A project by
The heart of the Sommerwerft consists of two central ideas: art and community. Our festival offers artistic freedom in the literal sense – also for spontaneous actions outside the program. Synergies and impulses arise from interdisciplinary encounters and cultural exchange that cannot be written into a program in advance. That’s why the Sommerwerft also makes unplanned performances and appearances possible. In this way, we want to encourage people to become actively creative on their own responsibility and to help shape the festival – and give impulses to transfer this experience of self-efficacy to other areas of the community, entirely in the sense of sustainable development.
The team of the Sommerwerft, all those involved here, artists, volunteers and partners, together create the unique and legendary atmosphere. The 100 volunteers from all over the world and the many volunteers from the region make up the team with which we make our festival possible. A meeting of different ages, nations and cultures; people full of ideas and curiosity, who all come together at one aim and live through a piece of life and work reality together and grow from it together. During the entire festival period, up to 180 participants live and work on the association premises of protagon e. V. in Frankfurt East and many, many more support the festival on site at the Weseler Werft in front of and behind the scenes.
The festival creates this space for you and all of us: visitors, theater & culture lovers and also all Sommerwerft workers. The association Protagon e. V. (organizer, organization center and starting point of the Sommerwerft) never tires of finding interested people to enlarge this team, to give the space for responsibility, realization and of course creation. From this core, our 17 days of Sommerwerft is created year after year.
It is and remains an uncommercial festival and its atmosphere is noticeably different from that of many other cultural events. The feeling of community and identification with one’s own living space develops openly in contact and exchange with other cultures here.
And for all those who also have the desire and time to help out: it’s never too late. We are looking forward to further help and support. Whether as a donation or behind the bars, in the kitchen, in the theater tent, with the construction and dismantling behind the scenes – it is for a cause that we all want: the Sommerwerft – independent. Freedom-loving. For everyone. Get in touch with us directly on the festival grounds at the Infocorner or send us an email via the contact form.
Without the many creative artists who annually offer a wide variety of performative, theatrical and musical contributions to watch and participate in about 170 individual events, a Sommerwerft would not be much more than a beer garden. A big thank you to all the creative artists for enriching Frankfurt so much and for coming up with top-class and diverse programs year after year.
In addition to the artists, there are also those cultural workers who are not so obvious to the visitor. The core crew of the Sommerwerft consists of about 40-45 motivated people each year, each of whom takes on large areas of responsibility ranging from technology, curatorships, accounting to program planning, public relations and catering. They all help to ensure that the Sommerwerft runs so smoothly and that this cultural event can take place.
Whoever visits the Sommerwerft can hardly believe that the entire event is run by a mostly volunteering organization team, supported by our key team. Around 400 people from over 30 countries and from our region get involved and help to shape the Sommerwerft. The organizational structure is extraordinary: from the planning we work in a participatory and integrative way. For many weeks we live and work together on the Sommerwerft campus on the association grounds of protagon e.V. and learn from each other. Decisions are developed through discourse and shared responsibility.
To all those who have made it possible again to realize the Sommerwerft, also to all the countless volunteers who bring the Sommerwerft to the Main riverbank – a big thank you, love and respect for your motivation!
Overall management: Bernd Abraham, Bernhard Bub – Board protagon e.V.
Technical direction: Joscha Erker
Project management & coordination: Grischa Wiesner, Bernd Abraham
Financial coordination: Bernhard Tessmann, Norbert Pohl
Office communication: Alexei Ulinici
Safety & Hygiene: Benny Coppik, Anika Pilger, Eugen Blersch – AES Concept
Public Relations: Carola Schaffrath & Anne Schütz – Filmpresse Meuser
Social Media: Simone Galli, Edith van den Elzen, Max Büttner, Myrthe van den Kiebom
Website: Julia Kraus, Marina Fischer
Streaming & Video: Staude Media Service, Nadine Lang, Edith van Elzen, Bobby Packham
Helpers coordination: Lena Disser, Lauren Boissenet, Lisa Skogstad, Myrthe van den Kieboom, Eva Göbel
Covid Safety Team: Thiago Dos Reis Nascimento, André Luis Vitório da Silva
Theater program: Bernhard Bub, Sebastian Bolitz, Susanne Freiling
Dance program: Anna Orkolainen, Clara Garcia
Queer Night of Performance: Lucas Tanajura, Benedikt Müller
Music program & moderation: Seppl Niemeyer – Virus Radio
Cinema program: Pupille: Martin Urban, Vuong Nguyen Quy
Culture free space: Barbara Carvalho, Bernhard Bub
Children’s program: Eva Bodensohn, Joana Fuhrmann, Laura Schmidt
Workshops & Talks: Barbara Carvalho, Lena Neckel
Flowmarket: Daniela Christ
Bar organization: Manuel Frenzel
Gastro Organization: Marina Fischer, Jonas Matejtschek
Shark Bar: Anton & Florian Dostal
Café Pimpanelli: Josephin Berger
Porto Brasil: Clara Garcia & Claudio Machado
Babushka Café: Elizaveta Babanina, Aga Kubiak
Kitchen: Jonas Matejtschek, Timothé Feret, Claire Burke, Nicoletta Busto, Lena Neckel, Max Büttner
Infopoint: Luziana Borges Fazan
Decoration of the festival area: Ruben Wielsch, Eva Bodensohn, Gerardo Vitale
Photographers of the festival: Barbara Walzer, Stefan Chytrek, Holger Greiner
Technical Team: Ben Castelli, Jan Colsman, Jochen Kipp, Benjamin Wohlrab, David Gyewrovszky, Jörg See, Gabriel Frevert, Simon Rauland,
Utz Kieltsch, Samuel Distelmann, Julius Fibich, Benedikt Müller, Lucas Tanajura, Bobby Packham, Peter Gajewski
Care Team: Grischa Wiesner, Corinna Kröger, Maximilian Auerbach, Julie Menzel, Rolf Sang-Ho Becker
Backstage: Toumi Hamadi, Léa Jacquot
Artist support: Lucas Tanajura, Benedikt Müller
Housekeeping & Hosting: Lucas Tanajura, Myrthe van den Kieboom
Shuttle & Transport: Helder Oliveira, Leon Gebhardt
Poster design: Benedikt Müller
Design: flyers, posters, banners & program booklet: Tanita Sauerhöfer
Cover picture: Barbara Walzer
Program booklet: Organization & Editing & Printing & Proofreading: Maximilian Friedel, Benedikt Müller, Edith van den Elzen, Max Büttner,Bernhard Bub, Tanita Sauerhöfer
And many more, who are not mentioned here…