On 10 October 2024, Fonds Soziokultur awarded the Socioculture Innovation Prize to four projects from Hamburg, Munich and Berlin (2) under the title ‘Kulturarbeit aktiviert’. The award ceremony took place in the KulturMarktHalle in Berlin, one of the award winners, and was accompanied by a two-day think tank with cultural professionals from the sociocultural sector.

Dr Cordelia Koch, Mayor of Berlin Pankow, Katrin Budde, Member of the Bundestag and Chair of the Committee for Culture and Media, and Kurt Eichler, Chairman of Fonds Soziokultur, opened the evening. They emphasised the importance of this form of cultural work. They strongly underlined the enormous relevance of the award-winning projects, which are activating people especially now, giving them a voice and can actually change spaces for community life. The event programme was artistically accompanied by two dancers. Interviews with the award winners and the laudatory speech provided insights into the diversity and quality of the cultural work of all the award-winning organisations.

The award-winning projects are also representative of numerous independent cultural initiatives and creative artists in Germany who work directly with and for local people to support cultural democracy on a daily basis. The Sociocultural Innovation Award, which is endowed with a total of 10,000 euros, was divided among the following four outstanding projects in 2024: