Participation and citizen involvement are at the heart of the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025. In addition to numerous recurring and continuous participation opportunities, there are always opportunities to get involved in individual projects, campaigns and tenders.
From 10 to 12 March 2025, the Esche Museum and the new Esche Lab will be hosting the Spring School, a three-day workshop for students from the fields of design, media studies, cultural studies, mechanical engineering, museum education and anyone else who is curious.
The topic: How can we preserve knowledge about the technology of our functioning museum machines? Because: MACHINES DON'T REMEMBER ANYTHING!
The participants develop innovative solutions for storing machine knowledge. The project combines art and technology and preserves industrial culture in creative concepts. The Spring School is conceived and organised by the design agency Haemd from Halle - supported by the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025.
Programme and facts
- 3 days WORKSHOP
- 2 overnight stays and snacks included at ESCHE
- Accompanied and moderated by haemd + employees of the ESCHE Museum
The programme is aimed at students from the fields of (textile) design, learning and game design, media studies, mechanical engineering, museum education, cultural studies and all other interested parties.
Send an informal application by 21 February 2025, stating your name, contact details, degree programme and university to eschemuseum(at)limbach-oberfrohna.de
More about the call for applications on the Esche Museum website.
The Lößnitz MAKERS are establishing an upcycling art trail through the town based on two works of art that will be exhibited in Lößnitz during the Capital of Culture year (Rebekka Horn / Uli Aigner). They transform empty commercial premises and shop windows into places of creative energy and inspiration. Visitors will be able to discover upcycling art in the centre of public spaces. The trail leads to a central exhibition in the former post office in Lößnitz - a vacant yet imposing building directly on the market square, which will be used as an interim venue for the exhibition.
Regional and European artists and creatives are invited to submit their upcycling work for the exhibition by 21 February 2025. The organisers of MEHRWERT:SCHÖPFUNG are accepting ideas with images by email.
More information on the call for entries: https://www.loessnitz-makers.de/upcycling-kunst-woche-c2025
The FUNKEN Kolleg invites artists from all disciplines to place the transformation into a knowledge, service and digital society in a poetic-aesthetic focus. Together, we are exploring ways of cross-sectoral collaboration between business, science and art.
Over a period of four months, the participants will work on joint projects within the framework of collaborative programme situations. The thematic, methodological or organisational design of the collaboration between the partners will be jointly determined and coordinated as part of the matching process and initiated and supported by the FUNKEN Kolleg. Applications are open to professional, freelance artists or collectives from all disciplines with a connection to technology and an interest in ArtScience collaborations.
Project outlines can be submitted until 1 March 2025.
To the OPEN CALL: funken-akademie.de/2025/01/23/open-call-funken-kolleg
Micro-projects are intended to provide impetus for new cultural formats or encounters in the city and the Capital of Culture region. The broad urban and regional society is called upon to create forms of communication and social interaction.
Funding is available for non-commercial creative and cultural project ideas: e.g. visual arts, performing arts, literature, music, film, photography, architecture, peace and remembrance culture, media and new media, related forms and interdisciplinary projects as well as activities in sport, civil society and popular culture. Activities that focus on diversity, sustainability, inclusion and/or multi-generational cooperation are also expressly desired.
Interested citizens have the opportunity to submit ideas for micro-project funding again from now until 2 March 2025. Apply here.
Call out phase one: Chemnitz artists
Quarantine, Manchester, UK, and ASA-FF, Chemnitz, Germany, would like to meet Chemnitz based artists who are interested in being part of a cross-border intergenerational exchange with artists based in Manchester, UK.
Chemnitz and Manchester have been twin cities since 1983. The last 40 years have treated both cities differently, and this has had a significant impact on the demographics of their populations. The median age in Manchester is 31 years, in Chemnitz it’s 52 years – a whole generation older.
In response, Would Like to Meet (WLTM) will pair artists from Chemnitz, Germany, with artists from Manchester, UK, with at least a 20-year age gap between them. We’re looking to curate a cohort of artists of all ages from both cities, so please apply whatever your age.
This edition of WLTM is one part of Quarantine’s new project The Questions, part of Chemnitz 2025: European Capital of Culture.
The opportunity
- To be paired with an artist in Manchester, UK, for two residencies together – seven days in Manchester and eight days in Chemnitz (including travel days). The residency time is for sharing practice, framed by the questions that you have for one another across generations, and across cities. The invitation is to spend time together in a determinedly open-ended way, engaging in conversation, experimentation and shared experiences. There is no expectation to produce something concrete as a result.
- The residencies are self-directed, but support and provocations will be offered from Quarantine and ASA-FF throughout the process, and there will be facilitated time with the wider WLTM artist cohort in each city, as well as opportunities to see other parts of the wider The Questions project.
- Access to an artist hub in each city for the duration of the residencies.
- A total fee of £1800 per artist to cover both residencies, plus travel, accommodation, and per-diems when visiting the city that is not your home base.
- A budget of £500 per pair of artists, per residency, to spend in whatever way feels relevant to what you want to explore together – perhaps to invite in an expert on a subject you’re interested in, or to visit somewhere together, or to cover materials…
Who can apply?
WLTM aims to facilitate intergenerational collaboration and create opportunities for artists to learn from one another, regardless of where they’re at in their professional development. We’re keen to hear from artists of all ages (18+ only for safeguarding reasons) and at all stages of their practice.
Artists can be working in any art form but there should be a live element to your practice, and you should in some way feel that your work and ideas are resonant with the artistic and social/political ambitions of Quarantine and ASA-FF.
This first phase of the call is aimed at artists who live in the Chemnitz European Capital of Culture region. Together with Chemnitz, 38 cities and municipalities form the Capital of Culture Region and together bear the title ‘European Capital of Culture’, with around half a million inhabitants.
About the application process
The application process will happen in two stages:
- Five artists from Chemnitz will be selected by Quarantine and ASA-FF. These artists will let us know what kind of artist they ‘would like to meet’ from Manchester.
- These ‘would like to meet’ ads will then be shared with artists in Manchester, who can respond if they feel that they’re a good fit, interested in the collaboration and have a 20-year age gap.
Access and inclusion are at the heart of how Quarantine and ASA-FF operate. We recognise that institutional racism, discrimination and inequality exists in our sector and are dedicated to helping to address this. We particularly welcome applications from people with lived and intersectional experience of racism or marginalisation, including working class, disabled, neurodivergent, LGBTQIA+, global majority individuals and other marginalised groups.
We have a separate access budget to support these residencies and are happy to discuss with you anything we can do to make the application process or residency experience more accessible for you.
Artists must be available on all of the following dates:
Manchester: 7 consecutive days between 29 September – 19 October (exact dates tbc)
Chemnitz: 24 November – 1 December 2025
Online information session
We’re hosting an online information session in German for artists interested in applying on Thursday 20 February at 6pm Germany (5pm UK).
Sign up here – we’ll be in touch closer to the time with a Zoom meeting invitation.
Application questions
Please apply by sending your answers to the following questions either in writing (no more than 2x A4 pages) or as a video or audio file (no longer than 5 minutes), along with a website or social media link (if possible) to sarah(at)qtine.com by Sunday 2 March 2025.
We will accept applications in both English and German.
Interviews will take place online via Zoom on Friday 7 March 2025. If this date is not possible for you, please let us know this at the point of application.
- Who are you and what is your artistic practice?
- How old are you and how do you feel about that?
- What kind of artist would you like to meet through this process?
- Would you prefer to be matched with an artist who is older or younger than you?
- What starting questions would you have for them?
- How does your practice resonate with the work of Quarantine and/or ASA-FF?
- Do you have any access needs?
- Are you available for the interview and residency dates? And if shortlisted, would you prefer for your interview to happen in English or German?
- What languages do you speak? We will try to pair artists who can speak a shared language.
Please also fill out a monitoring form – here. These are submitted anonymously to help us gather data on who our open calls reach and, critically, who we are missing.
In 2025, Quarantine (Manchester, UK) will collaborate with ASA-FF (Chemnitz, Germany) on our new three-part project The Questions, which will create intergenerational encounters with people both locally and across borders – between our cities, which have been twinned since 1983.
How do we want to live together in the future? Do you have a creative idea that you would like to realise with your initiative, association or company at KOSMOS 2025? Whether it's a reading in a high seat, a highline record attempt, discussions to add mustard, or future workshops for children - the KOSMOS Festival offers a platform and the necessary infrastructure, and you design the content.
As of now, programme items from GESELLSCHAFT & WIRTSCHAFT, KUNST & SPORT that you would like to implement at KOSMOS can be submitted. The curation teams of the respective areas will review all ideas and then get in touch with you!
Whether you want to participate with small or large projects - all formats are welcome: Performances, art installations, workshops, hands-on activities, lectures or presentations. Take part and utilise the freedom in the KOSMOS of possibilities
Interested? Then send an email to team(at)kosmos-chemnitz.de with the following information:
Working title of your programme item
Area (society & economy, art or sport)
Short description of your idea
Who you are & how we can contact you
Deadline for submitting project ideas is 04 March 2025.
More information about the KOSMOS Festival & the OPEN CALL: OPEN CALL | Kosmos Chemnitz.
Toymakers wanted for the European Toymaking Festival, 29-31 August 2025, Seiffen / Erzgebirge
Denkstatt Erzgebirge is looking for European toymakers, especially wooden toymakers, who would like to present their craftsmanship and exchange ideas with colleagues and guests. The event offers a platform for presentations, workshops, networking opportunities and a cultural programme. Participation is open to professional craftspeople and innovators who combine traditional techniques with modern approaches. A board of trustees will select up to ten participants based on European diversity, originality and mix of experience. The fee is EUR 1,000 net, including travel and transport costs.
Applications must be submitted by 16 March 2025.
More information is available at https://www.denkstatt-erzgebirge.de/smf25
Three days full of creative energy: game developers, learning enthusiasts and visionaries come together in a workshop to create games that bring knowledge to life, strengthen team spirit and make even the most complex contexts understandable.
Their ideas are celebrated in a rousing public slam in which not only the cleverest idea but also the most passionate performance counts and the audience chooses the winner. During these days, we will explore together what new perspectives for the future can be created through ‘serious’ games.
And the Games Night invites everyone to give free rein to the joy of gaming and try out lots of games for themselves.
Game professionals wanted for Serious Games Workshop
In the Serious Games Workshop, designers, educators, entrepreneurs and students develop new game prototypes over two days. This year, the focus is on co-operative games dedicated to the topic of ‘change’.
The workshop will be flanked by a workshop programme and a final slam. The slam is the grand finale of the workshop: The freshly developed prototypes are presented in front of an audience, which finally chooses the slam king or kings.
Would you like to be a games professional at the Serious Games Workshop from 18-20 September 2025? Then apply now and by 01.06.2025 using the following form.
Register for the Serious Maker Games Days.
What awaits you as a participant:in the Serious Games Workshop:
18.09.2025 - Workshops and Games Night
After a relaxed arrival, we will start the afternoon with mini-workshops in which experts from the games industry will provide insights into the development and marketing of serious games.
The Games Night starts in the evening: we discover, play and discuss different serious games together with many game lovers.
19 + 20.09.2025 - Hands-On Workshop
The centrepiece of the event is the two-day workshop, in which participants develop prototype serious games in teams. Within a tight timeframe, playable concepts are created that are often surprisingly creative and innovative. You will quickly realise your ideas and learn from your mistakes just as quickly.
This time, the focus is on cooperative games that deal with the topic of ‘change’.
20.09.2025 Serious Games Slam
At the end of the workshop, the teams present their games to the public in the form of a slam. This final presentation is not just about ingenious game concepts and creative solutions to real problems - it also requires quick-witted and entertaining presentations! Because everyone wants to go home as slam king at the end!
Network and exchange
The Maker Days offer numerous opportunities for networking. Whether in informal conversations, structured feedback sessions or during the presentation of the results - the exchange between participants and mentors takes centre stage.
Drivers wanted: Who invites us into their car?
What is ‘panorama radio’?
With ‘panorama radio’, the two directors Ayşe Draz and Marlin de Haan invite car owners and guests to take a spin together through Chemnitz. The temporary company travels through the city along a planned route: during the journey, props are handed out, conversations are held, people listen to each other, disagree or agree, and time is spent together. The events inside the car connect with the outside. How can community be created in a private space and for what purpose? ‘panorama radio’ is a shared, unique experience.
For Chemnitz2025, Ayşe Draz and Marlin de Haan are developing a new version of ‘panorama radio’, which has already been performed in Istanbul, Düsseldorf and Bonn in 2019. The project at Edition Chemnitz is made possible in part with the support of the Kulturamt Düsseldorf, one of Chemnitz's twin cities.
Who is involved?
Ayşe Draz and Marlin de Haan, two art and theatre professionals from Istanbul/Berlin and Düsseldorf, met in Istanbul in 2016/2017 and have since realised a total of three projects together. With their different experiences with theatre and performance in Germany and abroad, they complement each other well. The team includes curator Jeannette Brabenetz, who lives and works in Chemnitz, and Banu Çiçek Tülü, a sound designer from Berlin. The team will continue to grow.
What is it about?
Do you have a car? Would you like to invite us and our guests into it and show us your city?
We are looking for 7-12 participants between the ages of 18 and approx. 65 for our ‘panorama radio’ project (Edition Chemnitz) who own a car and know their way around Chemnitz and/or the surrounding area.
We would love to hear your tips for the development of our route: What special places and interesting routes are there in Chemnitz that are easy to see from the car?
You should have a driving licence, enjoy driving safely, be reliable and punctual for the performances and enjoy meeting our guests.
We offer joint preparation of the route, test drives, team spirit, interesting encounters, extraordinary experiences and insights, including into working with artists.
As a host/driver and part of our team, you will drive us and our guests safely through the city on several performance days.
The route we set will take a maximum of 40 minutes (with short stops without getting off). We will rehearse the journey and route with you beforehand and you will also be in the passenger seat during the performances.
There will be a meeting point in the city centre where the ride starts and ends.
You will drive the group safely through the city centre. We will use your car's sound system or bring a loudspeaker, through which we will all listen to an audio track with texts in German. We hand out props to the guests in the back seat. You are in the special role of the host. The performance location (your car) makes the shared experience extraordinary.
We speak German, English and Turkish. You should have a good command of one of these languages so that we can communicate with each other.
It's good to know that the trip is covered by your car insurance. We will also cover your petrol costs.
Time frame
Rehearsals: 15.5.-22.5.2025
During this period we will rehearse on site in Chemnitz. We only need you and your car on individual days, for which we will make an appointment with you in good time.
Performances:
- 23-25 May 2025
- 6-8 June 2025
The exact performance times are yet to be announced. What is certain is that the events will take place in daylight.
A video link to ‘panorama radio’ as it took place in Istanbul and Düsseldorf in 2019 (8 min.): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYSgZJ-JCgk&t=36s
Get to know each other in Chemnitz (Café ‘Alex’ at Neumarkt):
- 4 March: 5-6 p.m. or 6-7 p.m.
- 5 March: 5-6 p.m. or 6-7 p.m.
- 6 March: 5-6 p.m. or 6-7 p.m.
Please write in your application on which day and at which time you can meet us. Send us a few sentences about yourself: What is your name and how old are you? Are you working and if so, what do you do? Why would you like to take part?
We look forward to hearing from you!
Contact us:
Marlin de Haan & Ayşe Draz
The bus alredy left is a staged city tour. The focus is on unseen work. All the trappings that make paid work possible in the first place. Under the artistic direction of Gabi Reinhardt, women* tell their view of things. In exciting places in this city.
Do you want to raise your voice and say out loud what is important to you? Would you like to spend a good time with other strong women*, be on stage in a big or tiny scene, in drama, dance, music, puppet theatre or talk about your life in an interview?
You are
- a woman* / FLI NTA
- at least 16 years old
- live in Chemnitz / the surrounding area and
- want to do one or more of these things?
Then come to the warm-up meeting! Without obligation at Weltecho - Annaberger Straße 24, Chemnitz on 27 March 2025 - 16:00 or 18:00.
Feel free to bring a friend*!
The venue is accessible for people in wheelchairs. Do you have other accessibility needs? You can't make the date? Do you still have questions? Please get in touch with us!
Register at derbusistabgefahren(at)posteo.de or simply drop by.
The funding programme supports projects in the 30 intervention areas, the urban development project of the European Capital of Culture, as well as initiatives throughout the city and in the digital space. The programme is based on three pillars, which are financed by the City of Chemnitz, Chemnitz 2025 gGmbH and Sparkasse Chemnitz. The application period begins on 1 May 2024 and ends on 31 May 2025. The deadlines for the three programme pillars differ.
The idea behind the LIVING NEIGHBOURHOOD project is to plant publicly accessible apple orchards and create communities that plant, care for and celebrate together. Anyone who would like to create such a meadow in their neighbourhood can get in touch at pflanzen(at)chemnitz2025.de and take part in the planting weeks in spring and autumn 2025.
Experience the textile history and future of Chemnitz and the Capital of Culture region!
(May 26th - 27th, 2025)
Chemnitz, the European Capital of Culture 2025, invites experts from the world of textile design and textile art to a unique tour. Discover the traditional and at the same time innovative textile industry of this city, which was once known as the "Saxon Manchester" and today inspires with new concepts in sustainable production, digital textile design and artistic design. Get to know the Esche Lab, the workshop for creative textile work with a focus on knitting, embroidery and clothing in Limbach-Oberfrohna. Discover the possibilities for textile art projects in the renowned Sächsisches Textilforschungsinstitut e.V. (STFI).
This specialist tour offers a unique opportunity to gain new inspiration for your own work, to network with European experts and to help shape the textile future in one of the most exciting creative regions in Europe.
Target group: Textile designers, textile artists, university employees from the fields of fashion, textiles and art
Programme highlights
- Exclusive tours with a focus on textile history and textile technologies
- Exchange with creatives, designers and scientists from Chemnitz and Europe at specialist discussions and networking events
- Workshop and live demonstrations that offer insights into innovative techniques and artistic approaches
City center tour and playful exploration of the European Capital of Culture with a visit to the Chemnitz 2025 Information Center
Application process
The number of participants is limited to 15 people. Applications are made via an online application form. Selected participants will receive a grant for travel and accommodation costs:
- Participants from Germany: 100 EUR before taxes
- Participants from other European countries: 150 EUR before taxes
The participants are responsible for organizing their own accommodation.
Apply online now using this form.
Application deadline: April 11, 2025
An offer from the Makers, Business & Arts project of the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025, the Esche Museum and the Sächsisches Textilforschungsinstitut e.V. (STFI).
Contact for inquiries: mba(at)chemnitz2025.de
