Off to the centre - The Saxony city offensive
Photo opportunity on 2 August, 10.30 a.m.: Handover of cheque to the "Light our Vision" project
On Friday, 2 August at 10.30 a.m., the initiators of the "Light our Vision" festival of lights will receive a cheque for 20,000 euros. Lord Mayor Sven Schulze will present the cheque to the initiators of the project, Linda Hüttner and Claudia Fischer, in the presence of other representatives of the initiative group in the Wandelhalle of Chemnitz Town Hall.
Representatives of the media are invited to attend.
The 20,000 euros is the prize money that the City of Chemnitz won last year with its project entry "Chemnitz Festival of Lights 'Light our Vision' - Chemnitz shows itself in a new light" in the "Ab in die Mitte - Die City-Offensive Sachsen" competition organised by the Free State of Saxony.
The money will go towards the new edition of the Festival of Lights, which will once again invite visitors to experience Chemnitz in a special light this year from 25 to 28 September.
Background
Last year, the city of Chemnitz once again won a prize in the city centre competition "Ab in die Mitte - Die City-Offensive Sachsen". The project entry "Chemnitz Festival of Lights 'Light our Vision' - Chemnitz shows itself in a new light" convinced the jury. The project received prize money totalling 20,000 euros for 3rd place in the competition.
The "Light our Vision" light festival is an annual event lasting several days and is intended to attract thousands of guests to various and, above all, hidden places in Chemnitz city centre. The first edition, which took place from 21 to 23 September 2023, was a great success. The festival stretched from Düsseldorfer Platz through Stadthallenpark via Brückenstraße, on to the SIB building behind the Karl Marx Monument and the car park behind it to Theaterplatz and the main railway station. The Festival of Lights calmed traffic on Brückenstraße and brought the vision of a promenade from the city centre via Theaterplatz to Brühl and the railway station to life. In future, the city centre is to become more of a focal point and further areas are to be used.
Linda Hüttner, architect and managing director of Gunter Hüttner + Co. GmbH, and Claudia Fischer, interior designer at the Saxony Chamber of Architects, as well as the Baukultur für Chemnitz e. V. association with the support of numerous Chemnitz companies and organisations, are the initiators and implementers of the project.
City centre competition "Off to the centre! The Saxony City Centre Initiative"
Under the motto "20 years of 'Ab in die Mitte! Strengthening networks - shaping transformation", the Free State of Saxony joined forces with partners from the private sector last year to look for outstanding ideas and concepts that give new impetus to urban renewal. The basic idea of the competition is to bring more life and therefore more visitors to Saxony's city centres and town centres. In 2023, a total of 40 Saxon municipalities took part with 45 projects.
This year, Saxon cities and municipalities will once again have the opportunity to participate in the city centre competition "Ab in die Mitte! Die City-Offensive Sachsen" city centre competition to win prizes and material support for creative projects to upgrade their city centres. More than 300,000 euros are once again available for this purpose. The competition officially started with the kick-off event on 22 May in Reichenbach in Vogtland. There, the patron of this year's competition, Minister of Economic Affairs Martin Dulig, announced the new competition motto "Auf'n Halt - Stadtmitte hat immer Saison". Local authorities have until 20 September to submit new competition projects.