Mitten in Europa
Twin Towns Festival
06. – 08. October 2023
Street Art from Annonay, Bácsalmás, Chelmsford & Backnang
A festival for cultures in Backnang
Friendships are preserved when they are nurtured. Backnang maintains long-standing friendships with towns in Europe: With Annonay, Bácsalmás and Chelmsford. The twin town associations have made it their task to keep these friendships alive. A task that is admirably accomplished with a great deal of dedication and commitment by all involved. Backnang is located in the middle of Europe. A good meeting place to invite artists from the twin towns to Backnang.
Europe is not only a common market for goods, but also a common stage for people and their respective cultures. Europe is a continent of togetherness and compromise, in which there must never again be room for national egotism, conflicts and wars – and because twinning has always worked on this network of togetherness, the Bandhaus Theater wholeheartedly supports this work.
Participants
- Show all
- Dance
- Discussion
- Graffiti
- Music
- Party
- Street Art
- Workshop
Program
Organizers
Bandhaus Theater Backnang
The Bandhaus Theater Backnang was founded in April 2013 and has thus recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. The two theater directors Jasmin Meindl and Juliane Putzmann had been commissioned by the city council to build up a theater operation where a variety show had been set up until then. In these ten years, the two directors have succeeded in building up a theater company from nothing, which today is an integral part of the town and has become a cultural focal point in the city. The concept is based on professional acting, community theater and theater education. In addition to classics of theater literature, the program includes self-developed material on current social issues. In recent years, the theater has become a kind of public living room in which more and more people have taken their seats. People know each other, exchange ideas, share experiences – that connects.
Director: Jasmin Meindl, Juliane Putzmann
E-Mail: info@bandhaus-theater.de
Partnerschaftsverein Backnang-Chelmsford e.V.
Chelmsford and Backnang officially twinned in 1990, although the first contacts were made in 1984. Since then, many groups and associations have met and benefited from the partnership between the two communities, not least again at the 51st Backnang street festival. In the spring of 2005, the committee of the Backnang twinning working group for Chelmsford was established and, in 2007, the Partnerschaftsverein Backnang-Chelmsford e.V. was founded. The aim and purpose of the association is to inform Backnang citizens of the partnership with Chelmsford and to create a broad interest in Chelmsford and its surroundings. The existing friendly contacts between both between the two cities are to be further strengthened.
Chairperson: David Whitehead
E-Mail: info@backnang-chelmsford.de
Freunde der Städtepartnerschaft Backnang-Annonay e.V.
The twinning committee existed from 2005 to 2021. In January 2022, the association “Freunde der Städtpartnerschaft Backnang-Annonay e.V.” was founded. Our goals are to promote international and tolerance in all areas of culture, along with international understanding. These goals are to be achieved by the promotion and organization of meetings between people from Backnang and Annonay, the exchange of associations and schools, religious communities and institutes, and the the staging of cultural, musical and sporting events, insofar as they serve the idea of international understanding.
Chairperson: Inge Wagner
E-Mail: FreundeBacknangAnnonay@web.de
Paten- und Partnerschaftskomitee Bácsalmás-Backnang
Town twinning between Backnang and Bácsalmás came into being through contacts of the displaced Germans from the Hungarian town. In September 1957, the Bácsalmás reunion took place. As early as 1959, the town of Backnang took over sponsorship. The sponsorship committee of the Bácsalmásers was founded as a result. Its hope for a closer connection was fulfilled in 1988, when the twinning agreement was one of the first between a German and a Hungarian municipality. It was the first town twinning which was established from a sponsorship of a group of displaced people from this place. The Partnerschaftskomitee Bácsalmás-Backnang was founded in 2006 and merged with the sponsorship committee in 2014 to form the Paten- und Partnerschaftskomitee Bácsalmás-Backnang.
Chairperson: Klaus Loderer
E-Mail: Klaus.Loderer@t-online.de
Photos
Photos: ALEX BECHER
Supporters
A big thank you goes to our sponsors, helpers and supporters:
- Freunde der Städtepartnerschaft Backnang-Annonay e.V.
- Partnerschaftsverein Backnang – Chelmsford e.V.
- Paten- und Partnerschaftskomitee Bácsalmás-Backnang
- Förderverein “Freunde des Kulturzentrums Stiftshof e.V.”
- Backnanger Bürgerbühne e.V.
- All volunteers and supporters
- Thomas Steffen, Geschäftsführer der Stadtwerke Backnang
- Armin Holp, Leitung Verbandsarbeit, Kreisjugendring Rems-Murr e.V.
- Candy Joyce, Organisatorin von Concrete Canvas, Chelmsford
- Dr. Ingeborg Gräßle, Robert Antretter, Franz Huber
- Dance Intense Factory
- Dani Suara, Benny Redick, Breichle
- our generous supporters and sponsors
