Ruhr Festival: full house and renovation for the future!

Ruhr Festival: full house and renovation for the future!

This year's Ruhr Festival ended on Pentecost Sunday and recorded an impressive capacity utilization of almost 90 percent. Director Olaf Kröck was extremely satisfied with the events where around 56,000 tickets were sold. Many performances took place in sold -out halls, which impressively shows the popularity of this cultural highlights. The highlights of the final program included rope dance, juggling and an innovative headphone party. The central productions of these festival included "The Great Yes, The Great No" by William Kentridge, which deals with topics such as memory, flight, exile and colonialism, as well as the premiere of "It is never summer in the Ruhr area" by Guido Wertheimer, the Jewish and German family stories.

The next Ruhr Festival is planned for the period from May 1 to June 13, 2026. This extension of the term is a reaction to the upcoming renovation work at the Festspielhaus. It is noteworthy that the number of selected events will continue to be just under 200, and the budget for the Ruhr Festival stabilizes at around 6.5 million euros per year. The Ruhr Festival originally had their roots in the post -war winter in 1946/47 when miners from Recklinghausen provided the theater with coal, and the first event took place in 1948.

renovation plans for the Festspielhaus

The city of Recklinghausen plans to have a comprehensive renovation and modernization of the Ruhr Festival House, an important cultural event. In order to implement the necessary measures, a general planner was sought who is responsible for object planning, structural engineering, stage technology and technical equipment. The VGV procedure, which PASD was carried out by PASD in cooperation with the necessary specialist planners, has already made some progress. The first measure, the facade renovation, began in spring 2020. This aims to bring the building envelope to a contemporary energetic standard.

The Ruhrfestspielhaus currently has an uninsulated natural stone facade that has age -related damage, including outbreaks, cracks and open panel breaks. As part of the renovation, both the natural stone facade and the window elements are to be renewed, whereby special attention is paid to thermal insulation without changing the existing appearance. The facade material used and the original facade structure is taken into account.

accessibility as an important aspect

Another central component of the renovation plans is the improvement of accessibility in the Festspielhaus. The cultural participation of people with disabilities is becoming increasingly important, and it is necessary to involve your needs as part of the structural measures from the start. The aim is to reduce barriers that hinder access to culture in accordance with the UN Disabled Convention. Initiatives and instruments of the cultural administration promote accessibility as a quality feature of cultural institutions.

The city of Recklinghausen takes into account the accessibility for people with special needs when planning the renovation measures. There are also typical conflicts that can arise from monument protection and budget limits. When assessing funding applications, the accessibility of our cultural institutions is always checked. This ensures that in the future cultural offers can achieve even broader parts of the population, which creates an inclusive culture.

The upcoming renovation work at the Ruhrfestspielhaus in Recklinghausen not only offers the opportunity to modernize, but also to create a more accessible and inviting space for all those interested in culture.