Chemnitz dream concert receives Saxon Inclusion Award
Today, the organisers of the Chemnitz Dream Concert received the 3rd Saxon Inclusion Award in the "Leisure & Culture" category. The award was presented at the Saxon State Parliament in Dresden.
The prize has been awarded every two years since 2014 by Stephan Pöhler, the Saxon state government's representative for the interests of people with disabilities.
A jury selects the winners in the categories of education, leisure, demographics and accessibility with varying focal points. This year's focus was "Music is in the air". The award comes with prize money totalling 1,000 euros.
"The Saxon Inclusion Award is intended to support and publicise practical examples in which the inclusive society has already become a reality, which make the successful coexistence of people with and without disabilities tangible, sensitise the general public and can inspire imitation," reads the statement of the competition announcement.
"You don't have to be able to read lyrics, see or touch sheet music or instruments or hear rhythm to make dreamlike music." The Chemnitz Dream Concert has been promoting this slogan every two years since 2011. It is an evening of music performed by musicians with and without disabilities together with representatives of the Robert Schumann Philharmonic Orchestra in the centre of Chemnitz.
"There have already been four Dream Concerts, which have grown steadily: in the skills of all those involved, in the number of participating Philharmonic musicians and enthusiastic audience members, the size of the event hall, the range of accessible programmes and, above all, in public perception. This is crowned with the Saxon Inclusion Award. We are very proud of this," says Petra Liebetrau, Disability Officer for the City of Chemnitz. The success of the Dream Concert is the result of committed, joint and trusting cooperation between many stakeholders. The event is organised by the City of Chemnitz, together with the Bürgerstiftung für Chemnitz since 2017.
In addition to the Disability Officer, Petra Liebetrau, the Head of the Municipal Music School, Nancy Gibson, the organisers include Theater Chemnitz gGmbH, the C3 event centres, the ASB residential centre, the SFZ support centre and Behindertenhilfe Limbach-Oberfrohna. The last three organisations mentioned are among the contributors and therefore the real stars of the Dream Concerts, alongside the Janusz-Korczak Special School, the State School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, the Terra Nova Campus, Lebenshilfe Chemnitz, the Monael & Friends sign language choir and the Philharmonic Orchestra.
Preparations are already underway for the fifth Dream Concert on 11 November 2019. Today's award will be an incentive.