Typisch bremisch Typically “Bremish”

industry in the old distillery in Bremen’s Neustadt, right
behind the dike of the Kleiner Weser.
Creative scene in association with
classical business
throes of the same kind of structural transformation that
other old port cities are going through. Warehouses that
used to store bales of cotton or sacks of coffee are now
used by designers, internet agencies, architects or craftsmen
such as Florian Blume.
“From being a soft factor, the culture and creative business
has now become a hard location factor”, says Bernd
Neumann, long-standing Federal Government Commissioner
for Culture and originally from Bremen. Christoph
Backes works from his base in Bremen at ensuring that
this understanding is followed by more deeds. The busy
economist, actor and consultant, described by television
presenter Katrin Bauerfeind as “the human interface between
the creative, economic and political sectors” was
already involved in the commission of enquiry into the
creative industry called into being by the Federal Government
in 2004. With his U-Institute for entrepreneurial
thinking, he has developed the “ideas pilots” project, a
special funding programme for young creatives, which is
meanwhile emulated on a national scale. The Federal
Government has also put the U-Institute in charge of the
“Creative Pilots” competition. This gives a stage in Berlin
and twelve months of funding to the most exciting startups
of each year from the federal states. Time and again,
the competition includes creatives from Bremen, such as
the “Wursttoaster” (sausage toasters) or “dashoerkissen”
(the listening pillow).
“Bremen is a brilliant place for first movers, for creatives
who are still in the very early stages”, says Backes. “Life is
good here, and they are less likely to get lost in the crowd
than in Berlin”. And Bremen still has plenty of space to
grow, in the Überseestadt for instance. Bremen is in the
The initial spark came from two political decisions: the
University of the Arts and the wholesale market were
relocated to the old port district, putting new life into old
wastelands. Increasing numbers of agencies relocated
here too, moving into converted port sheds such as the
internet and communications agency Neusta, or into a
22-storey high glass tower, such as hmmh multimediahaus
AG which became a tenant in the Weser Tower designed
by Helmut Jahn. And so the Überseestadt has become a
mixture of traditional industries such as the food branch,
companies processing raw materials, logistics experts and
the creative industry.
There’s heaps of potential here, according to Backes,
“but unfortunately this still tends to be along the lines of
co existence rather than actual togetherness”. Since
Bauhaus, the association of creatives and traditional industry
has never really worked. But there is a good chance of
changing this. With funds from the Federal Ministry of
Economics, Bremen is mentoring a model project by the
U-Institute to encourage more “togetherness” of industry
and the creatives, in the Überseestadt and at other central
creative locations throughout the whole of Germany.
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