Organizing team takes positive stock of pandemic year 2021

The NORDEN Festival 2021 is over, but the look is already clearly in the direction of 2022. With high attendance from Lithuania and once again numerous program highlights, the third edition of the culture festival ended on Sunday evening in late summer weather on the Königswiesen. A total of around 28,000 visitors attended the festival on at least one of the twelve event days, and around 10,000 tickets were sold.

"Under pandemic conditions, we couldn't have imagined a better festival," says Marno Happ, one of the two organizers. "According to surveys, the absolute majority of our guests felt comfortable and safe with us. That makes us especially happy." And his partner Manfred Pakusius adds, "The festival is a bright spot in the pandemic."

The last day of the festival began with the dark rhythms of electro ballads by Ruta Mur from Lithuania. Culture from the Baltic states and the Scandinavian countries has been the brand essence of the festival from the very beginning. The ambassador of Lithuania in Berlin, Ramūnas Misiulis, visited the festival and signed the Golden Book of the city, which Mayor Stephan Dose had specially brought to the Königswiesen. In 2022, the Lithuanian city of Kaunas will be the European Capital of Culture, and with the visit to Schleswig, Ambassador Misiulis, cultural attaché Rasa Balcikonytè and two representatives of the city of Kaunas for the first time in Germany beat the promotional drum for the diverse cultural program in the coming year.

"This festival brings us all together," said the ambassador, referring to the north, while Manfred Pakusius reminded the audience that one could travel by sea to Lithuania virtually directly from the festival site via the Schlei and the Baltic Sea. Together with Misiulis, Pakusius sat on a bench and listened to the singer's sounds. Later, he encouraged all festival-goers to pay a visit to Kaunas next year. For more information, visit www.kaunas2022.eu

After the grand opening in January 2022, Kaunas is planning other clustered focuses in May and November, in addition to events and projects throughout the year. There are 30,000 registered students at the city's 12 universities, 13 theaters and four theater festivals, 29 museums, seven music schools and nine music festivals - and 1556 registered monuments.

"The 2021 festival was very inspiring for us, and in perspective, of course, we want to grow," Pakusius affirms. "We don't want to be just an insider tip. Looking ahead to 2022, we will continue to expand our program and refine our concepts. Next year, for example, there should be even more art at our festival."

Highlights on the last festival weekend included performances by Danish neojazz ensemble The KutiMangoes, Swedish singer Meadows and a guest appearance by Liga der gewöhnlichen Gentleman, a Hamburg band that already has cult status on the Elbe and Alster and is still an insider tip here in the north. "For the artists and for the visitors it was great because a lot of things felt so normal again. Many artists have emphasized how special it was for them to be able to play at a festival in such an atmosphere again after long concert breaks," says Pakusius.

"Thanks to our great media team, there are an incredible number of photos this year that visitors can look at again and again on our website and social media and look back with us, reveling in the last three weekends," Manfred Pakusius enthuses. In addition to the existing lighting, the installation on the surface of the water in front of the festival area, composed of countless points of light, set visual highlights. The NORDEN Festival 2021 ended with the magical piano sounds of the young pianist Niklas Paschburg.