Bayer’s culture makers

Highlights Guaranteed

A separate department of Bayer, the cultural department, is involved in arranging a wide-ranging offering of music, theater and art. Its manager, Nikolas Kerkenrath, has been providing initiatives there since 1986 that have been a great success with audiences.

Bayer Cultural Department employees at the Erholungshaus

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Bayer Cultural Department employees at the Erholungshaus

An institution rich in tradition, the cultural department, provides for cultural highlights at Bayer locations. Fourteen employees under the management of Nikolas Kerkenrath generate an annual program of around 100 events covering theater, music, dance and the visual arts. An expert is in charge of each of these areas, while other employees are responsible for tasks such as administration, ticketing and relations with artists.

The cultural department also organizes projects and seminars involving artists and Bayer trainees. An annual budget of EUR 3.1 million is earmarked for this work.

The program prepared by the cultural department is extremely well received. Around 50,000 people, roughly 6,000 of whom are subscribers, attend each season’s concerts, performances and exhibitions.

Five Managers in 100 Years

Bayer cultural work is based on a longstanding tradition. Bayer Management Board member Dr. Carl Duisberg set up what is now the cultural department back in 1907. At that time it was called the “Abteilung für Bildungswesen” (Department for Educational Affairs). Dr. Hugo Caspari, who was in charge of the works library, became its first manager. Until now, Caspari has had only four successors: Dr. Ferdinand Gerhard (director from 1934 to 1942), Dr. Erna Kroen (1946 to 1972), Dr. Franz Willnauer (1973 to 1986), and Nikolas Kerkenrath (since 1986).

New Momentum for Bayer

Since 1986, the head of the cultural department has been the theater manager, director and arts journalist Nikolas Kerkenrath. Following the guiding principle “Bayer Also Means Culture” he gave the programs an international orientation and involved Bayer locations in Germany and around the globe. He is also concerned to continue cultural work for children and young people. For instance, in the late 1990s the Bayer cultural department launched a series of concerts for children and families. In recent years the cultural department has stepped up its cooperation with local schools. In collaboration with the Wuppertal School of Music (Musikschule Wuppertal) and the German Music Council (Deutscher Musikrat) it organized master courses and concerts involving “Jugend musiziert” prizewinners.