Esther-Kaufmann-Akademie-fur-Kindermedien-Workshop

(copyright: Akademie für Kindermedien)

Workshops and panels

I am driven by the desire to pass on my own knowledge and learning more about creativity by connecting to others. Through the years I have collected a lot of advice and am able to offer helpful input to anyone interested. Also this way of teaching help me hone my own writing skills since I am constantly questioning seemingly ultimate methods and truths. Also is is a way for me to make a positive impact socially if I can allow people without money to be culturally active or kids from different social backgrounds to gain access to the arts.

Theatre pedagogy:

I have specialized on working with kids when doing creative classes and managed to build a wide network of contacts with school, teachers, community centers etc. Most of all, I have been planning and leading workshops for 14 years with my artist collective THEATERBOX, mainly for the Wilhelmsburger Wintermärchen in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein / Northern Germany.

We are also working with kids with disabilities and f.e. cooperating with a school for blind and visually disabled kids. I like working together with colleagues of all kinds like stage designers, costume designer, musician etc. and we are offering rehearsal visits for children so they can really be a part of the theatrical process.

Esther-Kaufmann-mit-Johannes-Nehlsen-THEATERBOX-Wilhelmsburger-Wintemarchen-Oma-geht-online-Honigfabrik-

“Grandma goes online” with Kristina Bremer and Stephan Möller title

(copyright: Azizah Hocke / THEATERBOX)

Esther-Kaufmann-Writing Workshop-Elbschule-DGS-Monster Tales

(copyright: Esther Kaufmann)

Writing and film classes:

I am doing writing and film classes online f.e. on Zoom or the VHS Cloud as well as in real life. Children and grown-ups can get an enthusiastic glimpse into the world of writing, start writing their own texts and I share all of the tricks up my sleeve with them. I work for different institutions and can do different formats starting with a little impulse workshop up to a whole week of classes, live as well as asynchronous.

I like working with special clients such as kids with hearing disabilities, refugees or teens with addiction problems in recovery. My main topics are creativity, pitching, script writing, short stories, writing for children as a target group, Finish your short in one week and animation writing. One of my achievements is building the online platform “Bettermakers” from scratch and organizing a film competition as well as political film workshops.

Moderation and panels:

Ever since I was giving my first presentation at Wisag about my final exam concerning “Fight Club”, I love being a speaker and doing panels to discuss my main topics with others and give as well as receive new impulses.
Since 2016 I’ve been planing and moderating various literature events on- and offline for the
German writers guild / Verband Deutscher SchriftstellerInnen and the Writers for future, f.e. the Literatrubel and political readings against racism. Since 2018 I am also internationally engaged at the Childrens Media Conference organizing and moderating panels and in 2022 I have organized as well as moderated the Hamburg edition of the public film knowledge event “FilmPerlenTauchen“.

(copyright: Childrens Media Conference / Jennifer Booth)

“It was a pleasure to have Esther Kaufmann lead a screenplay workshop for the young short film festival Mo&Friese. Esther taught the young participants how to write a screenplay in an inspiring way, guiding them through the process with patience and expertise. She managed to convey complex concepts in an understandable way to even the youngest participants. The public reading of the resulting scripts was a highlight of the festival, and Esther’s influence was clearly visible in the children’s impressive results. We are grateful for Esther’s contribution to our festival and would have no hesitation in recommending them for future workshops.”

(Lina Paulsen, director of the Mo and Friese Children’s Short Film Festival)
“Esther’s work for us was exceptional. Through great precision in the details and inspiring invitations for interesting guests, she created several great welcome lunches and made a great contribution to the conference. In our annual surveys, new visitors no longer spoke of being left out because Esther’s lunch events are inviting and at the same time informative and exciting. I particularly appreciate the fact that Esther can work very independently: once you set her on a task, it is thoroughly researched, followed up and completed without any problems and with 150 results. Esther always takes on her role with great enthusiasm and brings that certain extra enthusiasm.”

Greg Childs (Director of Childrens Media Conference Sheffield)
“For writing workshops at Hamburg schools, we are happy to have authors who encourage the young people to write an independent story within a week. With knowledge and a lot of sensitivity, Esther Kaufmann has managed to ensure that most of the At the end of the workshop, students were able to submit a story they had written themselves.”

Annette Pauw (Fantastische Teens)
“The challenge of the “School House Novel” project is to channel all the many exuberant ideas and sometimes very different ideas of the author collective and to translate them into concrete writing. The result was wonderful thanks to Esther: a great novel, a thriller-romance interesting characters and settings: her approach, her appreciation, her ability to motivate the students, their creativity, and their ability to master narrative challenges.”

Katrin Weiland (Project Manager for Schoolhouse Novels at the Young Literature House)
“I really liked Esther Kaufmann’s enthusiastic nature. Her great interest in the topic makes it a lot more fun.” “I had a lot of fun and learned techniques that will help me both personally and professionally. Esther had a very positive and professional charisma. She conveyed the content to us using interactive games.” “Esther is very friendly. She explained everything very well in simple words. And the tasks were very relaxed and very interesting.” “The course was a lot of fun, I learned a lot and it was well designed with good feedback. I hope that you do more of these courses for other children who will also enjoy them. I will definitely continue writing my script and maybe even finish it. Thank you for allowing me to take part in this great course!” Thank you for the very motivating workshop with great practical tools and Esther’s generosity in sharing her knowledge with us. Maybe I’ll finally tackle my own book project now. I could have continued this forever: I am inspired!”

Voices from VHS course participants
“I really enjoyed the “Writing Week” project. From start to finish, the program was very well planned and interestingly structured.” “I enjoyed working with Ms. Kaufmann. I would like to see more projects like the one with Ms. Kaufmann.”

Students from the IVK classes at the Fantastischen Teens writing workshop (Alter Teichweg Dulsberg School)
“Thanks to Esther, a great, humorous play on the topic of friendship was created, consisting of many small individual scenes and sketches, all of which were designed, co-written by the students and finally performed in front of a huge audience. I admire her great openness towards children and young people and her real interest – all suggestions are taken seriously – as well as her warmth and her enthusiasm for the language, writing and games. There is also always a clear structure (but she is also always ready to go overboard throw). Thank you very much!”

Marcus Sander (teacher at the Goetheschule Harburg)
“Esther is reliable, committed above average, technically brilliant and it is a pleasure to conduct workshops and seminars with her.”

Frank Scheerer (museum educator, Jewish studies expert and author)
“I had to find a suitable expert for a youth writing workshop. Whoosh, she was there. And gave the library interested young people who got insights into creative writing and a nice workshop. I particularly appreciate Esther’s open, uncomplicated nature!”

Henrike Lehmann (Head of the Wandsbek Book Hall)
“Esther started with us with a very innovative and, to date, very successful online format for creative writing, back in the pre-Corona year of 2019. The courses are still running very successfully and Esther is now offering a writing course again in person, We’re very pleased working with her is creative, goal-oriented and very professional.”

Bettina Lohse (Head of Culture at the Hamburg Adult Education Center)
“Thanks to Esther, we received a great and inspiring holiday course for 14 children in which creative writing and the production of radio plays were implemented in an action-oriented manner. Esther brings a high level of professional and empathetic competence to the table during the planning, implementation and evaluation of our course offerings.”

Christian Bartels (Program Manager Young Adult Education Center Hamburg)