Arts & sciences

In the arts and sciences we sponsor a particularly wide range of projects. One aspect is the funding of outstanding research and development at the higher education institutions in the city. Our funding focuses on special research projects, endowments for professorships and the technical equipment for scientific work.

An additional aspect is that the promotion of art and culture helps to reinforce Lübeck’s position as a cultural centre in northern Europe. Alongside the major cultural institutions such as the Lübeck Cultural Foundation, Lübeck Theatre, the Lübeck College of Music and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, which all receive regular funding from the Possehl Foundation, there are many other smaller initiatives that keep culture alive and vibrant in Lübeck and are sponsored by the Foundation.

Youth Dance Project Beethoven 3

TanzOrtNord and the Lübeck Chamber Philharmonic orchestra want to make classical music attractive in a modern day setting. In Beethoven 3 it is paired with contemporary theatre dance and urban dance styles in an energetic and intense performance. The youth dance project created an opportunity for young people to experience theatre, music and art for themselves. Children and young people with different social and cultural backgrounds and experiences were closely involved in the creative process during an eight-month participatory development phase. They were taught and coached by professional artists in workshops and project days. The audiences at the seven sold-out performances in Kulturwerft Gollan were carried away by their enthusiasm.

HanseKulturFestival 2022

For three days in June 2022 the neighbourhood around Lübeck Cathedral celebrated an iteration of the HanseKulturFestival entitled “Let’s make it great”. 280,000 visitors enjoyed a wide-ranging entertainment programme, with more than 300 individual events put on by some 450 local residents and organisations, as well as 70 artists and groups, featuring music, street art and other performances. The historic Cathedral Quarter was brightly decorated with bunting and lights and turned into a lively setting for art and culture. Streets and alleyways became stages, Lübeck hospitality was open to all in gardens and courtyards and the banks of the river Trave by Painter’s Corner thronged with visitors strolling, sitting, dancing, laughing, watching and listening, and playing. The Lübeck Travemünde Tourist Office is responsible for the festival and tries to ensure that it is organised a sustainable way.

Lübeck hosts the Bucerius Summer School on Global Governance

They are policymakers, NGO activists or politicians starting their career, and for two weeks these young managers from all over the world meet at the Bucerius Summer School to learn about questions of global governance and debate the controversial issues that will define our future.  They discuss how political and governance structures can succeed and be extended in the context of dynamic globalisation processes. In August 2022 the participants visited the European Hansemuseum in Lübeck, where they discussed the topic “Facing New Realities: Global Governance under Strain”.