04/20 - HOLD THE LINE!

Events have been canceled; museums, theaters and concert halls will remain closed for the time being. The coronavirus is having a massive impact on the cultural sector, in some cases even threatening its very existence. How are the respective institutions dealing with this situation? What are their employees doing, what are they currently working on? What creative ideas are they coming up with now? Do we all have to do without culture during the coronavirus crisis?
Prof. Dr. Martin Zierold, Head of the Institute for Culture and Media Management, gets to the bottom of these questions. In the podcast "Wie geht's? Kultur in Zeiten von Corona" he regularly talks to very different, always highly interesting cultural practitioners.

What can we do? With the #stayhomemakeart campaign, we have built a digital stage for our teaching staff and students, university staff and alumni that is accessible to everyone, giving them the opportunity to express themselves artistically and creatively in the meantime. Whether it's practice sessions, canceled concerts or excerpts from other events: everyone is welcome to show their contributions. We want to show our solidarity with each other; solidarity within the university and for all artists worldwide, who have also been deprived of a large part of their artistic and financial freedom due to the restrictions on freedom of assembly, travel and movement. We see you and we want to see you!

"Suddenly everything is different", reads the front page of the current issue of Hochschulzeitung zwoelf, which was just ready to go to press when the situation regarding the novel coronavirus suddenly became explosive.
After weeks of intensive editorial work, it was clear to us that we would publish this issue unabridged. The times of crisis are not stopping us from sending a spirited sign of life from this house bubbling over with creativity, which is now quieter than ever before. We do not know how long this interim period will last and we are worried about many announced events that we do not know whether they can take place in the summer semester.
In his editorial, University President Prof. Elmar Lampson seeks words for the state of emergency in which the whole world currently finds itself.

The economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic are hitting colleagues at our university particularly hard, as their teaching assignments make a significant contribution to the teaching activities and thus the artistic and educational tasks of our university. The university relies on their expertise and commitment - they are an indispensable part of the teaching staff. If this group is not supported in the current situation, the university's performance of its artistic-educational tasks may also begin to falter. With the support of the Presidential Board and the Friends of the HfMT Foundation, the Diversity Steering Group has set up a Solidarity Fund to provide quick and unbureaucratic help to colleagues who are particularly affected.

We are grateful for every donation!

Your Diversity Steering Group, the Presidium of the HfMT and the Friends of the HfMT Foundation