Crowdfunding Campaign – English translation of the texts on the 99 Funken website.
The crowdfunding page ( www.99funken.de/bahnhof-leisnig ) has no English function so here is the translation of all texts.
At the end there you can find an English guide on how to donate on the page.
What’s the project about?
After a fire in 2000, the Leisnig train station in Central Saxony stood empty and slowly fell into disrepair – until we fell in love with it after a visit and decided to fill it with life again. Since the summer of 2020, Kulturbahnhof Leisnig e.V. has been renovating the building and turning it into an international cultural center. With great success! The station is already a symbol of creativity and openness and attracts people from near and far with its music and dance festivals.
The station is a vibrant place for culture, exchange and encounters. With its garden, playground, wood workshop, concerts and play evenings, it has become the “living room of the city”, a meeting place for young and old. It is also an example of how cultural initiatives can influence people and regions in a positive way and thus make a difference against rural exodus, division and isolation.
Every year, from May to September, the station blossoms with its “Music Summer”. Our stages are played by solo artists, duos, trios, small and large ensembles, big bands and at the end of the music summer there is our unique station orchestra with musicians from all over the world, and from Leisnig!
And then the winter comes…
In the months from October to May, it is cold in the station and everything that was set up so beautifully in the summer comes to a standstill. The cold and darkness made it difficult or even impossible to sit in the office, give instrumental lessons or hold a festival. With our renovation project, the station should be able to remain open and be used as a cultural venue all year round in future.
What is the target group?
In the beginning, our motto was “By musicians for musicians”. As musicians, we knew how difficult it is to find a place where you can make music in an uncomplicated way. But it should also be a place for music enthusiasts and for anyone who loves music or wants to learn an instrument. As we also like to play for dancers, it should also be possible to dance. And if you have music and dance, why not turn it into a cultural center?
However, we were also aware that we have a great responsibility towards the city and its inhabitants. The building still has the identity of a train station and is “the gateway to the city” and “the gateway to the world” for Leisnig. Stations are public places where people come and go, meet again and say goodbye to each other. We have therefore become a place for everyone.
To make everyone feel welcome, we need to remove certain barriers. On a structural level, this means accessibility: since last summer, the hall has been made accessible for people in wheelchairs from the forecourt.
It is important to us that our cultural events can also be attended by people with financial difficulties. That is why we do not sell tickets, but instead ask for a cultural contribution, the amount of which everyone can decide for themselves. Year after year, these donations help us to offer a high-quality cultural program, which we are proud of.
Why should you support this project?
In today’s world, where everything is becoming faster and more complex, we need places where we can relax and simply be.
To compensate for the isolation and confusion caused by the digitalization of our lives, we need analogue places where we can meet as human beings.
In times of uncertainty, we need places where we can get to know each other in order to rebuild trust.
We often hear from guests, friends and artists: “The train station is my favorite place in the whole world”. This is not only due to the historic building from 1867, which is magical and inspiring, or the picturesque town of Leisnig and the beautiful landscape that surrounds it. The fact that so many people visit us year after year is also because we know how nice it is to feel welcome.
The Kulturbahnhof Leisnig is a place where people can meet informally and inspire each other.
Thanks to your donation, we will be able to start an important part of the building renovation this spring and complete it in the summer so that we can also use other areas in winter and make them accessible to everyone.
With your support, the magic of this place will not only be felt in the warmer months, but all year round!
What happens to the money if the financing is successful?
The renovation work has been underway for almost five years. Much has already been done, such as the energy-efficient renovation of the roof, the floors and the heating systems. The club and classrooms and the café and co-working space area must be completed by September 2025.
We are still short of €150,000 to complete the project, which we need to raise as our own contribution in addition to the funding. We need your support in order to raise this contribution.
If the funding threshold of €75,000 is reached, we can finish renovating the old baggage hall and the signal box in the café and co-working space area. This will allow us to renovate the façade and windows in this area, repair the sanitary facilities and complete the electrical work.
With the additional €75,000 in funding, the smaller rooms in the café can also be renovated as retreat rooms and meeting rooms. In addition, the club rooms including offices and classrooms and sanitary facilities for this area will be renovated.
The completion of these two areas of the building will allow us to use the building all year round. This means that the station can remain open to everyone even in winter and can be enlivened with a wide range of cultural activities.
You can read more about how the money can be used by following the link below (English guide for how to donate…) and scrolling down to „You can support this“.
Who is behind the project?
It all started with our dream of creating a place where you can always meet musicians from all over the world and make music together.
We are Kathryn Döhner, musician and music teacher, Alireza Rismanchian, architect and Christoph Schönbeck, musician and language teacher. We got to know each other through music, through events organized by the international “Ethno” music network and the “Folklang” orchestra, which Kathryn created and built up in Tübingen.
As soon as we showed up at the train station in 2020, we attracted the warmest people from the city and the surrounding area, who have accompanied us through thick and thin to this day and are always on hand with help and advice. In the first summer, our musician friends came to help clean up and secure the station. This gave rise to the idea of the station orchestra, which is formed anew every year.
Today, we have found a great team of diverse people who share our vision and help to make it a reality. Together, we have extensive experience in planning and implementing cultural projects and events, project management, community building, cultural education AND on the construction site.
What is the funding threshold?
Once the funding threshold has been reached, the old baggage hall and the signal room can be renovated as a cultural café and co-working space.