Why should Chemnitz become your next cultural destination

5 March 2019

Why should Chemnitz become your next cultural destination?

“Chemnitz is the third biggest city in the East of Germany but is still relatively
unknown despite having a lot to offer” said mayor Barbara Ludwig (Social Democrat)
in an interview to EUROCITIES in February 2019. Chemnitz however, hit the headlines
last August when a far right protest turned into a witch hunt targeting refugees
welcomed by the city. “[Far right movements] are challenging the democratic state
in a way they have not done before” said the Mayor in an interview to the New York
Times. International newspapers and media were suddenly able to place Chemnitz
on the map, but not for good reasons. But as mayor Barbara Ludwig reminded us,
“we must not forget that this reflects only one part of the city, and not its whole”.
‘There are more of us’ was the message of a rock concert that rallied thousands of
people this summer. The reality is that Chemnitz gives space to culture, creativity
and pilot initiatives.
So, what about the rest of the picture?

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Built on an industrial past, the city has shown its ability to rise again

Photo credits Ernesto Uhlmann

Known from 1953 to 1990 as Karl-Marx Stadt in recognition of its industrial heritage, the city
never actually hosted the great writer and philosopher. But in terms of industrial heritage,
Chemnitz certainly shares a lot. An industrial beacon throughout the 19th century, the city
was badly damaged during World War II, when about 40% of the city centre was destroyed.
As in Dresden and other cities that encountered the same fate, this had massive
consequences on the urban quality of the city.
In the German Democratic Republic (GDR), as in other socialist countries from the Eastern
Bloc, urban planning directly after the war focused on industrial redevelopment and
reconstruction of places for people to live. A slight twist in this story saw Chemnitz rebuilt
under the principles of the socialist city. Inspired by the modernist architecture movement,
pioneered by Walter Gropius in Germany and Le Corbusier in France, the principles of the
socialist city underpin simplified forms and clean lines for the buildings. In modernist
architecture styles, housing developments generally feature tower blocks in park-like
settings, and are standardised and mass-produced.

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This style is still very visible in Chemnitz today, and to see vestiges of previous architectural
periods, you need to head to specific neighbourhoods such as Sonnenberg, host to the
Wissmannhof residential courtyard among others.

Photo credits Ernesto Uhlmann

With the economic downfall that came after the reunification of Germany in 1990, Chemnitz
lost inhabitants and economic growth plummeted. Buildings that had shaped the city for
years through their imposing architectural styles, and where inhabitants went to work every
day were abandoned to decay. These buildings have now become spaces for urban
exploration. One of these massive sites is the Spinnereimaschinenbau, a former spinning
machines factory in Altchemnitz of about 4.7 ha. The building is currently a private property,
bought by the current owner in 2013 with the intention to revitalise it. The owner is working
with the municipality and cultural stakeholders to transform the Spinnerei into a vibrant
space.
Chemnitz has thus been through a rough patch, but is now on the rise again. The city is
among the top ten German cities in terms of economic growth, and the population of
Chemnitz is increasing again.

Chemnitz’ renewal

This renewal is partly due to Chemnitz being a technological centre with manifold industries,

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including a growing IT sector, as well as a research and development centre, thanks to its
technical university.

Of course, culture and cultural industries have also played a role. Although most of the
trademark factories are now abandoned, Chemnitz remains a city of opportunity. All the
open spaces and empty buildings waiting for new occupants are a gold mine of creative
opportunities waiting to mushroom, and the city administration has well understood this,
putting culture higher on the Chemnitz agenda.

The municipality has ambitious expansion plans, which include a sizeable investment in
culture. The city promotes independent culture (also known as ‘off culture’), and it provides
continuous support to its numerous established cultural institutions, such as the Chemnitz
Opera, the Gunzenhauser Museum, former headquarters of the Sparkasse Chemnitz (Savings
and loan association of Chemnitz), a heritage landmark which, at the time of its
construction, was one of the first high-rise buildings in Chemnitz.

A European programme of cultural exchanges

To make the most of the expertise present in the EUROCITIES network, Chemnitz
participated in the exchange programme Culture for Cities and Regions. Culture for Cities
and Regions was a three-year initiative financed by the European Union Creative Europe
programme and managed by EUROCITIES to connect cities and regions working on innovative
cultural policies and allow them to exchange and learn from each other. Cities, regions and
external experts took stock of existing practices all over Europe to promote knowledge
transfer, to better understand successful cases of cultural investment, and to go into the
details of policy planning and implementation.

The programme ended in October 2017 with a final event in Ghent, Belgium. The at-the-
time-chair of the EUROCITIES culture forum and leader of Birmingham City Council, Ian
Ward, emphasised the need for European cities to continue the exchange of knowledge as
something “vitally important for the future if we are to grow our cultural offer and make

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our cities more attractive places in which to live.”

Credits Barbara Govin

Culture for Cities and Regions reached out to at least 140 cities and regions across Europe,
and Chemnitz was one of them, part of the adventure from the very start.
From Bologna to Chemnitz, an INCREDIBOL journey
In 2015, a study visit to Bologna as part of the Culture for Cities and Regions programme
inspired Chemnitz to adopt the Italian city’s model for promoting creative activities: the
INCREDIBOL initiative. Here the Chemnitz team saw thriving initiatives such as a disused
cellar converted into a concert venue with a bicycle park and an old bus terminal
transformed into an art gallery. The team also saw that, like Bologna, Chemnitz has a lot of
unused space and a desire to revitalise urban districts through cultural development.
The programme KRACH – Kreativraum Chemnitz (German for: Noise – Creative Space
Chemnitz) born after the visit in Bologna, now supports innovative projects of the cultural
and creative industries scene in Chemnitz. It offers commercial space, free of charge for
three years, to the sponsored projects. In addition, these projects receive a start-up budget
of €2,500, as well as expert support from business, law and marketing. KRACH is a brilliant
example of European cooperation and collaboration as well as knowledge transfer between

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European cities.

Photo credits Mark Frost

In its first edition in 2018, eleven projects were selected by a jury of creative industries
experts to settle in empty spaces in Chemnitz. One of the winners is fashion designer and
tailor Babette Sperling who wanted to develop her own recycling and upcycling label. She
planned to use her KRACH room to combine a hands-on workshop, an open design factory
and studio where products can be created from existing waste generated during textile
production. “KRACH is a true asset for the city of Chemnitz. With its straightforward and
unconventional approach, it offers space for ideas as well as innovation and supports
entrepreneurial spirit”, says Sperling.
The development of Chemnitz cultural strategy
Back in April 2017, Chemnitz hosted a Culture for Cities and Regions coaching visit. On this
occasion, coaches Nils Scheffler from Berlin, Val Birchall from Birmingham, Susanna Tommila
from Espoo, Peter Inkei from Budapest and Cécile Houpert from EUROCITIES met with mayor
Barbara Ludwig, culture department officials and local cultural stakeholders to discuss the
value of culture for the city and how it can be used as a tool for renewal and increased
participation of citizens. Indeed, since 2016, Chemnitz has been working on a cultural
development strategy as part of a broad reflection on its future. This strategy will cover the
period between 2018 and 2030 and is intended to become a driver of Chemnitz’s urban

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development.
Buttressed by strong political support, the city council’s department of cultural affairs is
determined to make things happen; the municipal culture budget is stable; and there is a
genuine desire to engage with citizens and to include the cultural sector in these discussions.
In its recommendations, the coaching team pointed out that Chemnitz may want to answer
a few important questions along the way. For instance, they identified the issue of leadership
as being critical to the success of the proposed strategy. According to the coaching team,
the adoption of open and distributed leadership models would help Chemnitz build on the
strong support extended by the mayor and the staff of the cultural department.
Furthermore, they argued that the development process of the cultural strategy can be as
important as the cultural strategy itself, and that the city should never forget the strategy’s
target audience and market. The whole process should be based on a shared understanding
of the city’s long-term cultural development goals. Chemnitz should bring relevant cultural
stakeholders together and build up trust and confidence between them. Eventually, all the
city’s stakeholders should become ‘owners’ of the strategy.

Photo credits Stadt Chemnitz

The coaching team also said that Chemnitz should draw heavily on the expertise of its
municipal staff and their colleagues and peers in other cities. Planning requires significant
resources and attention, they concluded, but the results are already promising.
At the same time, Chemnitz embarked on a journey for the title of European Capital of

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Culture 2025. The European Capital of Culture is a city designated by the European Union
for one year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong pan-European
dimension. Chemnitz is competing with other German cities in this process. Mayor Barbara
Ludwig sees the European Capital of Culture bid as a great opportunity for Chemnitz: “Being
the European Capital of Culture would require a big effort from us, but we would also receive
a lot in return”. The Mayor launched an initiative to involve citizens directly in the process
and ask them also what such a title would mean for their city.

The path ahead

Aiming to cement its status as the major regional centre for culture, science and education,
Chemnitz has been developing a strategy alongside local cultural actors and the
municipality. The city wants to put more focus on the involvement of local cultural
stakeholders in local culture planning. There is already collaboration between different
districts, the municipal urban planning office as well as cultural stakeholders and ‘Kreatives
Chemnitz’, a local association representing the creative industries association. But citizens
need to get involved as well.

Photo credits Stadt Chemnitz

In 2018, the organisation of the city’s jubilee ‘875 years of the City of Chemnitz’ was a
successful attempt to include citizens, stakeholders and initiatives in the organisation and

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the running of cultural events. The journey started by simply asking citizens what they could
recount about the history of their city and to imagine/create projects about this history -
sometimes from their very personal point of view or experience. There were more than 400
ideas and about 200 concrete projects which came out of this call. But what really mattered
to the municipality is that this process and grand celebration created spaces for new
possibilities for citizens to act as experts and storytellers. Some of the actors and citizens
got to know each other in a way that they never had before, and all age groups were
included.

Chemnitz now wants to share this experience, capitalise on it and take it to the next level.
The more the merrier, which is why Chemnitz is hosting the next EUROCITIES Culture Forum
this April 2019: to share of course, but also to learn from other cities that have already
developed local cultural networks of stakeholders and are working hand in hand with them
to develop cultural programmes.

And the experiences of cities are so diverse. Among the inspiring examples, we can already
count on Athens which developed the Athens Culture Net, a network of 45 private & public
cultural organisations discussing, collaborating, exchanging ideas to deliver cultural public
services the best way. Leeds is working with a ‘Donut Group’ of eight venues outside of the
city centre, in areas that often face much higher levels of poverty and deprivation, to share
their common experiences and commission joint projects. Munich has a competence team
of 10 staff members to proactively approach cultural and creative actors and help creatives
to find working space, networks and support for their international activities.

There are no one size fits all resources, but sharing experiences, exchanging tips and good
practices and learning from each other has proven to be the first step to finding the right
path. Mayor Barbara Ludwig is certainly convinced, commenting “that's why networks such
as EUROCITIES are worth to be fed in with ideas, with mayors’ exchanges, in order to share
examples of best practices and to sometimes also praise ourselves, when no one else does”.

“Cities often face similar challenges, which can be tackled in various ways. And over and
over again, it is fascinating the way we can learn from each other when we take the time to
sit together, to visit each other. Then, we quickly exchange not only the best sides, but also
discuss the difficulties we face”.

Join us in Chemnitz next 10-13 April!

Cécile Houpert, EUROCITIES project officer culture

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