Josephine Hage becomes Managing Director of the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 gGmbH
At its extraordinary meeting on 25 March, the Supervisory Board of the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 gGmbH unanimously appointed Josephine Hage as the new Managing Director with effect from 1 October 2026. She will thus complement the two existing Managing Directors Andrea Pier and Stefan Schmidtke until the end of the year, after which they will step down from their positions as planned.
Josephine Hage has been involved in the Capital of Culture process since 2020 and represented the BidBook II programme to the European jury. As curator of the main project Makers, Business & Arts of the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025, she worked with numerous partners in the city of Chemnitz, the Capital of Culture region and Europe. As part of the monitoring team, she reported to the European expert jury on the progress of programme development and implementation.
From 1 January 2027, Josephine Hage will be the sole Managing Director of the organisation. She is therefore responsible for the implementation of the legacy strategy, in particular for the CtheUnseen Biennale, the further development of the volunteer programme, the micro-projects and collaborations between the city of Chemnitz and the region as part of the Purple Path. The appointment is for three years.
Lord Mayor Sven Schulze: "With Josephine Hage, we are placing the management in the hands of an experienced cultural manager with excellent local, national and European connections from the autumn. I value Josephine Hage as a committed and positive ambassador for our city and the region."
Josephine Hage: "Chemnitz and the region have written a new chapter in 2025. We have grown together on the way to this special year and have experienced what we can achieve together. We will also need this energy and trust in each other in the future. Culture and creativity are the heartbeat that not only connects people, but also continues to make us visible in Europe."
About the person
Josephine Hage was born in Weimar in 1982 and grew up there. She studied political science and philosophy at the University of Erfurt and the University of Essex (UK) and holds a master's degree in public policy.
She has initiated numerous projects to promote the cultural and creative industries at local, state and EU level as a research assistant, project manager and controller. She is a certified EU project manager and fundraiser.
She has been working for Kreatives Sachsen in Chemnitz as a co-project manager since 2017. From 2023 to 2025, she was curator of the main project Makers, Business & Art of the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 at the Landesverband der Kultur- und Kreativwirtschaft Sachsen e. V. She and her team brought the German Tourism Award to Chemnitz for the first time for the "Maker Advent" initiative.