Being creative and organizing your own project sounds like a lot of experience and a lot of fun. In this article, you can find out what options there are and what this looks like in practice.
Author: Marie Weiß
Since the winter semester 2021/2022, there has been a new module in the Bachelor's degree program "Culture and Management" called "Practical Project Cultural Management". In this module, students are given the opportunity to plan and implement various events and projects in Görlitz. It has long been possible to take part in projects, but now students even get credits for it. It is an elective module, so it is voluntary for anyone who is interested in gaining more practical experience and simply trying things out.
There are several projects to choose from this semester, such as the events:
The "Campus Open Air" already took place on May 12 and 13, 2022. Find out more about this year's Campus Open Air below.
The Culture and Management degree program not only gives you the opportunity to plan a project, but also to express yourself creatively. Creative workshops are offered for this purpose, which take place as part of a separate module. The workshops offered this semester are Photography, Music, Dance and Art - Film - Literature.
To understand this, I asked around at the Campus Open Air practical module and the creative dance workshop.
Campus Open Air 2022
This year, the 21st Campus Open Air took place on campus in Görlitz. It was organized by a 14-member team, which consisted partly of newly enrolled cultural managers and partly of "old hands", i.e. students from the last few years. There were eight different areas of work - including team management, public relations and finance. The whole team worked together to organize a beautiful and unforgettable party, and according to the students themselves, there were hardly any problems with the implementation of the project. According to Pauline Wessels, one of the team members, it is a very good opportunity to gain practical experience and practice for the future. It is important to learn how to deal with pressure and stress without losing your nerve. When organizing a project, you get to know your weaknesses and strengths better and how you can develop and improve them. In any case, it is helpful to get involved in your studies and organize projects, the credits are rather secondary.
I was at the COA myself and these are my impressions:
DAY 1
On the first day, Thursday, May 12, you could watch some regional artists on the open stage. There were an incredible number of talented people whose performances I personally really enjoyed. This wonderful experience was rounded off by a beautiful location and a large audience.
There was good food and delicious drinks for a small price. Late in the evening, when the open stage was slowly being dismantled, there was an after-show party in the university auditorium with DJ Svensån. This was also very well received by the guests and lifted the mood even further.
DAY 2
The next day started a little earlier, around 15:00, with the supporting program. There were various small highlights such as a clothes swap. If you were there between 3 and 4 p.m., you didn't have to pay admission - a nice offer. A ticket normally cost €10. Students only paid €8, which is a fair price for both sides. The live music started at 18:00 with various exciting bands. All the performances were great and great fun, as you could see from the crowd dancing and enjoying the music. There was also an after show party on Friday, this time on two floors. On the one hand in the assembly hall and on the other in the canteen. There were very different DJs and a wide variety of music genres.
My conclusion on the project module:
In general, I really enjoyed the COA this year and thought it was a great success. All the departments worked really well together and put on something fantastic. The result is definitely something to be proud of as part of the practical project. I can only recommend everyone to visit the next COA or perhaps even help organize it.
Creative workshop: Dancing
The creative dance workshop I took part in does not take place at the university, but at the Gerhart Hauptmann Theater and is led by dancer Hanna Thomas. Every Monday we meet in front of the theater at 4:15 pm and go to the dance hall together. The workshop lasts two hours. After changing we warm up. This looks different from week to week, sometimes we do stretching exercises, sometimes more endurance exercises, but we have also warmed up with various dance exercises.
The last two weeks we meditated for the first twenty minutes. This was particularly good for me personally, as you can forget all your worries and get into a state where you are completely focused on the future dance.
The dance workshop mainly consists of the dance style "Contemporary Dance", which deals with the choreographic art of stage dance, so it is certainly not for everyone. But it is definitely a creative workshop with a difference.
It is self-explanatory that we dance in the creative workshop "Dance". But the workshop actually involves more than just dancing. Let me tell you about one lesson: Hanna gave us pens and paper and told us to draw a path in a continuous line. This path could represent anything, our way from home to university or our way from bed to the kitchen. When we had finished, we created some really funny lines and pictures that we were supposed to dance. So we danced our own path and the others drew what they could recognize. At the end of the lesson we had lots of drawings and lots of dances. This was a very interesting and enjoyable experience where everyone was able to express their creativity.
My conclusion for the creative workshop:
I am very happy with this creative workshop and am very glad to have chosen it. Hanna is a very funny, cheerful and great woman with lots of ideas. I have already learned a lot about my body and also about my soul and was able to fully express my creativity, which in my opinion is an important point in creative workshops. I wouldn't have thought that you could learn so much and get so much inspiration from a creative workshop.
