Participation and citizen involvement are at the heart of the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025. In addition to numerous recurring and continuous participation opportunities, there are always opportunities to get involved in individual projects, campaigns and tenders.
The Betonblühen Festival and Chemnitz 2025 invite young people between the ages of 14 and 18 to take part in the literary writing competition ‘Voices from Concrete’! From 8 to 12 October 2025, Chemnitz will belong to young ideas. At the Betonblühen Festival, young people from Chemnitz will show how loud, creative and diverse their city can be. You can look forward to five days full of concerts, art, discussions and hands-on activities – completely free of charge and at the city's most amazing locations.
Theme:
‘If Chemnitz were a person...’
Imagine Chemnitz were a person – what would they be like? Put your thoughts into words in a literary text: a short story, slam text, essay or poem.
Conditions of participation:
- Age: 14–18 years old
- Length: Max. 500 words
- Format: PDF, Times New Roman, 12pt
- Deadline: 30 September 2025
- Submission digitally via the online form: https://forms.office.com/e/45UFke9ZHx
- Please have your parents sign this document (consent form) and send us the signed consent form by email to festivalcrew@chemnitz2025.de.
What can be won?
The three best texts will be presented publicly and awarded prizes during the festival. The winners will be announced on Thursday, 9 October, during the Literature and Sports Day of the Betonblühen Festival at a public award ceremony. All texts will then be exhibited at TIETZ.
Contact & information:
Important conditions for participation:
- Only students from Chemnitz and the Capital of Culture region aged 14–18 are eligible to participate.
- Texts must be written independently.
- Minors require the written consent of their legal guardians (consent form).
- By submitting your entry, you grant Kulturhauptstadt Chemnitz 2025 gGmbH a simple, non-exclusive right of use for five years.
Disclaimer: After the deadline, the texts will be reviewed by an independent jury within Kulturhauptstadt gGmbH. The jury will select three winning texts based on originality, linguistic expression and depth of content.
The festival where the future takes over needs support!
At the Betonblühen Festival (8-12 October), young people from Chemnitz show how loud, creative and diverse their city can be.
Young initiatives, collectives, associations and individual artists now have the opportunity to become part of the programme. We are looking for programme contributions such as music, workshops, a skate contest, a reading or a pop-up - in principle, anything is possible!
So become part of the young city design programme now!
An idea can be submitted until 20 July.
Submit an idea
If you have any questions, please send an email to festivalcrew(at)chemnitz2025.de or send a direct message via Instagram to @create.urchemnitz.
The idea behind the LIVING NEIGHBOURHOOD project is to plant publicly accessible apple orchards and create communities that plant, care for and celebrate together. Anyone who would like to create such a meadow in their neighbourhood can get in touch at pflanzen@chemnitz2025.de and take part in the planting weeks in spring and autumn 2025.
In addition to the exhibition, the ‘Open Trial’ documentation centre is curating an archive that will provide a space for coming to terms with the NSU complex and its causes. The documentation centre is launching a collection campaign focusing on the NSU complex, right-wing terror, racism and migration.
In order to bring the archive to life, materials from the NSU era are being sought: personal, political or everyday items.
These could be, for example:
- Press cuttings, radio or television programmes
- Everyday objects, photos, letters or diaries
- Flyers, posters, invitations to events (especially from a migrant perspective)
- Recordings or memories from workshops, storytelling cafés or programmes
- Recordings of conversations, stories, self-made videos, audio files
- Term papers or theses on suitable topics
We do not work according to the classic archive model, in which objects are handed over permanently. A photo, a scan or a brief description is often sufficient. If digitisation is not possible, a simple reference to the source is also sufficient. The ‘Offener Prozess’ team is also happy to assist with the recording of materials.
Anyone who has a connection to these topics and can contribute something is welcome to bring material. Pupils or students who are interested in these topics, members of the migrant community or victims of the NSU crimes can also contribute to the archive.
The only important thing is that the material should trigger something - memories for everyone who sees, hears or reads it in the archive.
To submit your collection items from 4 June (until 27 November), please send an email to archiv@offener-prozess.de.
Further information at ↗https://offener-prozess.de/archiv/
The archive is not directly part of the exhibition, but will be open and accessible at the following times:
Wed - Thu 14:00 to 16:00 and by appointment at archiv@offener-prozess.de
Address: Documentation complex, Johannisplatz 8, 09111 Chemnitz
In the second half of the European Capital of Culture year Chemnitz 2025, the FUNKEN Academy is launching an interdisciplinary workshop programme in collaboration with Chemnitz University of Technology (TUC). The programme is aimed at graduates of Saxony’s art and music academies.
Artists are invited to apply who are interested in leading a multi-day workshop and engaging with the research fields of TUC, as well as in interdisciplinary exchange with scientists and technology experts. The workshops will be developed following a three-day research residency at TUC and carried out independently. Participating artists will also accompany the resulting artistic works through to the final exhibition in November.
Three workshops will open up key areas of research—at the MAIN research centre, the MERGE cluster, and the MeTech lab—for artistic reflection and practice. Under the theme “C the Unseen”, scientific methods and emerging technologies will serve as impulses and tools for aesthetic and poetic creation. The project encourages transdisciplinary perspectives and aims to make TUC’s research activities visible as contemporary and relevant fields of artistic engagement.
Timeline:
- July 2025 – 3-day research residency at Chemnitz University of Technology
- August 2025 – OpenClass with students and graduates
- September–October 2025 – Execution of the workshops and artistic mentoring
- 12 November 2025 – Exhibition of the final works
Who should apply:
- Artists with a practice involving technology, research, or material experimentation
- Interest in engaging with one of the following areas:
• MeTech – Human-Technology Interaction
• MERGE – Material and Process Innovation
• MAIN – Flexible Nanomembranes - Experience in designing and facilitating workshops
- A strong portfolio and/or teaching/mediation experience
What is provided:
- An artist fee of €4,500 (incl. VAT)
- Access to research labs and direct exchange with scientific teams
- Public exhibition as part of Chemnitz 2025
How to apply:
Expressions of interest can be submitted until 7 July 2025.
Please send a short PDF (max. 1 page) including:
- A brief statement on possible collaboration with one of the research areas
- Description of artistic methods, materials, and approaches
- Relevant experience with workshops or educational formats
- Link to portfolio / website / Instagram
Send to: christoph@klubsolitaer.de
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis (“first come, first served”).
For questions, feel free to get in touch via email or phone: +49 (0)371 676 046 99
Join Maker Advent 2025 now – craftsmanship, technology and creativity at Christmas time!
Chemnitz 2025 is once again inviting people to take part in Maker Advent, a city- and region-wide participatory campaign during Advent that inspires people to get creative and discover or pass on craft skills.
We are looking for participants, workshops, associations, educational and cultural institutions, and creative individuals who would like to offer their own participatory formats between 24 November and 30 December 2025, whether it be baking, knitting, programming, carving, printing, laser cutting or lace-making. Maker Advent stands for the diversity of tradition and innovation in Chemnitz and the region.
The offers will be communicated and publicly advertised in a printed and digital brochure as well as via the Chemnitz 2025 channels. The aim is to create broad visibility for local creativity and to connect people through intergenerational, practical formats.
What is Maker Advent?
Maker Advent is an event format organised by Chemnitz 2025, which has been showcasing the diversity of creative, craft and technological offerings in the region since 2023. In the run-up to Christmas, workshops, studios, museums, libraries, youth centres, family centres, repair cafés and other participants open their doors and invite people to get involved.
The focus is on practical, participatory workshops and courses that promote the joy of creating and learning, regardless of age or prior knowledge. In 2025, there will once again be a colourful programme that brings together craftsmanship and digital technologies.
How to participate
Anyone who would like to offer their own workshop or participatory format as part of Maker Advent in December 2025 can register using the form on this page until 7 September 2025. Participation is free of charge.
Requirements:
The event must take place in Chemnitz or the Capital of Culture region between 24 November and 30 December 2025.
- It should be a publicly accessible format with a hands-on character (not purely a showcase event).
- Target groups, location, time and material requirements should already be outlined.
- Offers for children, young people and families are particularly welcome.
To apply, simply submit a short description (including target group, time/location, schedule), photos (if applicable) and the contact details of the organising organisation/person by 7 September 2025 at the latest using the following form:
️ ↗︎ To the call for applications
More information & inspiration:
Review 2024: The Maker Advent 2024 brochure shows how colourful and diverse last year's programme was, from traditional crafts to digital technologies to extraordinary art events.
To the Maker Advent 2024 brochure (PDF)
More information about the overall ‘Maker, Business & Arts’ project can be found here:
Contact:
If you have any questions about the call for entries or registration, please do not hesitate to contact the project team: