Faces in HELLERAU - Friedemann Heinrich, Financial Management & Controlling, #1 - 2022

In our "Faces" series, we introduce people who work in front of or behind the scenes to ensure that everything runs smoothly at the hotel and that our guests feel at home.

When and how did you come to HELLERAU?

At the end of my studies at the University of Applied Sciences of Saxon Administration in Meißen, I completed an internship at the Cultural Office of the City of Dresden in 1994. After half a week, an alarm call came from the Dresden Centre for Contemporary Music on Schevenstraße. The Dresden Days of Contemporary Music were due to start in four days' time, but the person in charge was no longer allowed to work overnight because of his Stasi past. So I suddenly found myself at the Dresden Centre for Contemporary Music with Udo Zimmermann, where I took over the organisation of the Dresden Days of Contemporary Music. I was able to continue this work even after graduating. in 2002, the year of the floods, we moved the centre to Hellerau.

What are your tasks today?

Together with my colleague Katrin Meinig, I am responsible for financial management and controlling. We take care of all income and expenditure, tax matters, accounting for the fire brigade, the residence flats, keeping evaluation lists, preparing subsidy statements, allocations within the city administration, the annual financial statements and much more.
I used to be the only person in the accounting department, but at some point I could no longer manage the work alone due to the increasing administrative requirements and the more extensive programme. In Udo Zimmermann's day until 2006, we ran the Dresden Days of Contemporary Music as a festival over ten days in October and only occasionally organised other events. With Dieter Jaenicke, a continuous performance schedule began, as is usual in other theatres. Fortunately, a new position was then created. And if my colleague Katrin Meinig wasn't here today, it would be sheer chaos.

What was a particular challenge that you overcame?

From an accounting perspective, it was working with the reduced VAT in the second half of 2020, because the decisive factor was the performance period and not the date of invoicing. By the time the last person had understood this, half the year was already over. In that six months, we used 33 different tax codes - I think that's the absolute record in the city. This difference in taxation is due to the fact that HELLERAU is run as a commercial business within the city of Dresden and is therefore partially entitled to deduct input tax. This in turn depends on the tax status of the artists and their income, which means that ... but that would be going too far here. Since the tax audit by the tax office usually only takes place five to seven years later, you should still know what you did back then and why you did it.

What do you particularly like about HELLERAU?

The fascinating thing about HELLERAU is the multifunctionality of the space. In classical theatre, the audience takes up most of the space and the stage is a peep box. We can work with several different seating arrangements and any spotlight can be hung from any corner of the ceiling. And it is precisely these events, where we deviate from the traditional seating arrangement, where the space is given a special design, that are always very special.
I have particularly fond memories of the "Heimat" project (2007), in which Peter and Harriet Meining commissioned eight different groups to create something with a completely normal garden shed from the DIY store. The entire room was covered with turf and the audience strolled through the room and could watch the performance of the little houses. The 360° music theatre "Lebende Minus Tote" by theatrale subversion last year was also something special.
During my time here, I have experienced three different directorships, each with three very different styles. These three signatures are an expression of the theatre's many possibilities.

What do you wish HELLERAU for the future?

I hope that we can once again produce the really big hits. That we can welcome an international ensemble that tours from Tel Aviv via Madrid, Paris, HELLERAU, Warsaw to Moscow.

You are also connected to the stage in your private life. What exactly do you do there?

In my spare time, I manage the cabaret "Die Kaktusblüte" and have enjoyed performing as a cabaret artist for over 40 years.