The summer is usually rather quiet culturally. Yes, there are also great open air events in Frankfurt on a regular basis, but usually it's more city and street festivals that rule the roost during the hot months. That will be a little different this year. There won't be any big festivals like the Museumsuferfest in 2021 - but there will be a lot of open-air culture. About the Summer Construction on the Mainuferor the Green Sauce Festival we already told you about. Now the project Sichtbar Machen - Kultursommer im öffentlichen Raum of the cultural association protagon e.V. adds 130 theatre, dance and music events from July to September. The Sommerwerft Theatre Festival on the River, the International Women's* Theatre Festival and many smaller performances in city districts, building on last year's successes, are to be able to take place safely once again with a sophisticated hygiene concept and this year give local Hessian artists in particular a platform. The project is supported by a grant from the Hessian Ministry of Science and Art within the framework of the INS FREIE! programme. This makes it possible - despite the still difficult situation for the cultural industry - to continue the dimensions of past years, in order to also offer the public broad access to the events.
20 Years of Summer Yard
A variety of events will be held to satisfy people's yearning to experience culture together, while providing a stage for local artists in particular once again after many months of stagnation. At the centre of the programme will be the 20th anniversary of the Sommerwerft theatre festival, which has long held a firm place in Frankfurt's cultural landscape. For the festival's birthday from 23.07.-08.08.2021, the organisers have decided to focus on the regional scene: "90 per cent of the performances will be by artists* from Frankfurt and Hesse, who will be selected through a call for entries," explains Bernhard Bub, artistic director of the festival. In particular, there will be two new open-air stages, which will be performance venues for children's and youth theatre as well as for classically staged theatre productions. The program will be published on www.sommerwerft.de in time before the festival begins.
In addition to the performances, workshops and educational events at the Sommerwerft, the festival, together with antagon theaterAKTion, plans to take the theater to neighborhoods over twelve days, as it did last year. "We will especially select areas in the periphery for our mobile theater, where access to cultural offerings is otherwise difficult," he said."
With experience into the future
In the last year, protagon e.V. was able to gain a lot of experience in the safe execution of open air events under pandemic conditions: The success of the Sommerwerft as the largest cultural event 2020 in Hesse also received a lot of applause from the cultural policy side, such as the Cultural Committee Frankfurt and Hessian Ministry of Science and Art. The association wants to build on this experience this year and also further deepen the close cooperation with the health department. The organizers are happy to have sufficient support for this: "The fact that we have financial planning security for the first time this year is an important sign for us. With the funding within the framework of INS FREIE! from the Hessian Ministry of Science and Art, we can carry out the project in the planned dimension," says Bernd Abraham, board member of protagon. "With 130 performances, the Kultursommer will create a perspective for artists* and audiences in times of pandemic and make free culture visible again."
We are already very much looking forward to this colorful, diverse Kultursommer and will of course keep you informed about the individual program offerings.
