On September 21, 2024 , the Zuhause-Festival 2024 , a free open-air event for young people from the region and their families, will take place on the Mühleninsel in Venne. The festival consists of three local bands and starts at 5:30 p.m. so that a very young audience also feels invited.

The Zuhause-Festival was launched in 2016 and is taking place for the fifth time this year. The Venner rock band "Fenster auf Kipp" has been part of the festival since its first run and will also be playing in 2024 , an absolute cult factor that attracts people from the region. The "Funky Monkeys", a DJ group from the Wittlager Land region, are also very popular with the target group. They have made a name for themselves with the "Affentanz" series of events, among other things. They were the audience's favorite at the Zuhause-Festival 2022 and have already been requested for 2024 due to the very good response. Adolescents from the community were involved in the selection of the group for the third act through surveys. The young Osnabrück band "Livelines" with two women as front singers was selected.

The overall planning of the festival is carried out by a now well-established working group made up of members of Treffpunkt Venne e.V., the Venne local council, the Venne fire department and the Ostercappeln youth welfare service. They form a network of more than 40 volunteers, some of whom are the same age as the target group. The cooperation partners include other associations and the Osnabrück Music Office. The name of the festival already indicates the objective: the festival is intended to express what makes the region so liveable, which people (and potential identification models) are rooted here and what makes the municipality of Ostercappeln "home". Visitors should be able to perceive their own home as an attractive and (culturally) lively place. They should experience that their (musical) interests are recognized and that offers are created with and for them. Participation in the selection of artists is essential for this.

The Zuhause-Festival brings culture - in the form of music - to people's homes free of charge. In this way, it also enables cultural participation for people who are excluded from offers in larger cultural centers in the surrounding area - due to a lack of mobility (limited bus connections, lack of own vehicle, no driving license) or low financial means. This also applies to young people in particular.

Local (up-and-coming) artists are specifically supported and their popularity promoted. In their song lyrics, the young artists actively engage with society and their own search for identity. They question or emphasize norms and values. During a performance, they often share these thoughts very honestly and directly with the audience. They convey messages that can empower, confront and stimulate discussion or give the audience the feeling of being understood.

At the festival, community and integration can be experienced while dancing and celebrating to music together. People from the region and beyond who lack social integration (e.g. due to immigration) should be able to make their first contacts at the festival, which will help them to make connections. People of different ages, from different communities and districts, with different origins and histories come together. The shared musical interest becomes a unifying element that brings people together. The helpers involved in the organization also network through the collaboration and share the pride of a successful event at the end.

The aim is to keep young people (and future skilled workers) in our rural region, to network them more closely, encourage them to stay and thus strengthen the future viability of our region.

The Mühleninsel , which dates back to the early Middle Ages, is an ideal venue. It is an open-air museum that vividly recalls rural life and village history. With a history dating back to the Middle Ages, the Mühleninsel refers to the theme of "origin" as well as a valuable cultural heritage and is striking for the rural appearance of the region. Pride in one's own origins and a sense of belonging to a place and its inhabitants should become a stabilizing pillar in the turbulent development phase of young people and create a sense of identity. At the same time, the choice of the Mühleninsel as a location creates a bridge between a historically and culturally significant site and contemporary music.

It also gives young people the opportunity to volunteer for the duration of the festival and the preparations. Recruiting young people for voluntary work is a social challenge. One of the reasons for this is young people's busy schedules, lack of connection to clubs and spontaneous lifestyles. Participation in the Zuhause-Festival is manageable in scope and can be guided by interests: While some find joy in promoting the festival via social media or distributing posters, for example, others enjoy the role of "backstage employee" and contact person for the musicians.

The festival therefore offers a good opportunity to try out a voluntary role for yourself and discover new skills in the process.