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Weekly letter

Beautiful and terrible things at the theatre

New employees, who have now been working at Gessnerallee for three months, tell us what they think. Weekly letter #13

Team Gessnerallee, October 30, 2024

Dear visitors to the Gessnerallee, dear culture enthusiasts, dear artists

New members of the Gessnerallee team started work in mid-August. For some, this is their first job in a theatre, let alone in the cultural sector. Their perspective is particularly helpful for an organisation when it comes to reviewing the effectiveness of existing structures and developing ideas and solutions to problems that go beyond what we already know. So we asked them: ‘What's great? And what's terrible?’ These are their answers.

Ramona Unterberg, Diversity Agent: ‘I love trying out new things - working together and finding solutions as a team and with artists - to create beautiful theatre experiences for different communities. Reading and writing lots of emails is just cruel because it takes me ages. That's why a cosy after-work beer with colleagues at Stall6 is so much better.’

Adèle Macefield, Head of Gastronomy Stall6 Bar: ‘What I think is great here is that we all face a colourful challenge together - everyone brings their own piece of knowledge and experience to the puzzle, and it's a real adventure to experience the Gessnerallee as a living, constantly surprising organism. What drives me up the wall however is my impatience - I want to have everything done yesterday. Patience may be a virtue, but it will probably keep me on my toes for a while yet.’

Dzevada Isanovic, HR and finance administration employee: ‘What I think is great is that everyone is always willing to help and explain things transparently and understandably for me as an accountant. I think it's great that I'm learning about an industry I've never worked in before and it's broadened my horizons about the hard work and organisation that I didn’t see before as someone in the audience. What I find ‘horrible’ is the process of clearing credit card invoices and the lack of understanding from employees about how important it is for the accounting department to have these documents. I also see the lack of understanding of account assignments as a major problem. Our documentation system should be electronic.’

Shelagh Armit, production and operations employee: ‘It's great when I see how comfortable artists, the audience, visitors and the team feel at the theatre. It's terrible when the coffee machine unexpectedly breaks down early in the morning and will take several weeks to repair.’

Rahel Bains, Head of Communication: ‘The most important thing is that all the people who work here are super nice. And I think it's great that we at Gessnerallee are allowed to take bold, new paths when it comes to communication. It's not just cultural journalism that is currently undergoing a transformation, but the communication strategies of cultural centres as well. I think it's terrible that we don't have Slack.’

If you would like to join the Gessnerallee team after these insights, please check our website regularly. Job offers are published here. Or drop by and get to know us in person.

Copyright: Jan Bolomey

Now for the weekly overview of programme items, newspaper articles, news and everything we want to share with you:

Programme recommendations for this and the coming week

14 to 16 November, 6 pm

‘Kitchen Battle Zürich’ organised by Cuisine sans frontières

Cook and eat together for a good cause. The unique gastronomic event moves into the large hall of the Gessnerallee for the second time. More information

15 November, 6 pm

‘REMEMBERING’ by DIVAS

Explore the power of remembering through sprawling choreographies together with visionary Weirdos. Movement, songs and text in a relaxed setting. More information

22 to 23 November, 6 pm to 6 am

‘Backslash Festival 2024’

Another great thing about the theatre is that it can also turn into a club. If you want to find out what that feels like, come to the Backslash Festival on 22 and 23 November. It's two nights of performances, live electronic music and club culture. This year with exciting performances such as ‘This Resting Patience’ by Ewa Dziarnowska, ‘What Goes Unfelt’ by Natasza Gerlach, ‘Kopanima’ by Xenia Koghilaki, ‘Entepfuhl’ by Alina Arshi, ‘Humere’ by Johanna Kotlaris, ‘Fractura’ by Simon Grab and with live sets & DJs such as Rrose, Christian Coiffure, Rhyw, Gaël, Isi and many more. More information

Newspaper

It's dark and cold outside - and has been for a while. A reading tip for a cosy evening at home: our newspaper article ‘Transrealitäten im Theater’ by Hannes Rudolph and Nele Solf. In an exchange of emails, the two queer theatre professionals take a closer look at the development of gender diversity in the theatre.

Furthermore

What we all love about the theatre is when it's animated by the audience. And last week we were able to experience this once again in all its marvellous power. The installation sound work ‘Unter uns - Eine Reise in die Tiefen des Bodens’ by sound artist Dimitri de Perrot was completely sold out every day. The terrible thing about theatre is that as soon as it has taken place, it is already over again.

It's great when you feel welcome at our theatre. It's terrible if you stay away from us for too long.

The Gessnerallee team

PS: Have you already bought the first printed edition of the new Gessnerallee newspaper? Write to Rahel Bains and order it now for CHF 5 (plus CHF 2 postage) direct to your home. Mail to: zeitung@gessnerallee.ch

PPS: If you enjoy our weekly newsletter, please feel free to recommend it to others. You can subscribe under the following link: https://gessnerallee.ch/en/weekly-letter.

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