IMPORTANT UPDATE: Due to the rising Corona case numbers, the number of visitors allowed to come to the Cultural Summer Gardens will be reduced to 250 people for the time being! We will keep you posted on further developments!
Original post:
On August 21, things are finally scheduled to get underway: That's when the first summer gardens of culture are scheduled to get underway. After several places were in the discussion - among them the Rossmarkt or also the Weseler Werft - is now also certain, where these summer gardens are to take place: The Batschkapp, the Tanzhaus West in the Gutleutviertel and the club Das Bett in Schmidtstraße. Here, open air events with up to 800 - 1000 visitors should be able to be held (current restriction: see above).
About two weeks ago, the initiative "Round-Table Club Concept" was launched. The common goal of those involved was to give club operators and event service providers, as well as musicians, a chance for a restart within the corona-related legally permissible possibilities. The umbrella associations Clubs am Main, Initiative Gastronomie and DEHOGA brought a concept for the establishment of cultural summer gardens at three to four different venues into the round. The special solidarity of the organizers, who want to give all clubs the opportunity to participate at these locations, was convincing. In the days following it went to the concretization of the project.
In the meantime, the important aspect of the financial support of the project was also clarified by the magistrate. In the process, the DEHOGA's application for support from funds from the tourism contribution was examined. Mayor Feldmann, as chairman of the tourism advisory board, is pleased that the project will provide the club and music scene with opportunities for performances. "I am grateful to all club operators. They have attached importance to the fact that the whole range of the scene is invited to join in - and thus actively create offers for young people in the public space," notes the city leader: "Music and meeting are important building blocks for the social and peaceful coexistence in our city, if the currently necessary distances are observed."
Both Feldmann and culture department Ina Hartwig and economic department Markus Frank have promised to give a contribution to the realization of the culture summer gardens from the funds awarded to them from the tourism levy. Meanwhile, Mayor and City Treasurer Uwe Becker has signed the grant approval totaling 270,000 euros: "Now the organizers have planning security and can begin to commission the necessary safety and hygiene concepts for the planned locations," he says.
To ensure that everything can proceed as planned, each potential venue needs controlled routing for audience access and egress to avoid unnecessarily large crowds in a small space. In addition, the documentation of a registration with names and addresses must be guaranteed, so that incidents such as the recent one at Opernplatz can be virtually ruled out. Also for the proper disposal of the resulting garbage must be presented in advance a solution.
So the concept of cultural summer gardens is also to be seen against the background of convincing the state government that the general ban on the club scene must be relaxed in order to be able to maintain the vibrant club culture, if the infection figures allow it. "Apart from making the city more attractive, it is also about delivering a blueprint for economically viable concepts to be ready for the future. The club and cultural scene, as well as the many independent musicians, artists and technicians who have been in lockdown since March through no fault of their own, urgently need a roadmap for the restart, otherwise we will lose them as an important part of our cultural scene," Lord Mayor Feldmann, Environment and Women's Affairs Director Heilig, Culture Director Hartwig and Economics Director Frank announced in a statement.
We will keep you informed about the program of the cultural summer gardens in our event calendar.
