Academy Schwerin
| Academy Schwerin
House for politics, business and culture in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania |
|
|---|---|
| legal form | non-profit registered association |
| founding | April 2, 1993 |
| founder | Wolfgang Donner, Uwe Möller |
| Seat | Schwerin |
| main emphasis | Political education , promotion of democracy |
| people | Christian Kuhn (CEO), Dr. Wolfgang Donner (deputy chairman), Joachim Bussiek (director), Hartmann Kühne (chairman of the support group), Dr. Petra Zühlsdorf-Boehm |
| Employees | 8th |
| Website | akademie-schwerin.de |
The Academy Schwerin is a state-recognized training institution. It organizes seminars, study trips and conferences on political and contemporary history education. In addition, the academy is active as a project sponsor and focuses on issues of preventing extremism and promoting democracy .
Founded in 1993 as the "Academy for Politics, Economy and Culture in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania", the Schwerin Academy has been working under its current name since 2017. It maintains an office and its own conference center in Schwerin's old town .
History and tasks
The first considerations for the establishment of an “Bildungsforum Mecklenburg” were already in 1990 - initiated by Wolfgang Donner from Schwerin and Uwe Möller , the director of the Hamburg “ Haus Rissen ”. In 1991 the first conferences, colloquia and study trips took place in the "Haus Rissen - Büro Schwerin" founded in January. On April 2, 1993 the Academy for Politics, Economy and Culture in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern eV was finally founded: With Wolfgang Donner as the first director and Uwe Möller as the first chairman, the academy first worked in Boltenhagen and in 1995 moved to the Grevesmühlen “ Malzfabrik ” . In the middle of the nineties first the state recognition as a further education institution by the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , then recognition as a sponsored institution by the Federal Agency for Civic Education and finally the accession to the umbrella organization “ Working Group of German Educational Institutions ”. In 1999 the academy moved to today's “Conference Center at the Castle” in Schwerin.
In 2001 the Academy took part in the “History, Music, Memory” project, which was under the patronage of the Federal President. Since then she has been active in a wide variety of formats and campaigns related to the “Ostracized Music” project, for example as a co-organizer of the regular international symposia. As part of the federal government's “entimon” program, the academy intensified its work on the subject of extremism from 2003 onwards .
In 2006 Wolfgang Donner retired and Markus Birzer from Hamburg took over the management of the house for him. A little later, the political scientist Joachim Bussiek became director of the academy. Since 2008, the academy has been expanding its offerings and project work thematically: It has become the project sponsor of the nationwide Alliance for Democracy and Tolerance “WIR. Success needs diversity ”, intensifies its efforts to promote civil-military dialogue in educational work and in 2010 joins the“ Network for Civic Education in the Bundeswehr ”. As part of the energy transition in Germany, the annual “Energy Forum Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania” will be established from 2012.
In 2013, the academy is the publisher of the citizens' newspaper “Die AUFmacher”, which can now be found in five cities with a monthly circulation of 25,000 in two regional editions. For 2020, the project is to be expanded to include other locations and editions throughout the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
In 2017 the Academy for Politics, Economy and Culture was renamed Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and has been operating as the Academy Schwerin ever since - with a new logo and a new mission statement under the motto “Committed to our democracy”.
Conference center at the castle
The academy has its own conference center and offices in Schwerin's old town . With two seminar rooms it offers space for up to 70 people and offers conference technology and service. For events lasting several days, the academy cooperates with a nearby hotel.
Organization and financing
Around a dozen freelancers work for the academy for around 50 further training events each year. There are also employees permanently employed in education and project work.
The academy's educational events are generally freely accessible to citizens and are often funded by the Federal Agency for Civic Education or the State Agency for Civic Education Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Regular partners in educational work are the Bundeswehr and the state police, schools, universities and administrations, but also churches, associations and clubs and partners in business.
Directors and Chief Executive Officers
Directors
- Wolfgang Donner (1993-2006)
- Markus Birzer (2006-2007)
- Joachim Bussiek (since 2007)
CEO
- Uwe Möller (1993 - 2011; since then honorary chairman)
- Josef Wolf (2011 - 2019)
- Christian Kuhn (since 2019)
Memberships
Web links
- Homepage of the Academy Schwerin eV
- Homepage advanced training database for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania