A can-do spirit for the region

Josephine Hage

The Makers, Business & Arts programme and the Makerhubs are part of the Capital of Culture programme. Josephine Hage is the curator of the project. As part of the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 programme, the Makerhubs are places where designers, craftspeople, entrepreneurs, the next generation of skilled workers and makers from all over the world come together to learn from each other and create something new together. Curator Josephine Hage explains the idea behind it in the Maker of the Week interview.

How can you imagine the goings-on in a Makerhub?
Josephine Hage: In the region, there are numerous products, traditional techniques and processes that are rightly valued far beyond our borders; we can start with the Stollen and don't have to end with wooden toys and highly specialised SMEs. Some products need to be future-proof, and new processes can complement traditional ones. There is also a global trend for people not only to want to consume, but also to participate and try things out. We call places where this is possible maker hubs. We want maker hubs where designers, craftspeople, entrepreneurs, the next generation of skilled workers and makers from all over the world can come together to learn from each other and create something new. To ensure that the maker hubs do not become isolated islands, there will be opportunities for interested parties on site. We also want to establish them as extracurricular learning centres. With these programmes, we are also continuing an old tradition: the settlement of the Ore Mountains is due to immigration from many parts of Germany and Europe; the development of the mining industry, and later the manufacturing and textile industries, was not only an adaptation but above all a community effort. They were an expression of the transformative power of manual labour and cooperation. The hubs offer a wide range of opportunities: Craft businesses tinker with designers and material researchers on prototypes for new products. Young textile designers use the historically grown infrastructure of the textile industry to test new designs and processes. Creative minds from all over the world share their knowledge in workshops and symposia. Children and young people programme control software for their self-built robots and learn how to use modern technology in a playful way. We try out new recipes with regional products in community kitchens. And the DIY enthusiasts next door print out their spare parts for repair work on a 3D printer.

How are local and regional stakeholders involved?
The question is understandable, but leads in the wrong direction. The maker hubs are local projects supported by local authorities and initiatives. We support them in developing their concepts, help with networking and advise on funding. Without local commitment and expertise, the maker hubs would not even exist. Our role as a Capital of Culture project will most likely end after 2025. However, the Makerhubs will continue to work and hopefully achieve a great deal for the locations and the region.

Will all the Makerhubs be ready for the Capital of Culture year 2025?
I'm a manic optimist and I'll just say yes. There's a lot to do before then: We need to organise additional funding for construction measures and equipment, attract local supporters and users, test event formats and develop operator and business models. And, of course, always bear the European dimension in mind.

What are the prospects beyond 2025?
The maker hubs are long-term meeting, learning and experimentation centres that are supported by local initiatives and are self-sustaining thanks to a clever funding mix. They are the places where the ideas and values of the Capital of Culture become tangible in the region. The projects need time to develop their impact and require staying power. The Capital of Culture year is therefore "only" a milestone - albeit a particularly important one. We very much hope that all hubs will continue their work independently after 2025.

How did you join the Capital of Culture team?
I was allowed to be part of the digital jury presentation in 2020. That was really exciting. Above all, I conveyed that creativity is not a monopoly of the large urban centres, but is lived every day, from Augustusburg to Zwickau, from Aue to Oelsnitz. As Kreatives Sachsen, we were then able to develop the concept for the Makers, Business & Arts project. The Landesverband der Kultur- und Kreativwirtschaft Sachsen e. V. is a partner of the Capital of Culture for its realisation and I am now the curator. This means that I am developing the project together with the dozens of partners in the city, region and Europe: from formats that connect companies and the creative scene to the maker hubs and tourist offers.

What interested you about this task?
I am a social scientist and EU project manager. Over the past five years, I have mainly organised everything to do with innovation and international affairs at Creative Saxony. For example, we have organised innovation workshops together with partners from the tourism and crafts sectors. Delegation trips to Prague, Linz, Vienna, Liberec, Pilsen and Brno have forged valuable connections between creative professionals. I am strongly committed to ensuring that creativity is recognised and used much more as a resource in business and society. And that is precisely the core of the Makers, Business & Arts programme.

Finally, a look ahead: What can we look forward to this year?
We are planning many small-scale events with the maker hubs in order to find supporters and try out how different event formats are received. We also want to break new ground in tourism with the Capital of Culture and are organising a creative tourism conference in Chemnitz. We will show how we can encourage visitors to the city and the cultural region to get involved - be it at a woodturning workshop, a ceramics or lace-making course, baking a stollen or sewing a textile souvenir to take home. We want to make cultural heritage tangible with our hands and, of course, learn from and with European makers. In the British Capital of Culture Leeds, we will take a look at the Makerhub models that exist there. We are breaking new ground with the "Industry meets Makers Challenge", a format that we are bringing to Germany for the first time together with Austrian partners. Here, makers and the creative scene work on challenges faced by industrial companies. We will kick off the event together with Industrieverein Sachsen and Kreatives Chemnitz at the Makers United Festival. There will also be another Makers Day in the cultural region before the summer break. And we're already thinking about Christmas. This year, for the first time, we want to bundle the many hands-on activities on offer during Advent - for a fabulous Maker Christmas.