Welcoming culture in Chemnitz: cultural project places four continents in the city's windows

Under the motto "Diversity through integration", the first of four events in the "Windows of the World" project will take place on Tuesday, 7 May at 2 pm . Children and adults with and without a migration background will work together to artistically design a house on the corner of Uhlandstraße and Peterstraße on Sonnenberg. StadtHalten Chemnitz e. V. and Caritas Chemnitz have joined forces for this project and are thus continuing well-known activities such as the "Street Gallery" or "Art Wall". Similar campaigns will take place in three other districts of Chemnitz over the course of the year. The aim of the campaign is to promote tolerance and the coexistence of different ethnicities and nationalities in the city.

Similar to the "street gallery", the artistic design will be a creative painting of picture panels that will breathe life into empty buildings. Sascha Wagner from StadtHalten Chemnitz e. V.: "Based on the "Street Gallery" project on the Sonnenberg, empty properties in other corners of the city will be decorated with colourful picture panels. In addition to the art project, a workshop will be held on each date. Art and workshops will be dedicated to one continent on each date. The starting date on the Sonnenberg will focus on Europe."

The project will continue on 6 June this year with the design of the Asia House in the Luther Quarter. As part of the Intercultural Weeks 2013 programme, interested parties can take part in the design of the Africa House on Kaßberg on 2 October and the Latin America House on Brühl on 22 October. The buildings to be decorated will be clearly characterised by the motto and the reference region.

Dmytro Remestvensky, Deputy Chairman of the Foreigners' Advisory Council in Chemnitz, is co-initiator of the project: "We have chosen the motto "Diversity through integration" for the project. The series of activities in the Sonnenberg, Luther neighbourhood, Brühl and Kaßberg districts is intended to counteract the trend of prejudice against people with a migration background. Joint activities break down the barriers in people's minds: communication takes place and a culture of togetherness, a welcoming culture so to speak, is promoted".

A video project accompanies the entire programme. Short video sequences and interviews are produced and published by people from outside, but also by the children involved, and finally put together in a short film. The project will end in November 2013 with an "Evening of Tolerance" organised by all participants with a cultural programme, the presentation of the film and a typical local buffet.

8,844 people from over 120 countries around the world currently live in the city of Chemnitz (as at 31 March 2013). The project is funded by the Local Action Plan.

Contact: Foreigners' Representative Etelka Kobuß, c/o City of Chemnitz, Social Welfare Office, Annaberger Straße 93, 09120 Chemnitz, phone 0371 488 5047, fax: 0371 488 5099,
E-mail: auslaenderbeauftragte@stadt-chemnitz.de and wagner@stadthalten-chemnitz.de and dmytro.remestvensky@bigmir.net