After 20 exciting festival days, the Festival 2011 has come to the end of its 21st season. Between September 14th and October 3rd, approximately 25,500 visitors experienced more than 60 events that took place at 14 different locations. With an audience capacity of 90%, we were once again able to grow upon our success of previous years.

Increasingly, a transformation of the festival’s content is becoming visible. Without losing our connection to the traditional roots of the local and regional music scene, we’re turning our focus more and more to the international music and theatre scene. The number of premieres in Germany has risen and the festival has acquired many new networks with partners abroad. Our programme does not explicitly pay homage simply to the mainstream, but is also looking for those subtle nuances, for the interdisciplinary balance. English-speaking countries and international festivals have termed this cultural concept as the 'fringe'. By this, they describe areas 'on the edge', those on the borderline, and somewhat 'frayed', meaning not necessarily established in the arts. In the future, the altstadtherbst festival will be devoting itself to this genre more than ever, and, as shown by the positive reaction of the viewers and sponsors, it’s obviously the correct direction to follow. Locally based productions as well as co-productions will be an integral part of future programmes.

In preparing the programme for 2012, the organisers are already eager to begin, as the next festival is sure to come! As always, from mid-September to early October.

If you would like to look back at this year’s Altstadtherbst, you can find the stories behind the pictures, snapshots and backgrounds at “Aktuelles/MediaFlash”. Or, just scroll through the events under “Programme” to find plenty of infos about each performance, as well as the major press reviews. Also worth a look: A click on Coolibri's blog, at Facebook or at Rhinebuzz.

We look forward to seeing you again next year!

Christiane Oxenfort und Andreas Dahmen