Following the sudden death of Michael Hohmann last December, the Romanfabrik now has a new managing director and artistic director once again. The venue in Frankfurt's east will be led by musician and cultural mediator Gregor Praml from November. Head of Culture Ina Hartwig welcomes the decision: "With Gregor Praml, the board of the Romanfabrik has made an excellent choice. Gregor Praml brings expertise and passion and is an established figure in Frankfurt's cultural life. With him, the Romanfabrik is ideally positioned for the future." She adds, "My pronounced thanks go to Ruthard Stäblein, former literary editor of Hessischer Rundfunk and member of the board of the Romanfabrik, who took over the leadership of this long-established institution on an interim basis and is now passing the baton to his successor."
According to the board, Praml will continue and modernize the Romanfabrik's programming, which focuses on literature, music and debate culture. A graduate musician with a major in electric bass and double bass, Praml has appeared in the past with a wide variety of projects and ensembles and has also worked as a freelance editor for Hessischer Rundfunk. From 2016 to 2020, he was responsible for the renowned Kassel World Music Festival as artistic director.
Within "Jazz Connects RheinMain" together with the Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain, he successfully initiated the series "Literatur.Jazz" and "Solo.Jazz" at different venues in the region in 2022 and 2023. Since 2017, he has also hosted the concert-talk series "The LOKAL Listener - Gregor Praml meets.", with which he has established an important contribution to the cultural scene in the Rhine-Main region. As a soloist, Gregor Praml is a prize winner of the International Sperger Double Bass Competition 2020.
Most recently, he composed the music for the dance theater pieces "Glanz*", "Angsthasen" as well as "Gänsehaut und Espenlaub" (choreography: Célestine Hennermann). For the latter two productions, together with the dance company Hennermanns Horde, he received the children's and youth theater award Karfunkel 2022 of the city of Frankfurt am Main - he already received this award in 2015 together with Célestine Hennermann for the piece "miniMAX".
The Romanfabrik is funded by the Kulturamt. This year, the association receives a significantly increased funding of 158,500 euros in total.
