At the beginning of December 2013, the municipal advisory council of Dresden Neustadt unanimously followed the proposal to ask the mayor of Dresden to tender the former building of the Dresden firehouse on Katharinenstraße 9 for unconditional use as a creative center. “Since 2010 we, Kultur Aktiv, have co-operated for the development of the concept” says the head of the association Mirko Sennewald. During many discussions the concept became clearer and more specific. “2011, together with Stefan Schulz and Klaus Körner from Groovestation, as potential co-operators, we have sent our first requests to the local authority real estate office. However our questions haven’t received a clear answer.” added Sennewald. Despite that, Sennewald remains optimistic:” We brought up this topic for discussion with the local politics and some sections of the administration, so we are receiving some positive feedback at the moment.” The concept is very concretely defined in order to prevent an eventual dislocation through long political debates.
The project plan relies on a long term rent from the state with an independent administration and internal finance. “We don’t want to receive this building as a gift, additional financial benefits from the state are also not necessary, because the building is in a good condition, adequate for the cultural center and the cultural organisations.” emphasized Sennewald. Furthermore, a few individual initiatives and volunteers are being planned, so that a final touch of the rooms would be possible.
“This demand exists due to the drastically rising rents in the Neustadt, Dresden.” said Sennewald. Scientific studies recommend politics and administration to preserve this creative potential of Neustadt, emphasizes Sennewald, referring to the cultural center of the state capital.
The concept is now available for Download: Konzept_FeuerwacheNeustadt
An overview is resuming the idea in several key points:Kurzkonzept_FeuerwacheNeustadt
Article in the SZ online, from 03.01.2014: SZ_FW_Jan_2014
Article in the DNN from 13.01.2013: DNN 13.01.2014
For more questions: 0176 1007 3498 (Mirko Sennewald)