CARNIVAL OF CULTURES 2009
A SUMMARY

The 14 th Edition of the Carnival of Cultures in Berlin
(29th May – 1st June 2009)

Streetparade 31st May (Whitsunday) 12.30 pm – 9 pm
Street Festival 29th May – 1st June (Friday to Monday)
Children's Carnival 30th May (Saturday)

It was colourful, electrifying and enchanting again:
Berlin celebrated the 14th Carnival of Cultures on Whitsunday weekend.

During the Carnival of Cultures, visitors to the German capital, and "Kiezbewohner" alike, experienced the unique atmosphere of Berlin when the Metropolis showed itself at it's best: cosmopolitan, multicultural and passionate.

The street parade on Whitsunday (31st of May)

was the highlight of the festival. The celebratory procession, which lasts about nine hours, featured around 4,500 participants from 70 different nations. Impressive masks, artistic costumes and magnificent floats astonished hundreds of thousands of visitors. The creativity and commitment of the volunteers turned the streets into a platform for Berlin's culture scene. Innovative and tradition-concious, subversive and striking, ambivalent and multilayered - here the creative potential of Berlin found an appropriate stage.

Acrobats, wizards, tight rope and stilt walkers, clairvoyants, percussionists, curiosity marketeers and other wondrous creatures bustled on the green field at Blucherplatz.
With culinary delights and beautiful arts and crafts, up to 400 original stalls invited the visitors to stay.

The soundtrack for

the four day street festival (29th May – 1st June)

was delivered by roughly 950 artists. Worldmusic, Dances and interactive performances attracted music and dance maniacs.

For those whose feet were irrepressible, different partys und festivals – organised by partners of the Carnival of Cultures – offered a fantastic chance to experience the multifarious music- and dancescene of Berlin. Salsa, Soca or Flamenco – everyone who was searching for rhythm will found the right beat to dance the whole night through.

The Children's Carnival (30th May)

– organised by the Kreuzberger Musikalische Aktion – is one of the biggest family attractions all year. This year the kids were inspired by the theme
"the kingfisher is loose", creating their own imaginative parade. Afterwards the families were invited to continue the party at Görlitzer Park where the youngsters presented their artistic skills on stage.

The Werkstatt der Kulturen is the initiator and organizer of the Carnival of Cultures and is located in Berlin-Neukölln. It’s a place for international exchange, where people of different nationalities, cultures and religions come together.

1.45 millionen visitors attended the Carnival of Cultures 2009.

Office Carnival of Cultures

c/o Werkstatt der Kulturen
Nadja Mau and Stefanie Schatte
Wissmanstraße 32
12049 Berlin