The Department of Sports and Culture of the Federal City of Bonn oversees the city’s central cultural and sports institutions, including the City Library, the Adult Education Center, the Art Museum, the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, the Sports and Swimming Pool Authority, and the Bonn Theater. This also includes the Cultural Affairs Office, which oversees the City Archives, the City Historical Library, the memorial sites, the Nazi Documentation Center, the City Museum, and the Ludwig van Beethoven Music School.
- Category:
- Kultur, Sport, Bildung, Musik, Theater, Museum, Bibliothek, Archiv
- Places:
- Bonn
- Links:
- Contact information:
dezernatsleitung.deziv@bonn.de
- Represented by:
- Dr. Birgit Schneider-Bönninger
Since 2023, the Department of Sports and Culture of the Federal City of Bonn has been actively participating as a non-academic partner in the pioneering collaborative project transform.NRW to jointly initiate and support transformation processes at the local and regional levels. The Department defines itself as a “laboratory for the future” and a driving force for a cultural policy of sustainability.
As a catalyst and driver of development for sustainable futures, the department focuses on building new alliances and connections in North Rhine-Westphalia in order to gain actionable knowledge and added value for the federal city of Bonn and its local and regional stakeholders through dialogue.
It aims to develop spaces for experimentation, foster new, positive narratives through dialogue, and motivate civil society to actively participate in transformation processes. Through this collaboration, new entry points for engagement with partners from the fields of culture, sports, government, academia, business, and civil society are being created. In addition, the department sees the project as an opportunity to actively shape the discourse between academia and practice in the field of “art, culture, design, and sustainability,” thereby also building a bridge between ecological and social sustainability.
Sustainability at the Department of Sports and Culture of the Federal City of Bonn
In September 2024, Department IV of the City of Bonn published the “Sustainable Culture Strategy: More Colorful. More Dynamic. More Conscious” as part of the city’s “Climate Plan 2035.” The measures contained therein are to be implemented step by step, actively supporting societal transformation. The strategy is guided by the pillars “Dialogue! Knowledge! Vision!” and focuses on five key Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals, SDG 4: Quality Education, SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, and SDG 13: Climate Action. The package of measures emphasizes the platform concept and the guiding principle of the “resource-sharing community,” which connects diverse stakeholders to promote the shared use of knowledge resources and is intended as an alternative to a competition-oriented approach. The transformation process of Bonn’s theaters—involving the establishment of a decentralized and centralized resource exchange for sustainable, circular cultural production—serves as a model of best practice for the envisioned cultural ecosystem.
