The region supports Chemnitz2025
24 cities and municipalities along the Chemnitz Model decide to participate in Chemnitz's bid for the title of European Capital of Culture 2025
At a joint council meeting on 14 November 2018 at Messe Chemnitz, 24 cities and municipalities along the Chemnitz Model unanimously sealed their support for Chemnitz's bid to become European Capital of Culture 2025.
Amtsberg, Annaberg-Buchholz, Aue, Augustusburg, Burgstädt, Burkhardtsdorf, Flöha, Frankenberg/Saxony, Hainichen, Jahnsdorf/Erzgebirge, Lichtenau, Limbach-Oberfrohna, Lößnitz, Mittweida, Neukirchen/Erzgebirge, Niederdorf, Niederwiesa, Niederwürschnitz, Oelsnitz, Olbernhau, Pockau-Lengefeld, Stollberg/Erzgebirge, Thalheim/Erzgebirge and Zwönitz have agreed to redefine the established cultural region. The application process, the preparatory years and the 2025 event year are intended to further expand the collaboration and consolidate it beyond 2025.
Nico Dittmann, Mayor of Thalheim / Erzgebirge: "I was enthusiastic about the idea of a joint bid right from the start. Of course, there are things that separate us. I'm thinking of football, for example. But we also have a lot in common and I hope we use this opportunity to shape the future together. Incidentally, Thalheim will be celebrating exactly 100 years of municipal law in 2025. I don't think there's a better way to celebrate that."
Ralf Schreiber, Mayor of Mittweida: "I am very much looking forward to this ambitious project and think it is important that we now join forces to submit a powerful bid. It is said that a vision becomes reality when I have the courage to overcome boundaries. Let's cross these borders and be open to Europe."
Gunnar Bertram, President of the Regional Assembly of the Chemnitz Chamber of Industry and Commerce: "Culture needs business as a patron, as a sponsor. But more importantly, the economy needs culture for three reasons. Culture is a location factor. Corporate culture is a guarantee for entrepreneurial success. And culture gets us out of our shells and helps to overcome prejudices."
With around half a million inhabitants, the Chemnitz region is a densely populated conurbation in Europe with enormous cultural potential. For this reason, various projects and event formats are being designed on the way to becoming the Capital of Culture, which should change the region in a positive way regardless of whether it wins the title: both in the perception of the local people and in the supra-regional, even European perception.
Lord Mayor Barbara Ludwig: "There are many points of contact for the cultural region, because we have not only experienced a common history, we can also tell it together - a profoundly European history."