The fourth event in the series "What can the European Capital of Culture do in Chemnitz?" took place under the title "How can culture succeed for everyone?" on 7 February 2024 at 6 p.m. at Weltecho in Chemnitz.
At the invitation of the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 gGmbH, project organisers from Chemnitz and the cultural region came together with local and international experts for a discussion.
Dr Gustavo Fijalkow, director of FORWARD DANCE COMPANY, Maria Tomasa Llera Pérez, managing director of Atomino e. V., European Capital ofCulture project manager Steffen Biernath, Michael Welsch, Saxony's state commissioner for inclusion , and Leipzig-based media and conceptual artist Dirk Sorge discussed how inclusion-oriented cultural work can succeed. Aisha Konaté took over the moderation.
Removing barriers for the audience is only one part of inclusive cultural work. An important but often forgotten part is enabling the participation of artists and cultural workers with disabilities on stage and in cultural institutions. This point quickly became clear during the discussion.
"The barriers in people's minds are the biggest," says Michael Welsch, Saxon State Inclusion Officer. In order to break down these barriers and at the same time provide concrete recommendations for action, Steffen Biernath presented the guidelines for inclusive events from the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 gGmbH.
The guide was created with the results of various workshop rounds of all participants of the European Capital of Culture Info Café in September 2023, the professional input and help of the employees of the Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund (ASB) in Chemnitz and the Inclusion Service Centre in the cultural sector from Dresden.
This guide is available to all interested parties and project partners of Chemnitz 2025 to help them plan and organise inclusive events for 2025 and beyond. Even with little effort, important steps can be taken to enable all people to participate in events and cultural life.
The event was accompanied by musical contributions from Diana Weidelt, Uta Swoboda and Torsten Reitz from farbwerk e.V.
The discourse events and workshops as part of Capacity Building are funded by the Federal Agency for Civic Education.
The European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 GmbH is implementing the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 programme. The discussion series "What can the European Capital of Culture do?" is part of the Soft Skills Academy, a project within the European Workshop for Culture and Democracy programme of the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 GmbH.
