Please take note of our weekly Course offers!
The Neighborhood Culture Working Group is a group of people who want to get involved in the Cotta neighborhood. It focuses on urban planning and development, historic preservation, the neighborhood’s history, its people and buildings, and other topics. Together with interested Cotta residents, the working group’s members aim to connect and support existing initiatives in the neighborhood.
The working group meets regularly on the fourth Tuesday of every month at the new Volkshaus Cotta.
There is an article from March 2025 about the work of the Neighborhood Culture Working Group: https://kirchspiel-dresden-west.de/news/neue-wege-fuer-die-stadtteilkultur
Registration is strongly encouraged, as the group occasionally goes on outings: stadtteilkultur01157@gmail.com
The Parents’ Café at the Neues Volkshaus Cotta takes place every other Tuesday and is a place to get to know one another and engage in conversation. On some dates, we partner with other projects that offer advice on specific topics—but generally, the Parents’ Café is a place to network and spend time with other parents, mothers, and fathers, and it’s also a space where you can bring your children. We have a large garden with plenty of space for playing and running around, and we have everything you need to organize a barbecue or other activities. Just stop by and join in!
We’ll be back starting August 11! Feel free to send us your ideas in advance at mitmachen@neuesvolkshaus.de
This program is part of the ESF Plus funding initiative.
Fathers from the neighborhood are warmly invited to stop by for the self-organized barbecue evenings in June. There’s plenty of space outside in front of the house to sit together and talk about everyday life. Get to know other fathers from the neighborhood and share stories. Just come and enjoy a relaxing evening in our garden.
Feel free to bring something of your own to grill.
If there’s interest, we can also take a look at the public areas of the Neues Volkshaus Cotta together.
The Parents' Meetup is taking a summer break. Feel free to join us for the next sessions starting in September!
This program is open to anyone with questions about pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting during the first year. Twice a month, we offer counseling sessions led by midwives and supported by our staff, who have training in early childhood education and social pedagogy.
Unfortunately, there are stairs leading to the building—but we’re happy to help with the stroller.
If possible, please bring your chip card with you for the counseling session.
Dates:
September 8
October 6
November 3
10–11 a.m. on each date
This program is part of the ESF Plus funding initiative.
When your own home no longer meets your needs, that’s when the search for alternatives begins—for a new home that feels just right.
We invite you to join us in discussing housing options for older adults. We’ll start by giving you an overview of traditional and alternative living arrangements. Afterward, we’ll discuss our own individual life situations.
What is our current life situation? What do we hope for? What are our limitations? When is the right time for a self-determined change?
An event presented by Dresdner Nachbarschaft 60 plus in collaboration with AWIG e.V. (Growing Old in Community)
The Neues Volkshaus Cotta and the Künstlerbund Dresden invite visual artists and collectives to a two-week residency in western Dresden.
The residency is geared toward artistic practices that are situated within social contexts and engage in dialogue with neighborhoods, places, urban spaces, and their stakeholders.
The central question is:
How can artistic practice engage with a neighborhood, its people, stories, conflicts, and everyday knowledge?
The program views art not exclusively as the production of works, but as a process of perception, encounter, and collaborative development. We are seeking approaches that are open to exchange, collective processes, and new forms of knowledge.
We are particularly interested in how artistic work can help shape social spaces, make them visible, or reexamine them.
Starting in March, artist Victoria Gentsch will be offering a new program at our space: a place for free painting—no prior experience required. A variety of materials and paints will be available, and all participants are invited to discover new creative sides of themselves. There will be three more sessions through January 2027 to build on new skills and get to know one another. Victoria Gentsch works as a visual artist in Dresden and also has studio space here at the Neues Volkshaus Cotta.
Next session on January 14, 2027
This program is part of the ESF Plus funding initiative.
Exhibition format: "Seen like this."
In the period 2026-2028 is the 100th anniversary of the Volkshaus Cotta. We look forward to your help in this context! The house has been brought to life by so many people, ensembles and initiatives over the years. Every story, every picture and every document is an important part of it.
That is why we invite you: Share your memories! Whether it's a personal anecdote, an old photo or a drawing - your contributions are invaluable. Help us to preserve the stories surrounding the Volkshaus Cotta and make them visible for future generations.
Let's discover together the many facets of the former "Richard-Gärtner" district cultural center, which many of you will surely remember as the "Rote Hütte". We have collected treasures from private and public archives - from chronicles of the "Spielbrett" theater group to rediscovered photos of the reopening in 1980 and finds from the Deutsche Fotothek.
We would like to develop projects together with senior citizens in and around the Volkshaus Cotta to revitalize the house and garden. Together with the volunteers and project manager Yvonne, you can develop and present your personal project idea in two ideas workshops. Perhaps you will find like-minded people in the group who would like to work on an idea together.
Finally, we will support you in bringing your project to life. To do this, you can take part in our monthly meetings. The entire offer is free of charge.
Please register by e-mail with Yvonne at yvonne@konglomerat.org or at 0176-22352779
The "Senior:innen für Cotta" project, funded by the Social Welfare Office of the City of Dresden, serves as an incubator and supporter for your project idea. Here you can implement your own creative ideas or take part in artistic and craft workshops and meet new people and exchange ideas. We have the following offers in our repertoire in 2025.
> Ideas Café 60+
> The joy of singing
> Open craft and games get-together
> Repair café get-together for senior citizens with smartphone advice