PART 2 URBAN CHANGE CULTURAL MAKERS AND SPACES IN THE RUHR REGION 3 | CONTENT URBAN CHANGE CULTURAL MAKERS AND SPACES IN THE RUHR REGION CONTENT 5 | PREFACE 6 | INTRODUCTION 9 | CULTURAL MAKERS IN THE RUHR REGION 38 | CREATIVE.QUARTERS Ruhr – THE PROGRAMME 39 | CULTURAL PLACEMAKING IN THE RUHR REGION 72 | IMPRINT 4 | PREFACE 5 | PREFACE PREFACE Dear Sir or Madam, Dear readers of this brochure, Individuals and institutions from Cultural and Creative Sectors are driving urban, Much has happened since the project started in 2012: The Creative.Quarters cultural and economic change – in the Ruhr region as well as in Europe. This is Ruhr are well on their way to become a strong regional cultural, urban and eco- proven not only by the investment of 6 billion Euros from the European Regional nomic brand. Additionally, the programme is gaining more and more attention on Development Fund (ERDF) that went into culture projects between 2007 and a European level. The Creative.Quarters Ruhr have become a model for a new, 2013. The Ruhr region, too, exhibits experience and visible proof of structural culturally carried and integrative urban development in Europe. In 2015, one of change brought about through culture and creativity. the projects supported by the Creative.Quarters Ruhr was even invited to make a presentation at the European Parliament in Brussels. The second volume of this brochure depicts the Creative.Quarters Ruhr as a building block within the overall strategy for cultural and economic change in the Therefore, this second volume of the brochure “Urban Change – Cultural makers Ruhr region as deployed by the european centre for creative economy (ecce). and spaces in the Ruhr region” functions as a documentation and as a regional The roots of the Creative.Quarters Ruhr lie in the European Capital of Culture field manual for practice and politics, unique in Europe, narrating success stories RUHR.2010. On this occasion and through ecce’s initiative, makers – artists and in the midst of current European challenges in culture, economic and innovation creatives alike as well as supporters such as heads of cultural departments, rep- politics. resentatives of economic development agencies, urban developers – gathered and started to conceptualise a new form of support for the arts and culture. This I hope you’ll enjoy the read. aims to push the urban, social and not least the economic development in the Ruhr region. Between 2012 and 2015, 41 projects totalling a support volume of round about 1,8 million Euros at the crossroads of culture, economy and urban development were set on track. This brochure, on the one hand, documents twelve quarters that received support through the state programme Creative.Quarters Ruhr in 2015 as well as their respective stakeholders, whilst presenting 14 makers immersed in this change, Prof. Dieter Gorny their stories, projects and mindsets. Managing Director, european centre for creative economy (ecce) 6 | INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION CREatiVE QUARTERS RUHR A MODEL FOR EUROPE Culture, creativity and economy need scope for development – in minds and within urban contexts. Positioning and spatial interconnectedness of Culture and the Creative Sectors is essential for the Ruhr region, too, in many respects: As a proposal for creatives and cultural entrepreneurs to stay in the Ruhr region and to evolve creatively and economically and as a possibility for learning. Because culture, urbanity and economy can only flower as a force field in a mutual learning space and integrative process. The Creative.Quarters Ruhr programme aims to support this. The programme and its history The roots of the Creative.Quarters Ruhr lie in the European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010, which was the first European Capital of Culture that recognised Cul- ture and the Creative Sectors as one of its foundational pillars, integrating them in a wider sense and definition of culture. Since 2009, following an initiative by RUHR.2010 and ecce, artists and creatives as well as representatives of culture departments and economic development agencies of the region have gathered at roundtables to conceive a support for arts and culture that fosters structural change in the Ruhr region with regard to cultural, economic and urban transfor- mations. This approach was included in the sustainability convention of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Regionalverband Ruhr (Ruhr Regional Asso- ciation) in 2011. In 2012, the support programme was developed in accordance with the cities in the Ruhr region: Therefore, it is not only the continuation of a slogan issued by the European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010, “Change through Culture – Culture through Change”, but rather the concrete implementation of the thematic emphasis of the European Capital of Culture which further fosters regional development sustainably through cultural impulse projects. In this way, the Creative.Quarters Ruhr programme turned into a model for the sustainability of European Capitals of Culture, already garnering international acclaim in the process. 7 | INTRODUCTION Culture creates cities – origin and future There has been a tradition of bringing arts and life together in the Ruhr region going back to one of Germany’s most important patrons of the arts, Karl Er- nst Osthaus (1874 until 1921). Among other things, he founded the Folkwang painting school (1901) as well as the Museum Folkwang, then in Hagen, now in Essen; while the European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010’s slogan “Change through Culture – Culture through Change” also traces its origins back to Ost- haus, already serving as the inspiration for the International Building Exhibition IBA Emscherpark (1989 until 1999) that advanced structural change in the Ruhr region through investment in industrial culture, among other things. The IBA already connected town planning, social, cultural and ecological strategies, Urban development is a learning space for the future investing around 2.5 billion Euros in 120 Ruhr region projects. At the start of the It is ecce’s conviction that cultural, economic and urban development has to 21st century, the determining factors of structural change as well as urban de- provide, now more than ever, a frame for dialogue in which interest can be ne- velopment have changed – public authority in Europe is lacking in financial scope gotiated, leading to a mutual vision and according action. Investment on behalf for large-scale investment in infrastructure. This holds especially true for those of public authority will be dispatched only following on the basis of an integrative European cities that struggle with high social costs due to structural change. strategy developed in dialogue with all stakeholders in a quarter – with those in- Structural change in the Ruhr region is no exception within the European context. vestments serving as impulse and trigger for a locally held persuasion on how to Creative.Quarters Ruhr want to be a model for a cultural-economic form of ur- develop “one’s own quarter”. Therefore, the Creative.Quarters Ruhr programme ban development in Europe. Due to technological change and radically altered regards a quarter as a cultural, social space for dialogue and learning first and, conditions regarding their economy, these cities face new expectations voiced by subsequently, also as an economic space. But what forces operate in the Cre- their citizens: More participation, more transparency, more mobility and a hitherto ative.Quarters, which stakes must be tied together in integration to work out a unknown dynamic brought about by rapid technological and digital developments shared vision? Seeing the municipal administration as a long-term stable anchor pertain not only to products and production, but more and more to social and for urban development, the departments of culture, economy and urban planning urban structures as well. Wifi-access is no longer just a question of business are ideally working in tandem within the quarters. location but also affects urban quality of living – as a driving force for a city’s attractiveness. Urban culture changes, not in the least due to said processes, So, the strategic cooperation of the spheres of culture, economy and urbanism finding its own means of communication beyond established media structures in forms the core of the Creative.Quarter Ruhr programme – not limited to munic- print, radio, and TV, owing to the digital world and social media. ipal authorities, but together with property owners, stakeholders in Culture and The question is: What is going to define a culture city of the future? Inventory the Creative Sectors and individual artists. A city takes shape in roundtable talks keeping through funding of established institutions or the financing of scope for in the quarters or in other forms of dialogue, between bottom-up and top-down new forms of cultural and artistic development? strategies, driven by cultural impulses. Accoustic Art Duo from Mülheim an der Ruhr: Thomas Busch (left) and Konstantin Wienstroer (right) 8 | INTRODUCTION Culture creates urban and economic potential Clinton Initiative C40, the World Cities Culture Forum, at the World Bank and, Cultural impulse, of course, is not the only driving power for cities in the digital certainly not last, in the activities of the European Union. The European Union has age, and therefore, it is important to avoid inflated expectations and pretence: put one emphasis of its support policy until 2020 on this with initiatives regarding Cultural impulse is not a universal remedy for aberration – naturally, not every Smart Cities and the Innovation Union. In this context, the Creative.Quarters Ruhr deserted square can be invigorated, gratuitously, by the arts. Nonetheless, the programme with its 2012 starting point is drawing more and more international power of the arts and culture to deploy positive effects for cities and the economy attention, namely as a model for urban development lending form and opportunity should not be underestimated. This is also documented in the policy handbook to dynamics, diversity and seeming contradictions within a quarter.