That's how 2021 was: turbulent, moving and community-building
The Cellex Foundation has achieved a lot in 2021 - in the spring it financially supported a crowdfunding campaign of the Ostritzer Friedensfest, accompanied the children's music project MUSAIK all year round with words and deeds, brought many people together with the socio-cultural dance project "Tango - open and colorful" in the summer, in the early fall with a dedicated team, almost 70 cultural partners and many supporters a wonderful 5th guest meal. In October, we celebrated a deeply moving premiere of the new play "Colors" at the sold-out Theaterhaus Rudi. In addition, the foundation used a social media campaign to collect and disseminate nearly 50 statements on diversity and hospitality.
A good year that lingers.
Successful crowdfunding campaign
448 people and institutions participated in the crowdfunding campaign of the Ostritzer Friedensfest "Fashion show - colorful and global instead of brown and radical" in spring. The Cellex Foundation has also financially supported this beautiful idea of the Ostritzer friends and vigorously stirred the advertising drum for the action. We are happy about this solidarity and say thank you to all donors.
Nationwide, the initiative took 15th place. The small Ostritz in the structurally weak district of Görlitz left dozens of projects from large cities behind. Together with the EUR 7,000 in prize money, a huge sum has been raised.
In the spring of 2022, this beautiful event will now take place. Those responsible are still looking for people who would like to enrich the fashion show. All models can participate who have an idea of what cosmopolitanism, democracy and tolerance could look like - private individuals, associations, professional groups and companies. More information is available here.
Tango in summer
With the socio-cultural project "Tango - open and colorful", the Cellex Foundation organized a colorful open-air summer. The open group met from June to September always on Fridays, 7 to 9 p.m., at a beautiful place on the Elbe near the Albert Bridge for Practica*. On Tuesdays - also between 7 and 9 pm - they danced again on the Scheune forecourt. The group is always happy to welcome new members. You are welcome to register via e-mail to toub@cellex-stiftung.org.
* Practica is an open event where Argentine tango is practiced and danced. Previous experience is not necessary.
Dresden is(s)t bunt. A banquet for everyone
© Anja Schneider
On September 13, 2021, Hauptstraße in Dresden's Neustadt district became the city's most colorful street. 67 cultural partners - almost all of Dresden's cultural institutions as well as (inter-)cultural associations, religious communities, social welfare associations, amateur choirs and theater groups - and 50 sponsors participated in the 5th Guest Supper. Between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., nearly 2,000 guests gathered at 160 tables on Neustadt's Market Square and Main Street to join in and manage the tables, cook food, organize a cultural program, sing along, dance along and talk along. Starting with a rainbow table on the Neustädter Markt, to which the CSD Dresden e.V. invited friendly associations and initiatives, a 300 meter long table stretched in the shade of the trees to the Dreikönigskirche and turned the Bummelmeile for an afternoon into a lively picnic place. The simple principle of the event, "Join in," obviously worked. People of all backgrounds brought their favorite foods, shared their food, welcomed others, and engaged in conversation.
The banquet for everyone is an important commitment to diversity, openness and dialogue. The festival has turned the Neustadt market and the main street into a meeting place for very different people from the city's society. "It is precisely these encounters that we so urgently need in our city," writes one participant. Or: "The best thing? The many, many networking conversations at all the tables. And the overall picture: There are so many good projects in Dresden, and people who do things and don't complain."
To remember this wonderful day, you can scroll through the selection of pictures once again and review the feast with its cultural and culinary highlights. You can find more info about the guest banquet here.
The diversity campaign
The attempts to use Dresden as a stage for hate speech and misanthropy have made us pay more attention to the people of Dresden who stand for hospitality and joy instead of discord, for tolerance and openness instead of misanthropy and hate, for democracy instead of autocracy.
A social media campaign that carried the message of the guest meal and showed the diversity of Dresden's urban society collected 49 statements and spread them on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook until the end of September. Participants included the mayor of the city of Dresden, our foundation board chairman Prof. Gerhard Ehninger, artistic directors of Dresden's cultural institutions, the superintendent Christian Behr and the regional bishop Tobias Bilz, Eter Hachmann, chairwoman of the Ausländerrat Dresden e.V., Vanessa Bravo, members of the Rotary Club Dresden International, and Youmna Fouad, deputy chairwoman of the Integration and Foreigners Advisory Council of the state capital Dresden. With 150,000 clicks and 100,000 viewed statements, the campaign was very successful.
You can see the statements on Instagram and Twitter under @buntesdresden, @cellexstiftung and @dresdenrespekt and on our Facebook pages.
Great award for the MUSAIK project
© Martín Rebaza Ponce de León
Musaik is the winner of the MIXED UP competition 2021 and we congratulate them. The Federal Association for Cultural Education of Children and Youth selected the project "Stadtsound Prohlis" from 150 applications.
As part of the MIXED UP competition, the BKJ - the umbrella organization for cultural education in Germany - awards prizes each year to creative projects and regular cultural education offerings for children and young people that have been implemented by a team of several cooperation partners. This year, three prizes of EUR 5,000 each were awarded.
The jury of this year's competition has selected the submission "Stadtsound Prohlis" as the prize winner for the focus "Cooperation: More is possible together". It described the work as a "rousing project" that gives young people a platform to "make their musical inspirations visible to the public in an effective way.
As part of "Stadtsound Prohlis," children and young people musically explored their district of Prohlis from March to July 2021. They decided themselves with which sounds they would like to musically reflect their district. The cooperation with the brass band "Banda Comunale" and with the Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe AG (DVB) made the project "Stadtsound Prohlis" an event that attracted a lot of attention nationwide.
Thanks to the cooperation with DVB, the concert in July 2021 could take place at an unconventional and at the same time symbolic location: At the Reick streetcar depot, which borders the Prohlis district. Just as the Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe connect the Prohlis district to the city center with streetcars, Musaik succeeds in a musical way through the numerous performances of the children from Prohlis in the Dresden city area. Musical cooperation partner was the brass band Banda Comunale. Similar to Musaik, Banda Comunale is committed to interculturality and integration. The common idea of bringing people together through music and celebrating diversity strengthened the project "Stadtsound Prohlis" and could be realized together in the concert.
"Stadtsound Prohlis" was supported by the Fonds Soziokultur, the Office for Culture and Monument Protection of the state capital Dresden and the Verfügungsfonds der sozialen Stadt Dresden für Prohlis. More info can be found here.
Premiere at the socio-cultural theater project "Past Continuous
© Iris Meusemann
On October 8, 2021, as part of the Intercultural Days of the state capital Dresden, the premiere of the new play "Colors" took place in the sold-out Theaterhaus Rudi. 50 guests followed a therapy session of the three protagonists, who could not be more different: A man who lost his eyesight, a walking-impaired and suicidal woman and a xenophobic man who struggles with obvious aggression and hides a problem.
In just under two entertaining and at the same time emotionally stirring hours, the tragicomedy "Colors" examined various aspects of man: Intolerance, xenophobia and the dynamics in which man loses capacities to live life in a vital, creative and positive way. The piece played with the poetry of colors, with the surrealism of dream and unconscious, and it told about the struggle against the fear of newness. The "colors" believed lost were impressively revived.
Further performances are planned and will be posted on our website. You can find pictures of the premiere here.
Honorary Seal of the Dresden Civic Foundation
Non-profit associations, organizations and initiatives in the state capital have been able to use the Dresden Volunteer Seal since the beginning of December, making their commitment visible in the city and on the Internet. Around 100 non-profit organizations from all subject areas have requested and received the seal in the first round for their Dresden volunteer projects, including the Cellex Foundation.
The seal of honorary office bears the slogan: "Here is honorary office in it". With this simple and clear message, it is intended to raise public awareness of the issue, strengthen the perception of volunteer work in Dresden, and serve as a sign of appreciation for the volunteers. Because: Without the contribution of the many volunteers in the project work, but also in the management, in the accounting and graphics, in the support of the social media channels or the PR work, the Cellex Foundation could not implement the multitude of its Dresden projects. We are grateful that we are allowed to use the seal of honor and thus can point to this voluntary work behind the scenes.
The Dresden Seal of Honor was developed by the volunteer agency of the civic foundation with the ideas and advice of the Dresden Cultural Office. An advisory board advises and decides on the awarding of the seal according to defined criteria. You can find more about the seal of honor here.
End of year fundraising campaign
With the appeal "Our Wishes for Christmas" the Cellex Foundation collected donations for the 102nd elementary school "Johanna" and for our favorite project MUSAIK. The elementary school in Dresden's Johannstadt district is attended by many children whose parents barely speak German. The social music project MUSAIK, in turn, offers children and young people from Dresden-Prohlis free music lessons and an orchestral community that promotes cohesion and integration. Both the children of the Johanna and those of MUSAIK are suffering particularly from the pandemic, from the accompanying restrictions on contact and from the social distance caused by digitalized lessons. Donations thus arrived where money is urgently needed. The Johanna would like a reading platform and seating for its newly designed library. And the MUSAIK children want sensitive music teachers, instruments and sheet music.