Bürgerfest Herzschlag - by Chemnitzers for Chemnitzers

Sebastian Thieswald

The Chemnitz citizens' festival Herzschlag made many positive headlines on the last weekend in August. A festival organised by the people of Chemnitz for the people of Chemnitz. 67,000 visitors honoured the volunteer commitment with their presence. After the premiere this year, there will be a new edition in 2020. This has been decided by the organisers of the Citizens' Festival Association. Sebastian Thieswald, press spokesman for the association, explains on behalf of the organisers of the Bürgerfest how time-consuming it is to organise such a festival.

How satisfied are you with the Bürgerfest in retrospect?
Sebastian Thieswald: In terms of content, we are very satisfied because we managed to do what we almost couldn't have imagined ourselves: organising an entire weekend within just ten weeks. We had very little time to ensure that the people in the city celebrated together in a lively, cheerful and peaceful way over three days and thus presented Chemnitz to the outside world as an attractive city.

What was the feedback from the public afterwards?
No matter who wrote to us, called us, spoke to us or met us directly over the weekend: people's reactions were consistently enthusiastic about the new format. It was well received that it was wide-ranging, something new in terms of the cultural offerings and not a copy of the city festival. The visitors appreciated the fact that someone had really thought about making something by Chemnitz for Chemnitz. I think this civic festival idea was very well received.

Would you have liked more visitors?
We are very happy with the numbers. Especially as there was a lot going on in the city that weekend: for example, the railway festival in Hilbersdorf and the Schönherr festival. But it wasn't our aim to get a certain number of visitors to the Bürgerfest. The aim was really to prove that we could organise a festival by citizens for citizens on this weekend. It wasn't about quantity, but about quality.

You've already mentioned that it's difficult to organise something like this within 10 weeks. Did you sleep at all during this time?
Not much. We are all volunteers and also have a main job. I, for example, run a care centre near Jena and am self-employed with my consultancy firm. So the meetings had to take place after work. We met almost every evening, often until 11 pm. There was an incredible amount of free time involved, but it was euphoric. At a certain point, we realised that we could do it. Right from the start, we were really inspired by the fact that we had so much support from the people and companies in Chemnitz.

Due to the events surrounding the city festival last year and its cancellation this year, the Chemnitz Citizens' Festival Association was founded, consisting of eight members. Caterers, tradespeople and interested citizens came together. Ultimately, the operator of the event location "Oberdeck", Chris Dittrich, provided the initial spark, describes Thieswald.
The intention of the association: "It must not happen that Chemnitz remains silent on this weekend. Not only the local press, but also the international press will look at the city and ask what you have made of it, what you have learned, what has changed." The organisers wanted to show an attractive Chemnitz over the weekend. "We have an incredible number of cultural offerings and many clubs in the city. Hence the idea of having Chemnitz bands and clubs perform and present themselves at the citizens' festival. That was the idea behind the whole thing".

Were you not afraid that this weekend would be instrumentalised?
Of course there was a fear. But we live in a democratic state and have to accept that the highest good of a democracy is the right to demonstrate. We all fought for the festival to take place. The added value for the city was incredible. We were featured in almost all the major local programmes, such as Tagesspiegel, Tagesthemen, heute-journal, the news on ntv, RTL, etc.
Through the press work, which was my job, I had to deal with journalists, editors and camera teams all weekend. I'm only a layman, but I said to the journalists: Please let us out of your clutches. You have it in your hands with normal and clean journalism. If only a few hundred people are demonstrating on one side, then they deserve just five seconds of a picture. And if the vast majority are celebrating, then that should be the main focus of the report. As a citizen, I can make such announcements. In principle, I had nothing to lose, the city had nothing to lose. We are all proud, satisfied and happy that it has now turned out so positively.

What was your personal highlight of the weekend?
The performance by the co-founder of the Love Parade, Dr Motte, and the singer of the band Die Prinzen, Sebastian Krumbiegel, well and of course the Udo Lindenberg double ElPaniko, were my highlights in terms of content. Apart from that, my personal highlight was that we really succeeded. That makes us so happy, even weeks later.

How did the title Herzschlag come about?
Originally it was supposed to be a different title. I can't even remember what it was. But then we told the agency we were working with what we wanted to associate with the Bürgerfest. Then the team came up with the idea of the heartbeat. It hit the nail on the head: this logo with the pulse and the silhouette. It was simply beautifully done. The positive heartbeat, that's what I said in every interview. If we manage to conjure up moments of happiness this weekend and raise these spikes, then the positive heartbeat can be felt in Chemnitz and beyond. That was the philosophy.

Now you have a few more months to organise for 2020. How are things going at the moment?
True to the motto, after the festival is before the festival, we are in the planning stages. We are already writing the main concept for how we will approach specific funding pots.

Where can potential supporters and sponsors who want to help the Bürgerfest get in touch?
The easiest way is to use the contact form on our homepage: www.chemnitzer-buergerfest.de

How can private individuals or companies get involved?
For next year, we are looking for companies that can support us financially. We hope that the greater lead time we have will have a positive effect. We are extremely grateful for what we have received this year. For next year, we'll simply put out a call if the format is deemed good, please get in touch with us straight away. Otherwise, we are looking for support for everything that happens at the Bürgerfest: for stages, stage technology, security, first aid, that would be sponsoring in kind, so to speak, or simply lots of helping hands for: Setting up and dismantling the individual areas, hanging up signposts and banners, catering for artists and volunteers and everything that is needed for a clean heartbeat.
If anyone has an idea, would like to take part in the programme or get involved in any other way, please get in touch. We welcome suggestions. I don't want to commit myself, but simply say: people, if you feel you can do something for it, then let us know and we'll get talking.

What would you like to see at the Bürgerfest 2020?
We hope that we can build on the success of 2019. That we can convince even more people from Chemnitz to come to the city centre. The only problem we had this year was that the 67,000 visitors were not enough for the caterers. So I hope that many Chemnitz residents will come to the city centre hungry and thirsty. Hungry for food, but also for culture.

We want to be the Capital of Culture in 2025, what do you think about that?
I am firmly convinced that we can do it. I think Chemnitz has something very beautiful, something urban. The city has potential, so much culture and subculture that no longer exists in many other cities. We also have many other cultural areas that are worth seeing. Our museum world is really presentable. Our music world: we have an A-list orchestra, a great opera house. We certainly don't have everything five times over, but what we do have is great. And for this reason, Chemnitz simply deserves it. That many people from Germany and far beyond say, I'm going to this peaceful, attractive city, where we can really experience culture together happily in 2025, at all levels and with all facets.