History of the Karlsruhe
volunteer program
KA300 - Karlsruhe City Birthday 2015
Over 500 events in 100 days - her 300th birthday celebrated the city of Karlsruhe with a 15-week festival summer from June 17 to September 27, 2015. The city's birthday framed two important dates in Karlsruhe's history: the day the foundation stone was laid for the Karlsruhe Palace and the day the Privilege Charter was published.
The celebrations were mainly held in the pavilion built especially for the occasion in the castle gardenaround the castle and in the city center. But anniversary events were also held in the cultural and scientific institutions and in all 27 districts of the city.
The KME Karlsruhe Marketing and Event GmbH advised and supported the organizers during all phases of the project.
The Karlsruhe Volunteer Program was set up at the time to cope with the density of events. A total of 300 committed Karlsruhe residents were found who actively helped with the organization and implementation of the more than 500 events . The volunteers of the City Birthday achieved a total of 887 assignments, which corresponds to 7,681 hours of work. The person who completed the most shifts had 52 confirmed assignments.
Individual elements of the 2015 festival summer were carried over into the coming years, such as the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE Light Festivalthe science festival EFFEKTE, the traditional classic car parade Tribute to Carl Benz and also the Karlsruhe Volunteers!
A volunteer tells -
Memories from the
Festival summer
I still remember the first meeting with those responsible for the KA300 planning team. It was a cold, dark November afternoon in 2014.
Eleven of us sat in the back room of the KA300 info store and were briefed on the plans for the volunteer program for the upcoming festival summer. The aim was to find 300 volunteers for the 300th city birthday.
As first-time volunteers, we were entrusted with conducting the necessary interviews.
We got to know the socio-demographic diversity of Karlsruhe: Young and old Karlsruhe residents, tall and short Karlsruhe residents, new Karlsruhe residents and exiled Karlsruhe residents who traveled long distances, for example from Basel, for an assignment. In the weeks before and during the festival summer, the volunteers were trained for their upcoming assignments and equipped with uniform clothing. As part of a kick-off event, we were able to inaugurate the KA300 pavilion before anyone else.
This was followed by 100 days of festival summer with a variety of events such as the Sternstunden im Schlossgarten with impressive light installations throughout the city, the brilliant opening show in front of the palace with unprecedented light projections on the palace façade, or the science festival "EFFEKTE". As a special highlight, the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE attracted countless visitors to Schlossplatz every evening. In addition to numerous assignments in and around the pavilion in the palace gardens, we were also present at the open day at the Federal Constitutional Court, the zoo anniversary with the opening of the Exotenhaus, DAS FEST and the district projects. With a great deal of commitment and enthusiasm, we supported countless events, informed visitors about the KA300 city birthday or showed them winding paths through the city.
Many new friendships were formed among the volunteers that have lasted to this day. As volunteers, we were invited on exclusive guided tours, for example by German Air Traffic Control, the Baden State Museum in the palace, the Baden State Theatre and the KASIG construction site in Karlsruhe. The crowning glory of our festival summer was the closing party in the pavilion. Despite the wistful farewell, the pavilion continues to dominate the cityscape in the form of benches.
