The Bar-Camp by Marcus Heinke from the Netzwerk für Kultur- und Jugendarbeit e.V. (Network for Culture and Youth Work) addressed a problem that has been occupying and moving cultural workers in Chemnitz for years.

Under the keyword “Cultural Capitals”, concepts were discussed to revive the participation of the Chemnitz population in cultural and city projects – including the Capital of Culture project.

  • How can participation be increased in the districts as well as in the regions?

    • <How can citizens support us with their information and thus actively participate in the process?

  • Which possibilities and structures can we use?
  • How can a “mute” population be sensitized and activated for cultural issues?

The participants agreed that new spaces for discussion and a new culture of discussion must be created. First of all, potential must be discovered and existing structures must continue to be used. Possibilities are e.g. surveys by the Chemnitz University of Technology or the district managers already active.

The aim is to establish communication between actors and to maintain it in the long term. For the Capital of Culture application process it was suggested to continue with communication “in the living room”. There must be conversations between citizens and the Capital of Culture actors, in which they are given the opportunity to tell their “own story” and in which topics close to their hearts are identified. Even previously unknown cultural actors – from all possible fields – should be found and included in the process. Long-term multipliers and so-called “net holders” are needed to carry this communication into all classes of citizens and districts and to keep it alive.

Important upcoming tasks in this area are the identification of multipliers and net holders and the development of a strategy to generate an appropriate level of expectations while still including all important topics and ideas of the population.