Photo: Stephan Floss

Faces of HELLERAU - Jule Fuchs, Head of Audience Development, #2 – 2024

Mediator between art & audience

In the “Faces” series, we introduce people who work behind or on the stage in HELLERAU to ensure that everything runs smoothly and that our guests feel at home here.

How long have you been working at HELLERAU and what are your responsibilities?

I have been working as Head of Audience Development, Cultural Education and Networks at HELLERAU since the beginning of the 2023/24 season. My area of responsibility is as complex and diverse as the name of my job description sounds. I would describe myself as a cultural mediator who takes care of the relationship between art and the audience. What does that mean in concrete terms for my job? Asking questions, entering into conversations, opening up spaces and discourses, learning, unlearning, listening and shaping. For me, it’s important: what are we as an institution and what relationship do we have to our neighborhood, to urban society or, thinking more broadly, to the world? Who is our audience and who is not? So I survey what people’s needs are and try to translate them into our program together with my colleagues. This happens in different, mostly participatory formats, e.g. in introductory events, follow-up discussions or workshops that are created in collaboration between the audience and art.

What plans do you have for the near future?

We are working on implementing formats that have a longer-term effect, i.e. a participatory program that takes place regularly and reliably. By strengthening formats such as the “HELLERAUmoves” workshop series, we want to expand and consolidate the offerings for people interested in dance. We also want to strengthen the area of accessibility and transgenerational work. For me, it’s about being open and remaining so even in these uncertain times. I want HELLERAU to remain a place where anything can happen, because people who love what they do come together here. That is a strength that I hope will remain in the near future. The quote from the great René Pollesch – “Throw away your ego and celebrate what you love” – inspires me in what I do.

What do you particularly like about HELLERAU?

For me, HELLERAU is a place of unexplored potential and lots of possibilities. Many different things come together here that strengthen each other. On the one hand, there are the versatile art disciplines and their creators, but also the city’s diverse people and communities. Then there is the interweaving of the location with its history. For me, HELLERAU is a place of wonderful variety, and I really enjoy that.

What has been your most impressive experience at HELLERAU so far?

From an artistic perspective, Boris Nikitin’s “Versuch über das Schweigen”, “mind the rage” by the go plastic company and Gob Squad’s “Western Society” were absolute highlights for me. They combine everything I like about art: the use of space, attentive cooperation and interaction, good sound and an accessible concept with the question: what does this actually have to do with me? So for me, all experiences in HELLERAU that allow a form of encounter are impressive – no matter what this may look like.

What are your dreams for HELLERAU in the future?

I would like HELLERAU to remain a place for the public and to function as a large, inviting space for dialog. A place where cultural participation is possible, which constantly questions itself, continues to develop and never tires of remaining unconventional and courageous.

The interview was conducted by Henrike Ehrhardt and Henriette Roth