International Summer Festival Treptow-Köpenick

A Festival Centered Around the 17 SDGs

The International Summer Festival Treptow-Köpenick is one of the most politically engaged neighbourhood festivals in East Berlin. At its core are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (UN's Sustainable Development Goals) — from climate protection and global justice to education and gender equality, and sustainable consumption. The organizer is the KungerKiezInitiative e.V., an initiative for active community living in the neighbourhood around Kungerstraße in Alt-Treptow.

In the Baergarten Schöneweide

The festival location is the Baergarten at Schnellerstraße 137 in the Niederschöneweide district (Treptow-Köpenick borough) — a non-commercial urban garden directly by the Schöneweide S-Bahn station and the Spree riverbank. The Baergarten serves as a year-round community space with community gardens, workshops, and an open program; once a year, it transforms into a festival area.

Stage, Speakers' Corner, Market of Opportunities

The festival format combines classic elements of a neighbourhood festival with a distinctly political program:

• Stage: international musicians, dance groups, and participatory performances
• Speakers' Corner: short talks and discussions on sustainable projects and initiatives from Berlin
• Market of Opportunities: stalls of local NGOs, associations, educational initiatives, and fair trade
• Workshops: screen printing, mosaic, communal cooking, upcycling
• Children's Area: games, craft activities, storytelling, face painting, bubble blowing

Activist Weekend — Culinary Side

The festival is understood more as an action day than a folk festival (Volksfest): catering is organized in-house and by partner initiatives, with a focus on affordable, preferably plant-based and regional food. "Über den Tellerrand" (Beyond the Plate) — one of the well-known Berlin integration initiatives — is among the regular partners.

Schöneweide as a Festival Quarter

Schöneweide was once one of Berlin's largest industrial regions and has been transforming since the 2000s into a vibrant, mixed neighbourhood with the University of Applied Sciences for Engineering and Economics, art projects in old factory buildings (Reinbeckhallen, Funkhaus), and new residential areas. In this transformation, the International Summer Festival is one of the most reliable neighbourhood events — politically clearly positioned, locally rooted, and open to Berlin.