The former Kulturhaus, also known as the Richard-Gärtner-Haus, had been waiting for many years to open its doors to the public again. The city of Dresden, as the owner, put the property at Hebbelstraße 35b out to tender for a heritable building right through a concept award procedure . A jury selected the concept submitted by Konglomerat e.V. in summer 2019. Until 2023, a volunteer team of citizens worked under the Konglomerat e.V. association structure to reopen the building as a cultural and creative center. The house has been open since March 2023 and offers space for encounters and togetherness as a cultural and neighborhood center.

The three pillars of the house unite:

• For a strong neighborhood: drawing workshops, sports activities or simply a space for drinking coffee together - whatever the neighborhood needs finds a home in the Neues Volkshaus Cotta.
• A heart for creative productions: We create a flexible working environment for creative professionals, social service providers and artists - and as affordable as possible.
• Space for the future: To create something new, you need space to try things out and fail. This can and may happen in the Neues Volkshaus Cotta.

in 2019, Konglomerat e.V. applied for the concept award procedure for the Volkshaus in Cotta, with the prospect of a heritable building right to the building for at least 35 years. The association was also awarded the contract - cool! And then came many, many tasks: Submitting a building application, guaranteeing fire protection and accessibility, raising funds for the conversion, setting up a sponsors' cooperative, etc. etc. - it's all a lot, especially for a volunteer team.

That is why a new path was taken at the end of 2019. Together with the city of Dresden, we negotiated to reopen the building for three years in a pilot phase - the The new Volkshaus on a temporary basisthe rental agreement is in place, the construction work is (almost) complete and the network is growing! We started operations on March 1, 2023 .

Status: 06/2024

We are open!
We have been allowed to host public events in the building since March 1, 2023. The first commercial tenants have moved into the rear part of the building. We publish a program every 2 months with information about the weekly offers and regular events.

All interested and committed people meet once a month. The various working groups (garden, events, history, cooperative) exchange ideas and plans in the "large plenum". Come and join us!

Konglomerat e.V. is the project sponsor, i.e. the association is responsible for the project.

There have been two part-time employees since July 2022. They take care of the expansion and community management:

• Jana Endruschat: Letting, finances
• Anja von Bahder: events, public relations

There is also a group of volunteers who organize events, establish contact with the neighbourhood or simply lend a hand wherever there is work to be done. Our cooperation is based on everyone doing what they are good at!

As part of the leasehold, the operator of the building will be a cooperative founded specifically for this purpose. This will be set up from 2024, the foundation is not until 2025 - the Neue Volkshaus eG

Since April 2022, it has been clear that the Volkshaus will become a cultural and neighborhood center for Dresden. As a result, we have received a large grant from the state capital.
This will enable us to finance the remaining expansion and staff positions for construction planning and community management from July 2022 to February 2025.

In the long term, we want to refinance our basic costs by renting out space to cultural and creative businesses and external event organizers.

We also need donations and contributions for basic costs, events and unforeseen events.

Would you like to donate? Please send it to this account:

Konglomerat e.V.
BIC: GENODEF1SLR
IBAN: DE46 8306 5408 0104 7788 12
Subject: Donation Neues Volkshaus

We will also be happy to issue you with a donation receipt. Just write a short e-mail to: mitmachen@neuesvolkshaus.de