America@250 – Experiment Demokratie

• The Konzerthaus Dortmund will present a dedicated program focus featuring great American voices, various orchestras, and indigenous artists.
• schauraum: comic + cartoon, a showroom opposite of Dortmund’s main station shows how 250 years of the USA have unfolded “between the pages of comic books.” To mark the 80th anniversary of the world’s oldest comics cowboy, there will be exhibitions, readings, screenings, and even a “comics debate” focusing on Lucky Luke and other (anti-)heroes of American comic culture.
• Theater Dortmund: Dortmund’s major stage artists contribute highlights such as a modern performance of Grease and a silent film concert of Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid.
• Literaturhaus Dortmund: Students from the Faculty of Cultural Studies will present a series of evenings featuring U.S. authors and German books about the United States. In another intercultural project, American Studies students will conduct and analyze interviews with citizens from Dortmund and the USA on “Images of America” and present them.
• Dortmund Philharmonics: In their concert “America!”, musicians will play side-by-side with the youth orchestra DOJO. The focus is on American music, featuring famous composers like George Gershwin and Florence Price – the first Black woman to have her music performed by one of the “Big Five” U.S. orchestras in 1933.
• Dortmund Adult Education Center (VHS): Under the motto “The USA in the Focus of Education and Culture”, the VHS offers a comprehensive program in the first half of the year with contributions from journalism, politics, science, and entertainment.

The program is enhanced by numerous other exhibitions, performances, workshops, and film nights. The list of participating institutions is long, with some 40 partners contributing, including the University of Applied Sciences and Arts (Fachhochschule), the Foreign Society (Auslandsgesellschaft.de), the City and State Library, the Zoo, the Dietrich-Keuning-Haus for young people, and various museums, cinemas, and sports clubs. Furthermore, partners like BVB (Borussia Dortmund) and Wilo have contributed editorial pieces on their own ties to the USA.

“We are delighted when many people participate with their own perspectives,” says Angela Märtin, Science Officer for the City of Dortmund who co-coordinates the program together with her university counterpart Walter Grünzweig, professor of American Studies. “Dortmund’s perspectives are just as diverse and multi-layered as American culture itself - we want to give a voice to many different people.”

Many of these connections grew out of the cooperation between the City and the University, which maintains one of the largest exchange programs with the USA in Germany.

"Our student exchange program, for which TU Dortmund received a national teaching award, allows German and American students to learn together," says Prof. Dr. Manfred Bayer, Rector of TU Dortmund.

"Our partnerships with American cities and institutions promote innovation and help us tackle global challenges together. They show how important it is to maintain relationships, embrace diversity, and stand together for a peaceful, sustainable future,” adds Lord Mayor Alexander Kalouti.

Dortmund has been partnered with Buffalo, New York, since 1978. While exchanges between school and universities are vital, they are only one part of active international relations on the levels of cities.

“Now is the hour for urban diplomacy”, says Martin van der Pütten, Head of International Relations for the City of Dortmund. “Cities are the strongholds of democracy and the rule of law. Through close international cooperation, cities are indispensable for future transformation. With over 200 city partnerships between Germany and the USA, they can and must be a fortress against anti-democratic forces.”

Dortmund also works closely in project partnerships and global networks with Oklahoma City, Seattle, and Montgomery County. The collaboration with Pittsburgh started more than 20 years ago. Both Pittsburgh and Dortmund are linked by their post-industrial history that have signed an innovative partnership agreement in 2021 focusing on climate protection.

The formal occasion for the anniversary is the Declaration of Independence of the United States from the British reign, signed by the delegates of the 13 colonies during the 2nd Continental Congress in 1776. The document formulated Enlightenment principles of “unalienable” human’s right to liberty, equality, and the pursuit of happiness.

“In 1871, American author Walt Whitman spoke of the ‘Experiment of Democracy’, which is not a gift but something that must be preserved, renewed, and even fought for,” explains Americanist Walter Grünzweig. As a student, Grünzweig experienced the “Bicentennial” in 1976. Fifty years later, he believes such a celebration is more important than ever: “This project is a birthday gift and a sign of our bond to a shared democratic experiment that we must never perceive as finished,” says Grünzweig, looking forward to a year of “resounding drumbeats.”