Six projects from the cultural and creative industries were awarded as winners on Friday evening as part of the summer festival of the industry association Creative Chemnitz in the second round of the funding program KRACH - Kreativraum Chemnitz. In the coming weeks and months, they will be able to move into their KRACH spaces in the creative yard "Die Stadtwirtschaft", in Wirkbau and in building K40 of schönherr.fabrik - their owners will provide those rooms for up to three years free of rent. In addition, the winners can look forward to a starting budget of up to 5,000 euros. "It has been no easy decision. We had to select from a pool of over 20 predominantly excellent applications from all over Germany, which will strengthen business in Chemnitz and enrich culture and creative industries in the city," explains Sören Uhle, Managing Director of Wirtschaftsförderungs- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (CWE) and jury member of KRACH.
The winners show the diversity of the cultural and creative industries. For them six spaces between 25 and 260 square meters are provided this year. The KRACH funding program has been put out to tender for the second time this spring. In addition to the representatives of the initiators from the CWE (Sören Uhle), Creative Chemnitz (Frank Müller), Creative Saxony (Katja Großer) and the city of Chemnitz (Grit Stillger), the international jury included experts Cecilè Houpert (Project Coordinator EUROCITIES and the EU project Culture for Cities and Regions), Steffen Roth (Professor at La Rochelle Business School), Fátima São Simão (Development Director UPTEC PINC Porto) and Silvia Porretta (Project Manager of IncrediBOL! in Bologna, the model program of KRACH).
The KRACH award winners in 2019 are:
Creative yard "Die Stadtwirtschaft": writing, printing and book art workshop. Room size: 47 square meters, provided by Creative Chemnitz e.V. on behalf of the city of Chemnitz
The open and mobile writing, printing and book art workshop of pedagogue Jule Winkler and designer Nora Friedrich has been founded in July 2018 and now is looking for a permanent home. Their KRACH space in the creative center "Die Stadtwirtschaft" will become the new workshop headquarters and a place where all age groups, especially children and juveniles can learn the art of printing and book-making. Sponsor of this project is the Förderverein für Musischen Kindergarten Chemnitz e.V. (Pampelmuse).
Wirkbau - Room 1: Doppeldenk. Room size: approx. 40 qm, provided by MIB Wirkbau Chemnitz GmbH & Co. KG
Since 2007, the artist duo Andreas Glauch and Marcel Baer have been creating paintings, prints, sculptures or facades under their label "Doppeldenk". In addition to their studio in Leipzig, the KRACH space in Wirkbau is to become a second location. They are already connected in many ways with Chemnitz, for example through cooperation with the gallery Borssenanger and through a number of suppliers in the city and region.
Wirkbau - Room 2: XXL Christmas figures. Room size: approx. 30 sqm, provided by MIB Wirkbau Chemnitz GmbH & Co. KG
Felix Prehl and André Rückert are fans of traditional Christmas from Erzgebirge and the local craftsmanship connected to it. From their KRACH space large Christmas figures, created at craft shops in the Erzgebirge, will be offered for hire and sale to decorate Christmas markets, shops or company premises. In addition, the space in Wirkbau also serves as a workshop for minor repairs.
schönherr.fabrik K40 - Room 1: "Offene Blende". Room size: approx. 260 sqm, provided by SCHÖNHERR WEBA GmbH
Never before there were as many photographer as today: Susan Strebe and Heiko Loth pick up this trend with their project "Offene Blende" (open aperture). They plan to open a photo studio in their KRACH room in building K40 of schönherr.fabrik, which interested amateur photographers can rent by the hour. In addition to a basic technical equipment, there are also various theme rooms available for photo productions. The offer is supplemented by courses, for example in the field of image processing.
schönherr.fabrik K40 - Room 2: "ALLES GOLD WAS GLÄNZT". Room size: approx. 130 square meters, provided by SCHÖNHERR WEBA GmbH
With her company "ALLES GOLD WAS GLÄNZT" (all that glitters is gold) Laura Dähn has been engaged since the end of 2018. After being awarded by KRACH she now plans to set up an interior design studio, which among other things is focused on interiors for private and holiday homes, shops or corporations. The KRACH space in building K40 of schönherr.fabrik will be a showroom and sales area for curated art and extraordinary design objects.
schönherr.fabrik K40 - Room 3: "VRENDEX". Room size: approx. 130 square meters, provided by SCHÖNHERR WEBA GmbH
Under leadership of Manuel Dudczig, the three-member VRENDEX team develops applications in the fields of virtual and augmented reality. The applications will be used in particular for faster and location-independent product development and product presentation. VRENDEX combines technology, creativity and science and can already refer to an illustrious customer base in mechanical and plant engineering, in IT and the event industry.