About Us
Subline
We are a creative studio and independent collective
Who are we?
We are Katharina Richter and Julie Ilner. We are connected through the love of making arts accessible and an experience for everyone.
What do we do?
We dare to play and ask questions. Our motor is the need to tickle our brains and to evolve with the realities of what we witness around us. We want to create deeply relatable and touching pieces, for artists and public to reconnect to themselves and each other.
What kind of ideas?
Our ideas arise from our own experiences and observations—but that is rarely enough. We love to dig a little further. We love to do that for our own projects and for those we want to support in shaping authentic and feasible projects.
What does this mean?
We do dope projects and help you do that too…
What is it about?
Our work is not only about helping others bring their projects to life, but also about engaging in our own collective artistic practice. Through collaboration, we push boundaries and create something meaningful.
Who We Are,
What We Do
& Why It Matters
Through our work, we aim to express connections and ideas that bring people together.
We believe in the power of shedding the old and embracing the new, of giving ourselves permission to feel "lost" at times, because it is in these raw, honest moments that art and culture are born.
Why unskrewd.
Our name plays on the concept of being “unscrewed” - loosely detached, untethered - a metaphor for both being in a state of uncertainty or vulnerability and also for unbolting, loosening, and letting go.
At unskrewd, we fuse two worlds – music and dance – creating projects that make both forms accessible and relatable to people. We strive to find innovative ways to combine these elements, returning them to their roots, because together, they work best.
Our projects share a common thread: a deep exploration of identity, the fragments that make us whole, and the hidden, often overlooked parts of the human experience. We are drawn to the things that feel different, strange, or even uncomfortable.
Our aim is to dig deeper, beyond the surface, to expose what makes us human. We believe in the power of connection and the healing that comes from recognizing ourselves in one another, from highlighting what binds us together.
Founder
Julie
Ilner
Julie Ilner is a freelance cultural manager and production manager for various dance and theater projects in North Rhine-Westphalia. With experience in social and cultural project management, funding consulting, and international perspectives, she designs projects systematically and with a sensitivity to diversity – from conception to implementation.
Katharina Richter (aka Kathi Ri) first gained experience in performance art and the dance scene in 2017, with a particular focus on street styles such as Hip-Hop.
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Founder
Katharina
Richter
Katharina Richter is a freelancer in the field of cultural management, a dancer, and producer of artistic projects. Her projects combine artistic practice, such as dance, with social science approaches. She offers expertise in project management, event organization, artist support, and funding research.
Katharina Richter (aka Kathi Ri) first gained experience in performance art and the dance scene in 2017, with a particular focus on street styles such as Hip-Hop.
We, Katharina Richter and Julie Ilner, met in 2021 while working at a non-for profit organization in Düsseldorf. It didn’t take long for us to realize how much we have in common and noticing that the same topics drive us. What began with a few joint projects as co-workers quickly grew into a creative partnership.
Together with Paul Damiano, we developed and produced our first collaborative dance piece, Haba na Haba. It started as a collaboration but soon became a meaningful friendship based on trust and enthusiasm — full of ideas, visions and discussions that often lasted late into the night.
After completing our training in cultural management at the Akademie Off Theater NRW, we delved even deeper into the world of performing arts, especially dance and music. We asked ourselves: why not create something of our own—something that reflects the way we think and work?
One day, sitting with cappuccinos and notebooks in a small café in Duisburg, we were looking for a name that would capture our way of working—unconventional, open, authentic. That’s how unskrewd was born.
Today, unskrewd is more than just a name. It’s our shared adventure, a space for ideas, experiments, and projects that connect and move people.
The Story behind
unskrewd.
Creative Studio
for cultural projects.
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