Status: 03/31/2023 1:13 p.m
The Hamburg Cultural Foundation is an important contact point for many artists in the Hanseatic city. It has been directed by Gesa Engelschall for sixteen years. In an interview, she looks back on her own career.
What can we do for the Hamburg artists and how do we get the money for it? This is how Gesa Engelschall, Executive Director of the Hamburg Cultural Foundation, summarizes her work, because there is always a lack of money in culture and good culture costs money, according to the German studies graduate. The Hamburg Cultural Foundation has been in existence since 1988. It is dedicated to promoting young up-and-coming artists, but under the direction of Gesa Engelschall, it also repeatedly launches event-related projects and initiatives, for example currently for artists from the Ukraine and children of all Nationalities with refugee experience or with an aid fund during the corona pandemic, when many cultural workers were deprived of their livelihood. “Because in addition to promoting young talent, we also want to be open to socially virulent topics,” emphasizes Engelschall. Since the foundation has very little capital, it depends on donations and close cooperation with many other foundations. An impressive network has developed over the years. Gesa Engelschall is a well-known and valued personality in Hamburg’s cultural world.
First fundraising experience for Peter Zadek
Engelschall is a career changer in the industry and ended up in the foundation sector by accident. She worked primarily as a journalist for many years, she reports. It was more by chance that she came into contact with fundraising when she was working at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg. Back then, Peter Zadek needed more money for a production, Engelschall recalls. The artist and stage designer Johannes Grützke then designed a stage brochure with lots of company logos – within three weeks they had collected 30,000 marks. “That was an insanely large sum at the time!”
Job and children: an adventurous time
This was followed by positions at major journals and magazines. Engelschall remembers in particular the time at the end of the 1980s, when her two children were born: “The beginning is just incredibly exhausting with children parallel to the job” – especially since her boss hired her pregnant and pushed through with the management. According to Engelschall, not only the childcare, which was only usual until midday at that time, was a challenge. In fact, she constantly asked herself whether her job and family were enough and whether she could do everything: “I think we women tend to do that a little more.” At the same time, she always felt like she was in a kind of waiting loop. Even if she did her job well, she saw little opportunity for development. “Suddenly the children got whooping cough, my husband was about to shoot a film, so you’ll be out for a few weeks!” Engelschall reports of this “adventurous time”.
Formative first contact with the world of foundations
But Engelschall doesn’t look back in frustration – somehow everything always went on. A little later in her career, Engelschall was meanwhile working as a freelance journalist for a Berlin publishing house, when a project brought her to the attention of the Alfred Toepfer Foundation. She has particularly fond memories of meeting Birte Toepfer: “She was really a great woman, who I admired a lot. And I was also impressed by the great work the foundation did for culture.” This first contact had a lasting impact on her image of cultural foundations. When an acquaintance told her a little later about a newspaper advertisement that the Hamburg Cultural Foundation was looking for a new board member, she pricked up her ears: “Within three weeks I tried to get to grips with this foundation world: What projects can you do there nudge?” She applied and prevailed with her visions for the future of the foundation in three application rounds: “In the end, the foundation board decided in favor of me!”
Gesa Engelschall: a passionate advocate for culture
As a passionate advocate of culture, Engelschall has more than established herself at the head of the Hamburg Cultural Foundation. As soon as she talks about the importance of culture for society, Engelschall gets into a rousing frenzy of speech – about the relevance of culture for people, for life, she could probably write a book on the spur of the moment. “I really admire the creative power of cultural workers. Many of them live from hand to mouth, even before Corona. That’s where we want to help with our funding. We need culture because it inspires us again and again and makes us think! ” She is supported in her mission by an “incredibly efficient core team” made up of five women.
“Question less, act more”
In view of her own doubts, Engelschall would now like to advise all women to be more relaxed: “You can manage it somehow”. A good structure is important. Before the birth of her two children, she was a bit more chaotic herself, but that changed suddenly. It was also an advantage that she didn’t leave work for too long: she felt that half a year’s break after the birth of her first child was too short, a year with the second child was just right. Even if it’s difficult, she would recommend staying with the job, even if it’s only possible on the back burner. Especially after long breaks, the chance of a successful return to work is significantly worse. And her clear message: “Women often don’t know how much they know and how good they are.” Her advice: “Question less, act more!”
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