polenmARkT is the name of an association that organises the Polish Culture Days "polenmARkT" in the Hanseatic town of Greifswald and is associated with the Department of Slavonic Studies at the University of Greifswald. It is the largest annual festival of Polish culture outside of Poland.
The purpose of the association is to promote cultural exchange between the Hanseatic town of Greifswald, the region of Vorpommern and the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and neighbouring Poland through projects with a supraregional and international reach. One of its main tasks is to organise the annual German-Polish cultural and academic festival ‘polenmARkT’ in Greifswald.
By approaching various social realities using artistic and academic means, the association sees its cross-border work as a contribution to promoting tolerance, breaking down prejudices and bringing peoples together in acceptance of cultural differences.
The Polish Culture Days ‘polenmARkT’ were launched in Greifswald in 1997 as a student initiative and have since been held annually in November in the form of a ten-day festival. Originally, it was just a cultural evening for foreign and German students, with the aim of presenting Poland in all its cultural diversity. But it quickly became much more than that.
After five years of ambitious commitment, the organisers founded the polenmARkT e.V. association, which is currently chaired by Prof. Andreas Ohme. The festival is directed by Dr. Marek Fiałek.
Organisers, sponsors, friends
The polenmARkT Festival would not be possible without the long-standing support of numerous partners and sponsors. Since its founding, the festival has been supported by institutions committed to cultural exchange between Germany and Poland and contributing to the diversity of the programme.
The most important cooperation partners include Greifswald's central cultural institutions, which are involved in programme planning and provide rooms on their premises for events. These include the Literaturzentrum Vorpommern (Vorpommern Literature Centre), the Pomeranian State Museum, the Hans Fallada Town Library, the Casablanca Film Club, the St. Spiritus Socio-Cultural Centre, the Straze, the Theater Vorpommern and the Department of Slavonic Studies at the University of Greifswald.
The annual festival is also only possible thanks to the generous financial and media support of long-standing sponsors. Special mentions should go to the district of Vorpommern-Greifswald, Sparkasse Vorpommern, the University of Greifswald with its International Office (IO), the University and Hanseatic town of Greifswald, Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) and the Cultural Representative for Pomerania at the Pomeranian State Museum. In addition, the Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald, the Ministry of Science, Culture,Federal and European Affairs of the State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Demokratieladen Anklam, the Marshal's Office of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, and the Office for the Szczecin Metropolitan Region (Fund for Vorpommern and Eastern Mecklenburg) also contribute significantly to the success of the festival.
Thanks to this broad network of supporters, polenmARkT is able to offer a diverse programme of literary, musical, cinematic and artistic highlights every year.
The ongoing support shows how firmly the festival is anchored in the region and how important German-Polish cultural exchange is for Greifswald and beyond.