Microprojects for the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025: 19 ideas selected in the tenth round

The micro-projects are a real success story in Chemnitz on the way to becoming European Capital of Culture 2025. Initiated in 2017 during the application process, this small project funding has been continuously developed and is now firmly integrated into the European Capital of Culture programme. With the completion of this tenth round, more than 120 micro-projects have been financially supported with a total funding amount of 270,000 euros. Funding is also planned for the coming years, with further rounds of projects to be organised twice a year until 2025.

19 new micro-projects for the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025

In the tenth round of micro-projects, more than 100 project ideas were once again submitted by the application deadline on 30 June 2022. The independent jury, which is made up of various stakeholders from the city and the cultural region, held several meetings to select the projects that best met the evaluation criteria. These will now be implemented in the second half of 2022. 19 projects will be supported with a total funding amount of 45,000 euros.
More information: www.chemnitz2025.de/mikroprojekte2022.

In line with the approach of "making a big difference on a small scale", a large number of projects in all districts of Chemnitz and the cultural region show how real doership works, how Europe can be made visible and what lived diversity looks like. A wide variety of event formats such as city tours, workshops, film projects, exhibitions, music and dance performances, information boards, picnics and printed matter have already been realised, demonstrating the many facets of the concept of culture. All projects have a positive impact on Chemnitz and/or the cultural region and are in part characterised by a clearly visible European dimension. Associations, initiatives and committed individuals can apply and receive financial support of up to 3,000 euros.
More information: www.chemnitz2025.de/mikroprojekte.

Over the past five years, the commitment of the City of Chemnitz and the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 GmbH has enabled the project budget to grow significantly, which has been accompanied by an increase in the number of projects funded per round. There has also been a significant increase in the number of project ideas submitted recently, which shows that the funding programme has been well received: The funding programme has been well received and is widely known. A digital application tool has been used since this round, which has significantly simplified the application process. In addition, stakeholders from the cultural region around Chemnitz are explicitly invited to participate and numerous project ideas, from a yodelling workshop in Brockendorf to a sock street festival in Jahnsdorf, have already been implemented.

Microprojects honoured as "best practice"

The idea and implementation of the micro-projects was recently recognised by "stadtimpulse", the nationwide project pool for city centres, retail and urban life. This makes it a best practice example of 2022 and shows how actively involving citizens in urban design can succeed and provide new impetus to enrich a city culturally in the long term.
More information: www.unsere-stadtimpulse.de/project/mikroprojekte

The following projects will receive financial support in the tenth round of microprojects:

1. Art and cake
   A variety of handicraft skills such as lace-making, embroidery, fermentation or preserving food are increasingly being forgotten. However, the Barbara-Uttmann-Haus Elterlein e.V. support centre in Annaberg-Buchholz wants to show how much sustainability there is in these old techniques by offering hands-on activities and workshops, especially for children and people with mental illnesses.
   
2. A walk outside the box
   During a culinary city tour through Chemnitz, international hosts invite you to find out more about their cultural and personal backgrounds.
   
3. Intercultural picnic
   The park of the Olbernhau manor opens its doors for a large picnic. All citizens from Olbernhau and the neighbouring Czech communities are invited to come along and get to know each other and talk to each other while having fun, playing games and listening to music.
   
4. "New forest" information board
   In recent years, a lot of woodland in Chemnitz-Einsiedel has had to be forcibly cleared. In the meantime, the reforestation of a mixed forest and the revitalisation of the ecosystem has begun. A large information board and an insect hotel invite visitors to learn more about the forest habitat.
   
5. International art to touch at Wildeck Castle
   European makers invite children and young people from Zschopau to get to know their passion for creative work, get creative together and experience togetherness in Europe.
   
6. A visit to Count Dracula's horror villa
   At the end of October, on Halloween, a world opens up in the villa of the Jungendhaus Punkt West e. V. in Chemnitz-Rabenstein for all those interested in art, theatre and horror.
   
7. Short-term shop in Oelsnitz/Erzgebirge
   Filling the empty space in Oelsnitz with new life: The Kurzzeitladen invites regional traders and artists to run their own shop on an experimental and uncomplicated basis, as well as to organise workshops and hands-on activities.
   
8. Mirrored, you recognise (yourself) better
   Trainees from the cultural region and the Romanian mining region of Retrosani get to know each other in this exchange project and help to set up social projects. In doing so, they reflect on each other and revise their own, often false, images of others.
   
9. What a juice economy!
   The "Solidarity Juice Economy" platform, which is currently being set up, aims to bring together owners of fruit trees and orchards, motivated harvest workers and cideries so that they can work together in a coordinated manner.
   
10. (K)Eine Einheit - How GenZ thinks about the East
    About the feeling of inner turmoil between ideals shaped by the West and the East and the (lack of) prospects in the East - the film project shows perspectives on a united Germany from young people who never knew the division.
    
11. Carl Friedrich Tango - unheard of!
    Travelling in the footsteps of the bandoneon - the sounds of the keyboard instrument developed in Chemnitz are digitally processed and combined with energetic, modern tango music. The result of this musical crossover will be performed at the Garage Campus.
    
12. Make Bubbles not Troubles - giant soap bubbles to join in with
    Giant soap bubbles fascinate and amaze. In a cosy atmosphere and combined with a picnic, the Schlossteichinsel will become a place of encounter.
    
13. T-move(s)
    Textile production has a long tradition in Chemnitz and the cultural region - the aim of the encounter project is to invite people to exchange experiences and talk about past, present and future work processes in this craft.
    
14. Speed dating "Solidarity City/City for All"
    How can we succeed in making Chemnitz a city of diversity and a home for everyone? This project aims to connect and create a platform for exchange and discussion for Chemnitz residents with and without a migration background.
    
15. The centre of Chemnitz
    Where is the geographical centre of Chemnitz? Pupils from the Chemnitz school model have calculated this. This centre of gravity is now to be made visible with a stele.
    
16. Chemnitz Untold
    C the Unseen - tell the untold. The project uses videos, images, texts and a podcast to tell us about the lives of people with an international history and show us their ideas for Chemnitz. In addition to digital formats, a first photo exhibition of the project has already taken place at the KOSMOS 2022 festival.
    
17. The good story
    Oberwiesenthal is known as a town that is open to discussion. These are the stories that we have been told and that we believe. But there is another way: the big and small stories of activists and people who help shape life on the mountain in a positive way are to be shown in a film.
    
18. The second life
    A photography exhibition invites you to get to know people who have experienced flight and migration and their new lives in Chemnitz. How did they manage to set up their own business and what are they involved in in civil society?
    
19. VRloves (in) Chemnitz
    Using digital virtual reality technology to travel to Chemnitz's favourite places - this will soon be possible for Chemnitz residents with limited mobility. The worlds of young, tech-savvy volunteers and fellow citizens, most of whom are no longer fully mobile due to their age, will be brought together.
    

Contact us

Questions about the micro-projects can be answered by the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 GmbH:

Jan Pietschmann
Phone: 0371 24351362; mobile: 0176 465 057 45
Email:Send email