CCB Magazine

Alexander Dettke founded the Wilde Möhre Festival 12 years ago and is now setting up a cooperative to secure cultural spaces in the long term. How helpful is the cooperative model for this? How do cooperatives work and how meaningful are they for the events of the future?

INTERVIEW  Jens Thomas

CCB Magazine:You are the Wilde Möhre Festival and are currently founding a cooperative. Why this step?

Alexander Dettke:I would say there are two reasons. First, because it's a community of solidarity and you can get to know other authors through the networking opportunities and good symbioses can come about. On the other hand, GEMA ensures fair remuneration. With us, you also get royalties for uses that you probably wouldn't get otherwise. As an individual, chasing after every stream on YouTube or Spotify and negotiating remuneration for it is an impossibility.

CCB Magazine:And how will this work?

Alexander Dettke:A cooperative is an association or grouping of natural or legal persons with the aim of contributing to the economic and social advancement of its members. The special thing about a cooperative is that every member has a vote - regardless of how much he or she contributes to the cooperative. This enables us to win over many people for our project - because if we want to secure spaces in the city and around Berlin in the future, we need to be many. And the Wilde Möhre has been accompanied and supported by many for years. At the moment, for example, we have bought 5 hectares of land and are reforesting the area with a Brandenburg eco-institute - so nobody can get us out of here.

We want to reverse the market dynamics. This is because it works in such a way that where culture does good work and captivates people, a process of price increases sets in at some point. We want to counteract this and use the cooperative model to secure spaces for culture in the long term

CCB Magazine:Before we go into more detail: What exactly is the Wilde Möhre Festival?

Alexander Dettke:The Wilde Möhre Festival was initially more of a philosophical circle on questions of the good life, but we've since become a permanent fixture in the festival landscape: we were founded 12 years ago. The festival takes place in Lusatia in Brandenburg. Musically, we move between electronic, indie and indie pop - many say we are the smaller fusion: small because the number of visitors is limited to 5,000. The focus is on mindfulness, sustainability, relaxation and togetherness. For example, we now have our own brickworks and three camping sites, we build everything ourselves as far as possible - according to ecological criteria. And our festival takes place in the middle of the forest, by a lake, where we become one. My father-in-law was once at one of the festivals and said: “Alex, it's so peaceful here. There are no fights here at all” - well, you have to know that he comes from the village, where it regularly escalates from 1 a.m. at the funfair. Here, people are more likely to be in each other's arms. So it was obvious to find a suitable legal form.

The Wilde Möhre Festival: Photos: Alexander Dettke
 

CCB Magazine:It takes three people to found a cooperative. The members exercise their influence through the general assembly, the highest decision-making body of the cooperative. How many members do you have? How does the decision-making process work?

Alexander Dettke:We try to vote on everything democratically and we are becoming more and more. The cooperative that we founded is “mit Freude eG”. However, the Wild-Möhre-Festival itself is still a limited company. This means that “mit Freude eG” acts as a holding company for the Wild Carrot, and the plan is to bundle other projects and locations under it in the future.

CCB Magazine:But how is that legally compatible if Wilde Möhre remains a GmbH and a cooperative umbrella organization like “mit Freude eG” sits above it?

Alexander Dettke:Quite simply. The board of the cooperative is sovereign, it's a bit like God. Below them are the kings, whom God watches over - including the Wilde Möhre and me. For example, the cooperative's board can decide how much money is spent. It can also set the direction or even dismiss the managing director of the Wilde Möhre, i.e. me - or the cooperative decides to convert the Wilde Möhre GmbH into a cooperative. But we haven't got that far yet. At the moment, the cooperative “mit Freude eG” has an additional agreement with the Wilde Möhre, according to which anyone who subscribes for more shares in the Wilde Möhre via the “mit Freude eG” also has more say - even though the Wilde Möhre is a GmbH. For example, if you secure 10 shares in Wilde Möhre, you can propose specific initiatives, such as how you can help shape the content of the program. However, I myself am not allowed to vote twice. This means that I am currently excluded from decisions made by the holding company that affect the Wilde Möhre.

The problem for many cultural professionals is that they are often not in a position to acquire ownership of their property - this is exactly where cooperatives can be helpful

CCB Magazine: That sounds complicated. Doesn't that lead to conflicts in the agreement processes?

Alexander Dettke: That can happen, of course. But basically, we are dealing with the same thing. We'll have to see how we organize the process in the future. But one thing is already certain: All members have a say in the direction in which the cooperative should develop. The General Assembly is the central body for this. This is where important decisions are made, such as the election of Supervisory Board members, the appropriation of the annual surplus, the overall development of the cooperative or the creation of additional bodies and the allocation of central tasks. And the good thing is that we already have well-known members and experts on board - such as Marcel Weber, Chairman of the Clubcommission, Lea Luce, Managing Director of Modulor Produktions- und Logistik GmbH, or academics such as Prof. Dr. Astrid Friese, Professor of Media Management at the Macromedia University of Applied Sciences in Berlin, or the lawyer Philipp Schröder-Ringe. These members not only help us with technical questions. They will be useful to us if we want to secure more cultural venues.

CCB Magazine: In which way?

Alexander Dettke: The problem with many creative artists is that they are often not in a position to acquire ownership of their work - many are not focused on the market, but on quality of life. But it also has to be about securing structures, and we can do that with a lot of people - for one thing, it makes us more accessible for loans. For example, if I run a business on my own and times are unstable, I have no collateral when dealing with a bank. On the other hand, if the club or festival is owned by many people and there is enough money and knowledge involved, it's easier to get funding. On the other hand, you are taken more seriously by the city and politicians if you can point to established structures and a lot of experience. It's hard to believe that there is still a large vacancy rate in Berlin. But this is not given to Hinz & Kunz. It goes to showcase projects. If we appear here in future as a cooperative with many well-known representatives, we also have a realistic chance of being able to secure further locations.

CCB Magazine: Why are you not a club, an association or a non-profit limited company?

Alexander Dettke: Of course, we went through all the legal forms. The decisive factor was that every member of a cooperative has a vote, no matter how high their shares are. A cooperative also pursues economic goals - an association, on the other hand, has a purely idealistic, non-economic function. And the profits always remain in the cooperative, and you can become a member with just a small investment - we start with 100 euros per year. To set up a GmbH or gGmbh, on the other hand, you need 25,000 euros in share capital, or 50,000 euros for a public limited company - and those who contribute the most money also have the most votes. In the case of a cooperative, those who leave get their share paid out again - they do not take any hidden reserves or any increases in value with them, as is the case with a GmbH.

CCB Magazine: So far, there are only a few cooperatives like yours. What is the reason for this?

Alexander Dettke: A cooperative always means a lot of bureaucracy. However, there are now the first cooperative models in the cultural sector, such as Holzmarkt eG, the streaming platform Resonate or Wigwam eG. A general problem is that many in the cultural sector are still hoping for stable funding or rising admission prices. But what happens if they disappear or rents continue to rise? Then you have a problem. You can counteract this by acquiring property as a cultural professional - and that's exactly what we do.

CCB Magazine: Finally, a few words about you: How did you get to where you are today? And what advice would you give to someone who wants to follow a similar path?

Alexander Dettke: Oh, that's a long way. Okay, I'll keep it short: I was born in Halle. When I was two years old, the Wall came down. During that time, I had to experience how the East was sinking a little more every year - that shaped me. I then went to Tokyo and learned a lot about collectivist society.  And when I moved to Berlin after graduating from high school, I knew this was my city: this is the breeding ground for what I want to do. I founded the Wilde Möhre, but in the meantime I've also bought a small vacation resort, a water gate settlement and a train station in Calau - and if I were to give a tip: join forces, try it together. Bring people and their ideas together, then everything will be fine - and that's the only way something can grow.