SK Foundation for Culture
| SK Foundation for Culture | |
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| Purpose: | Promotion of culture in Cologne |
| Chair: | Artur Grzesiek |
| Managing directors: | Hans-Georg Bögner |
| Consist: | since 1976 |
| Founder: | Sparkasse KölnBonn |
| Seat: | 50670 Cologne |
| Website: | www.sk-kultur.de |
The work of the SK Stiftung Kultur der Sparkasse KölnBonn , based in Cologne's Mediapark , focuses on artistic photography, dance, the Cologne language and the communication of literature and media art to children and young people. The foundation annually praises the Cologne dance and theater prizes and organizes exhibitions and reading series. The foundation also oversees the Sparkasse KölnBonn's funding program for projects from Cologne's independent cultural scene in the fields of music, dance, film and literature.
History and development of the foundation
The foundation was established in 1976 on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the then Stadtsparkasse Köln as a foundation under private law with legal capacity. Whereas the work of the foundation in the 1970s was driven by educational policy considerations, its projects today focus on promoting culture in Cologne. Over the years, the foundation expanded its area of responsibility by establishing departments: The Akademie för uns kölsche Sproch has supplemented the work of the foundation since 1983. Its tasks include researching and cultivating the Cologne dialect and promoting local history. In 1985 the private collection was acquired through the professional stage dance of Kurt Peters , dancer, pedagogue and publicist. The German Dance Archive Cologne developed from this and is managed jointly by the Foundation and the City of Cologne. In 1992 the foundation laid the cornerstone for Die Photographische Sammlung . She acquired the estate of the photographer August Sander and the collection of the German Society for Photography . The SK Stiftung Kultur has been based in the MediaPark since 1996 .
The photographic collection
Based on the work of the important German photographer August Sander (1876–1964), the work of the Photographic Collection focuses on factual, documentary and conceptually oriented photography. Research and exhibition activities are based on this clearly defined collection area. The changing exhibition program includes historical and contemporary artistic positions that are in the tradition of objective, conceptual photography. The center of the collection, which is continuously expanding, is the August Sander Archive. This contains the world's largest inventory of the photographer's work. At the beginning of 1996 a cooperation agreement was signed with the artist couple Bernd and Hilla Becher . The University of the Arts Berlin has been a cooperation partner with the Karl Blossfeldt Collection since 1999 .
In July 2014, GAG Immobilien handed over its photo holdings from the architectural photographers Werner Mantz and Hugo Schmölz to the Photographic Collection. They mainly document the GAG settlements in the 1920s and 1930s.
The August Sander Prize was awarded for the first time in 2018 , donated by Ulla Bartenbach and the lawyer and university professor Kurt Bartenbach. The prize, which is awarded every two years, aims to promote young, contemporary artistic approaches in the sense of factual, conceptual photography with a special focus on the human portrait.
German Dance Archive Cologne
The German Dance Archive Cologne , which is maintained jointly with the City of Cologne, documents the history of dance from the 15th century onwards with almost no gaps . In his dance museum, which is unique in Europe, engravings, sculptures, libretti, ballet shoes, photographs, films and costumes keep events that were once celebrated on the stage alive: theater scandals such as the premiere of Igor Stravinski's Sacre du printemps or stage experiments in the visual arts such as Oskar Schlemmer's Triadic Ballet . The German Dance Archive Cologne discovers new pages of well-known personalities from the past and present in its continuous processing of legacies and in the ongoing takeover of current dance documents. It is an information, documentation and research center for dance with an archive, library, video library and museum.
Academy for us Cologne language
The Akademie för uns kölsche Sproch stands for the preservation and promotion of a lively and contemporary Cologne language , which is always related to the history and culture of the city of Cologne as well as the diverse lifestyles of its residents. Since the academy was founded in 1983 as the only institution of its kind in Europe, five areas of work have emerged over time. These main areas of activity are: seminars, linguistics, archive / library, publications and events. The Akademie för uns kölsche Sproch wants to keep one of the most distinctive, robust and richly pictorial regional languages alive, carry it into everyday life, promote and cultivate it.
Cultural education and mediation
The Department of Cultural Education and Mediation plans and coordinates cultural projects independently and in cooperation with external partners. The participatory approach is particularly emphasized. In terms of content, the presentation is divided into literature for children and young people as well as media art and film.
Mediation of literature for children and young people
To motivate children and young people to read without pressure, to introduce them to literature and also to encourage them to write themselves - this is what literacy and reading promotion are all about.
The annual International Children's and Youth Book Weeks are dedicated to a different host country. The authors who have traveled to Cologne from the respective country show the young audience the diversity and expressiveness of the written word in bilingual readings followed by a question and answer session. At the same time, the students come into contact with other cultures and get to know them better. Most of the readings take place in schools and public libraries. The schools applied beforehand and a preparatory seminar supports the teachers in optimally preparing their students for the visit of an author.
For students who already have a certain amount of writing experience and talent, there is the Cologne writing school for young people. If you want to participate, you have to submit an application and work samples. On several weekends a year, the up-and-coming authors are then instructed by the writer Patrick Findeis to express themselves confidently in literature and to put their ideas on paper.
With a project that was carried out for the first time in the 2013/2014 school year and specifically aimed at boys, the SK Stiftung Kultur wants to counteract the target group's unwillingness to read, as demonstrated in the PISA study : kicken & read Cologne picks up on the boys' enthusiasm for football and connects them with the The supposedly less attractive occupation of reading: Over the period of one school year, fifth graders are given intensive support at six Cologne schools and two institutions for open youth work. Within their "team" they experience reading together as a fun activity, both at school and in their free time. As a special incentive, in addition to reading, the participants also practice their football skills at the cooperation partner 1. FC Köln . They can then prove this in a subsequent soccer tournament. At the end of the school year, the teams compete against each other in a book slam . "Kicken & read" originally comes from Stuttgart, where the campaign has been successfully carried out since 2007 by the Baden-Württemberg Foundation and VfB Stuttgart . The Cologne author Frank Maria Reifenberg , who has been dealing with the topic of promoting reading for boys for many years, tailored “kicken & read” to Cologne and found a partner in the foundation to implement this idea here.
In addition, the literary mediation of the SK Stiftung Kultur is one of the co-founders of Lesementor Cologne, an initiative that promotes the support of poorly literate and disadvantaged children and young people.
Media art mediation
The genre of media art includes a. artistic works that were created using the "new media". In its media art mediation, the SK Stiftung Kultur wants to bring this art form closer to young people in particular and promote their artists.
The model project “Switch on your head and do it yourself” gives children and young people the opportunity to develop from passive media users to critical recipients and active designers. In the projects in schools or open workshops, the motto is seeing, understanding and designing yourself. The youngsters are guided by experienced media artists, with whose support they can discover the creative potential they have. Since 2012, intergenerational projects have also been carried out within media art education in order to promote intergenerational dialogue: older people and young people spend time together and work creatively with new media. Equipped with professional equipment, they learn from each other, gain insights into digital culture, explore young media art and discover the point of view of the other generation. It is primarily about one thing: "do it yourself and do it together!"
Cross-genre and cross-genre film programs such as the summer film nights with challenging and entertaining short films, video art , commercials and music videos complement the program in the field of media art education. Here, too, it is important to train critical vision and perception.
Cologne dance and theater awards
Every year, the Cologne Dance and Theater Awards recognize the best productions in the non-urban, professional Cologne theater and dance scene. Every six months, an independent jury of experts nominates those productions from Cologne's so-called independent dance and theater scene that are sent into the race for the awards. The prize money totaling 35,100 euros (as of 2013) is provided by sponsors from the region, who make an important contribution to promoting the genre. All productions of the stages of the city of Cologne are excluded from the competition, unless the city stage only functions as a venue for a free group. The respective winner remains secret until the award ceremony, which usually takes place on the first Monday in December in the house of the SK Stiftung Kultur.
Summer Cologne
Summer Cologne was an international theater program as a cooperation project with the city of Cologne, which took place open air and with free admission. Globally established ensembles such as Plasticiens Volants , Transe Express , Circo da Madrugada , Theater Titanick , Action Theater PAN.OPTIKUM , Circus Baobab and XARXA Teatre were guests. The main sponsor of the project was the Imhoff Foundation.
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.sk-kultur.de/foerderprogramm
- ↑ New future for historical photos. SK Stiftung Kultur, July 17, 2014, accessed on July 20, 2014 .
- ↑ http://www.sk-kultur.de/schreibschule
- ↑ http://www.kickenundlesenkoeln.de
- ↑ http://www.lesementorkoeln.de
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 56 ′ 54.2 ″ N , 6 ° 56 ′ 36.9 ″ E