European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 GmbH moves into new premises

The European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 GmbH has moved into its new domicile in the "Schmidtbank-Passage" at the address Hartmannstraße 3a: From now until the completion of the former Hartmann factory, Managing Director Stefan Schmidtke and a team that is constantly expanding are working here on preparations for the European Capital of Culture 2025 year.

From April, the foyer on the ground floor will become a citizens' centre for information and participation. The major participation projects "WE PARAPOM! - European Parade of Apple Trees", "Purple Path" and "3,000 Garages" will each have a contact point for interested parties.

A team of project developers will start work in mid-April. All idea providers and project managers can now start working on their projects on site. Office hours are daily from 9 am. Appointments are made individually. Separate information will be provided about the start of the work of the contact points for the participation projects.

Lord Mayor Sven Schulze: "We have used the past year to create the basis for the necessary structures and committees. Now we are back to working intensively on our major projects and programme. By moving into the new premises today, we are giving the starting signal, so to speak. I wish Stefan Schmidtke and his team every success! I am also looking forward to the events we have planned for this year."

Lord Mayor Sven Schulze and Stefan Schmidtke have presented these next steps:

Ideas become reality: Invitation to all Bidbook II idea providers

Among other things, the 72 extraordinary ideas in Bidbook II have earned Chemnitz the title of "European Capital of Culture 2025". Projects for the Capital of Culture programme are now to be developed from these ideas by summer 2023. To this end, 72 invitations were sent to the idea providers today. All ideas are to be reviewed and developed into projects, including contracts, together with the submitters and with the support of the GmbH. The idea providers will be supported by a team of ten project developers, who will now join Schmidtke's team step by step. The team will consist of proven curators, production managers, educators and cultural managers and will initially cover the languages German, English, French, Polish, Russian, Slovakian, Spanish, Czech and Hungarian in addition to a great deal of expertise in the field of production management.

The team of project managers will be joined by a working group for the development of a programme area for children and youth activities, as well as a team for cooperation with faith and religious communities and work with the culture of remembrance.

New ideas welcome

The ideas in Bidbook II alone are not the entire Capital of Culture programme for 2025. In May, the GmbH is expected to present a regulated tendering process in order to collect further ideas, develop them into projects and thus expand the range of content. We are considering major events such as the opening and, in particular, international cooperation with our 11 + 1 partner cities, including our European Capital of Culture 2025 partner city Nova Gorica in Slovenia.

An international jury will accompany this process. Stefan Schmidtke's team will present the details of the open call in May. At the moment, the GmbH is asking people to refrain from submitting ideas. The regulated procedure will present a standardised form that will enable further processing.

Outlook for the annual programme

"As early as this summer, we want to give a foretaste of 2025 with a "small Capital of Culture year" - and thus create an atmosphere where people feel comfortable," says Lord Mayor Sven Schulze, beginning the outlook for 2022, for events in the city and beyond. Some examples are:

• "WE PARAPOM!": The European Parade of Apple Trees art project, curated by Austrian artist Barbara Holub, is already a visible project in the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 programme. Up to 2,000 x two trees of different European apple varieties are to be planted in an axis across the city and across property boundaries. This year, 500 trees are to be added. There will be another art performance from 1 to 3 April. Further details of the overall project will also be presented then. The project team is developing a process for pooling all the ideas for the project in response to the lively demand from associations, initiatives, private individuals and many other committed people.

• We will also be celebrating our popular street art festival with the "Hutfestival" from 27 to 29 May and the big choir festival from 1 to 3 July.
  
• From 2 to 10 July, the premiere of "MAKERS UNITED" will bring together makers, inventors, creatives and artists for a European maker festival. The makers' week will focus on the makers of the city and the region. An exhibition presents what has been created in the days leading up to the event - interested parties can also take part in workshops and network with other like-minded people.

• The "Begehungen" art festival is making its first stop in the region: the former Erzgebirgsbad in Thalheim will be the festival venue from 11 to 21 August. Stefan Schmidtke: "I'm particularly pleased about this. Our application was certainly also successful because the cultural region played such an important role in it."

• The European Peace Ride (EPR) will conclude the 2022 European Capital of Culture summer. It will be held for the second time from 2 to 4 September. There will be 120 riders from three countries at the start, with the route leading through Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany. In this context, "SPORTS UNITED" will also celebrate its premiere on 4 September - the event aims to connect all people with a love of sport.
  
• Another public event is being planned for the autumn at the Garage Campus intervention area in Zwickauer Straße to publicise the status of the project development.

• Numerous other small ideas are also waiting to be realised in the form of microprojects, which will be held for the tenth time in 2022.

Further information can also be found at www.chemnitz2025.de