rebates of tuition fees Catalyst is supporting it’s students in two specific ways:-

1. From September we expect to be supporting students who have a reduced income as a result of COVID-19 with flexible payment schemes or in extreme cases a limited number of bursaries.
2. An increasing percentage of our student body are with us for three years or more in order to complete their bachelor degree. By remaining a viable organisation we will be supporting students who wish to complete their degree course with us.

Please read our FAQ document all about what is expected of our community in terms of behaviour and obligations - to keep everyone safe!

The following document is based on the SARS-CoV-2 Infection Protection Ordinance from the Berlin Senate. Catalyst Institute for Creative Arts is committed to ensuring the safety of our students and team by following these directives. These regulations apply to all individuals regardless whether they have been tested, vaccinated or have recovered from the coronavirus.

Our long courses have started in September as planned. With updated strict hygiene policies in place, students will be able to attend their scheduled lessons, in smaller groups. Masks are mandatory at all times and preventive measures have been taken to ensure the wellbeing of our community. The new and inflexible hygiene protocol has been communicated to all new and returning students during the first week of class.

We really appreciate the large number of offers we have had from students on this front. It is a sign not only of your maturity and understanding but also of the strong relationship we have with our student body. We appreciate students holding themselves and their peers accountable for respecting the measures put in place to ensure a minimum spread of the virus.

Students can enquire directly with our tech team. Our facilities team has made provision for this to be possible during the next 24 months. Please see this PDF for details.

We have committed to providing a voucher that will allow access to both our facilities and equipment for an extended 24 months.

You can read the letters we sent to students here:

1. A personal message from the director
2. Impact of COVID-19 on our education