Amid sweltering temperatures, the President of the North Rhine-Westphalia State Parliament and the ‘Popboard NRW’ network hosted a ‘Parliamentary Pop Evening’ at the State Parliament in Düsseldorf on 18 June. Numerous politicians, musicians, officials, journalists and even a group of academics attended an entertaining and highly productive event. From Paderborn University, the two-member Executive Board of ‘C:POP – Transdisciplinary Research Centre for Popular Music Cultures and Creative Economies’ was invited: Prof. Dr Beate Flath and Prof. Dr Christoph Jacke.
The engaging evening began with welcoming addresses by Berîvan Aymaz, Vice-President of the State Parliament; Gonca Türkeli-Dehnert, State Secretary for Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia; and Anna-Kathrin Dietrich and Till Skoruppa, the managing directors of Popboard NRW. Moderated by WDR and Deutschlandfunk journalist Ina Plodroch, the event featured a series of discussions with guests on the goals and current state of North Rhine-Westphalia’s pop scenes, as well as on how to strengthen the region’s position as a hub for pop music. These discussion sessions were enriched by musical performances from the musicians Zainab Lax and MILEN. Following a brief outlook, there was then ample time for informal discussion, accompanied by music from DJ seren_a.
Also in attendance were several pop lecturers from Paderborn and C:POP associates, such as the renowned music journalist and curator Thomas Venker and the lawyer and event organiser Stephan Benn.
The C:POP board mingled with those present and was able to hold a number of very productive discussions with representatives from the fields of cultural policy, university research, the events and music industries, and, above all, the associations and funding bodies, whilst also exploring opportunities for further collaboration. As stated in the opening remarks, pop music – in its many forms and through its many practitioners – found its way into the North Rhine-Westphalia Parliament – and will, hopefully, be here to stay.
