1. Kunstfestival Open Stage Leverkusen

Premiere on June 13, 2026 — a new festival for Leverkusen

The 1. Kunstfestival Open Stage Leverkusen is a premiere: on Saturday, June 13, 2026, from 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM, the Wiesdorf pedestrian zone — the city's central shopping street between Rathaus-Galerie and Marktplatz — becomes an open-air venue. The festival is initiated and curated by Martina Houben through her association Tanz & Kulturbühne Leverkusen e.V. — a dancer, choreographer, and cultural creator who has established the "Marimar's Tanztempel" format in the city for years.

Concept — Open Stage for the Regional Scene

The festival principle is as open as can be: the stage in the Wiesdorf pedestrian zone is open to regional and local artists from Leverkusen and the surrounding area — musicians, bands, singer-songwriters, dance groups, singers, slam poets, performance artists, and show acts. The entire day is divided into slots, and everyone gets their stage time. The program is complemented by street food stalls and the open shops in the pedestrian zone — a festival woven into the fabric of city life, livening up the Wiesdorf weekend.

Behind the Festival — Tanz & Kulturbühne Leverkusen e.V.

Initiator Martina Houben is well-known in Leverkusen — as a dancer, choreographer, and chairwoman of the Tanz & Kulturbühne Leverkusen association, she has shaped the city's independent cultural scene for years. Her studio "Marimar's Tanztempel" offers dance classes, workshops, and performance platforms. With the Kunstfestival Open Stage, she is expanding her format into a city-wide visible event and creating something many medium-sized cities lack: an accessible stage for the local scene.

Wiesdorf as a Festival Stage

The Wiesdorf pedestrian zone is Leverkusen's main shopping street — connecting the Rathaus-Galerie (with the city's town hall tower) to the Marktplatz and City-Bahnhofstraße. It is the city's most central and easily accessible location — and thus the ideal site for a festival that wants to bring culture to where people are anyway: into the weekend shopping experience. Unlike a closed festival site, the open stage becomes part of everyday city life.

Leverkusen — More Than Just Bayer 04

In the minds of many outsiders, Leverkusen is primarily the Bayer 04 city or the home of the Bayer Group. The Kunstfestival Open Stage aims to make visible the diverse cultural scene of this city of over 165,000 inhabitants, which exists beyond this industrial identity. From Schloss Morsbroich (Museum of Modern Art) to the independent dance and music scene, from the Forum Leverkusen to off-kilter cultural initiatives: Leverkusen has more to offer — and the Open Stage wants to be a platform for it.