About Us
Mission and Vision
What is PopBoard NRW?
PopBoard NRW sees itself as a state-wide advocacy group for pop culture in North Rhine-Westphalia. It is an association of key pop culture organizations and actors – including event organizers, club operators, music creators, representatives of socio-culture, the music industry, youth work, and other relevant areas.
The shareholder structure of PopBoard NRW ensures representativeness and legitimacy within the scene, while also forming the interface between the scene and PopBoard NRW. It serves as a common platform for overarching cultural policy goals and for coordinated advocacy. It functions as a hub for exchange, knowledge transfer, and networking between the scene, administration, politics, and the public.
Its self-conception and tasks are firmly anchored in the partnership agreement, the business allocation plan, and the Code of Conduct.
Where is PopBoard NRW headed?
PopBoard NRW aims to function as a central point of contact for politics, administration, the public, and (scene) actors on all matters of pop culture, and to be recognized as an advocacy group with political impact.
PopBoard NRW sees itself as an intermediary body that makes pop cultural structures visible – both within the scene and to the public. It initiates and carries out its own projects of state-wide relevance and systematically develops partnerships with related areas such as the creative industry, urban development, education, media, and others.
Objectives of PopBoard NRW’s Project Work
Goals
- Increase the visibility of the scene – state-wide, media-effective, and nuanced.
- Promote professionalization: consulting, further training, and access to resources.
- Build and strengthen structures, including outside urban centers.
- Promote democratic thinking and action: further develop pop culture as a space for political, social, and societal debates.
- Increase acceptance and credibility of PopBoard NRW: impact on the scene through content.
- Generate and disseminate knowledge: studies, mapping, storytelling.
- Build and maintain networks: conference activities, workshops, roundtables.
- Set new narratives: pop as a democratic, diverse, sustainable cultural space.
Target Groups
- Politics & Administration: Strategy, argumentation, exchange.
- Scene actors, volunteers, association members of shareholders: Structures, professionalism, networking.
- Bands & Musicians: Support, advice, credibility.
- Public & Audience: Perception, relevance, education.
Team
Anna-Kathrin Dietrich
Anna, together with Till, took over the management of PopBoard in January 2025. She could read notes earlier than letters and consequently moved to Cologne to study music after graduating from high school in rural East Westphalia. Anna worked at “create music NRW” over 10 years ago, which at the time was responsible for Westphalia-Lippe and was based at the Landesmusikakademie NRW. Before and after that, she supported various cultural projects, such as the Klavierfestival Ruhr, the Museumsnacht Köln, and the “off Beat culture” initiative.
Anna wants to improve structures and conditions for musicians, cultural and creative professionals – she does this not only at PopBoard but also for several years in the choir scene as managing director of the federal association “Pueri Cantores”. Anna is not only a passionate cultural manager but also an excessive cultural consumer in her private life. For example, she has seen the Swiss singer-songwriter Faber live about 15 times and is generally very enthusiastic about small and medium-sized festivals.
Till Skoruppa
Till has been active in various roles in the music sector for over 20 years. The stylistic range he has worked with professionally extends from metal to classical, from rehearsal rooms to international bands. More than 10 years ago, he found his way into association work. First as Program Manager of the European Music Council, later as Secretary General of the European Music School Union.
With cultural policy work came the realization that things that had bothered him for a long time didn’t simply have to be accepted. Especially for cultural policy practices where some genres are considered more worthy of funding than others, he has never heard a good justification. Accordingly, it is a deeply intrinsic concern for him to advocate for the topics and concerns of PopBoard. In his free time, music is also central – then preferably in passionate record discussions, in the rehearsal room with one of his bands, or at concerts.
Karla König
Since 2007, Karla has coordinated and been responsible for projects in various sectors at the interface between science, culture, and the creative industry. Her experience ranges from managing diverse project formats in agency environments, to collaborating on project-related planning processes in university settings, to holding the position of project manager for various event formats in the cultural sector. She also studied: something with media and culture.
Since February 2023, Karla has been part of the PopBoard NRW team, supporting Anna and Till in their work as a specialist for focus topics.
Karla likes structure, but on the dance floor (front left or where there’s enough space), she prefers to be as free and mixed up as possible. Otherwise, she lives by the motto: ice cream always works, and a little (more) intersectional feminism never hurt anyone!
Teresa Zoller (she/her)
Specialist for Projects and Communication
Contact: teresa.zoller@popboard.nrw
Teresa Zoller
Teresa moved from Lake Constance to Cologne in autumn 2009 to study musicology. After several internships in the cultural sector, she deepened her knowledge with a Master’s in Cultural Education and Cultural Management in Mönchengladbach, while gaining several years of practical experience in the marketing team of the c/o pop music festival.
After professional detours as a project manager in classical music and the podcast scene, Teresa returned to pop music in July 2022 and is now responsible for all topics and projects at PopBoard NRW that need to be communicated to the public. Always calm, but with many creative ideas in mind, outside the office Teresa is enthusiastic about feminist events, concerts, game nights, and vegan food.
Katharina Würzberg (she/her)
Specialist for Projects and Network
Contact: katharina.wuerzberg@popboard.nrw
Katharina Würzberg
Katharina first studied political science in Munich, and later cultural and music management. Alongside her studies, she organized festivals, gained experience in art museums, theaters, and a concert agency, and toured with her own band for many years.
In autumn 2022, Katharina moved from Munich to Cologne. Here she found her first professional home at the Sommerblut Cultural Festival. Among other things, she handles funding applications and the festival’s accessibility. Since 2023, she has also supported the PopBoard NRW team as a project manager. In the evenings and on weekends, Katharina – if not at a concert, in the theater, or in the company of friends and food – can also regularly be found playing volleyball in the sports hall.
Robert Schörken
Robert has been supporting PopBoard with finances and general office tasks since April 2026. He is currently studying Cultural Education & Cultural Management at Hochschule Niederrhein. He is drawn to the intersection where pop culture, societal issues, and organization come together.
When he’s not in the office or at university, he’s usually running, cycling, or listening to a political podcast. As a true music nerd, Robert is interested in all kinds of pop culture and appreciates good company and really good coffee.
Johanna Bauhus
Johanna is our awareness person. She co-founded the awareness, diversity, and inclusion agency “Safe the Dance” and constantly works on best practices and standards for awareness concepts, implementing them, e.g., at major events like the SBÄM Fest or DEICHBRAND Festival 2023. Johanna has accompanied our awareness process from the very beginning and co-developed our Code of Conduct. She is independent and works for us as a freelance consultant. She also runs the queer feminist music label Ladies&Ladys, where she was honored by the German government as “Kultur&Kreativpilot*innen 2022” for its clear values and high societal transformative power. She plays bass herself in the band “Wenn einer lügt dann wir” and her new career aspiration is: lobbyist for change processes in pop culture.
Do you want to report an incident or draw our attention to something? Did something negative happen to you at a PopBoard event? Then you can contact awareness@popboard.nrw. Our awareness person Johanna will treat every message confidentially and process it as quickly as possible.
Lena Turowski
Lena is our awareness person. She is the founder of the awareness and consent culture agency “Awareness Safer Space” and co-founded the awareness association “Köllektive Awareness” in Cologne. Lena supports event organizers and venues in developing far-reaching awareness strategies to establish standards for discrimination-sensitive and solidarity-based coexistence across all events. Most recently, together with Johanna Bauhaus, who is covering for her during her parental leave, she developed and implemented the awareness concept for the Women’s European Football Championship 2025 in Switzerland. She is independent and works for us as a freelance consultant. She is also passionately committed to enabling people to experience community and to realizing a communally funded and co-creative seminar and living space in the Rhineland.
Do you want to report an incident or draw our attention to something? Did something negative happen to you at a PopBoard event? Then you can contact awareness@popboard.nrw. Our awareness person Lena will treat every message confidentially and process it as quickly as possible.
Shareholders
cologne on pop GmbH
The Cologne pop music festival, including an industry meeting, has been held since 2004.
KLUBKOMM – Association of Cologne Clubs and Event Organizers
The association of Cologne clubs and event organizers unites approx. 100 creators.
LiveInitiative NRW e.V. (LINA)
LiveInitiative NRW (LINA) is the association of those active in concerts, club, cultural, and music events in NRW.
PRO MUSIK – Verband freier Musikschaffender e.V.
PRO MUSIK was re-established in 2021 and represents the interests of all freelance music creators, regardless of genre and training.
Landesarbeitsgemeinschaft Musik Nordrhein-Westfalen e.V.
The umbrella organization for music in child and youth welfare unites 29 music associations and institutions.
Landesmusikrat Nordrhein-Westfalen
The Landesmusikrat NRW is the umbrella organization of music associations and clubs in North Rhine-Westphalia and represents 55 associations and over 20 individual members.
musicNRWwomen* e.V.
musicNRWwomen* is an association of FLINTA* individuals who advocate for gender equality, live in NRW, and come from various areas of the music business.
Landesarbeitsgemeinschaft Soziokultureller Zentren Nordrhein-Westfalen e.V.
Soziokultur NRW has been the professional representation of socio-cultural centers in North Rhine-Westphalia since 1982.
Förderverein Musikwirtschaft NRW e.V.
State-wide association of owners and representatives of labels, music publishers, self-marketers, service providers, and other music industry companies.
Accessibility and Awareness
PopBoard NRW wants to make an active contribution to greater participation and diversity for pop culture in NRW. We are committed to breaking down barriers, creating access, and designing spaces to be as safe and inclusive as possible for everyone – so that tomorrow’s pop culture in NRW is even more diverse.
Accessibility
PopBoard NRW aims to establish itself long-term as an advocacy group for pop culture in North Rhine-Westphalia that is as accessible and inclusive as possible. People with disabilities should be structurally, programmatically, and cooperatively considered and integrated, not as an add-on, but as an inherent part of the work.
We are in a continuous learning process here, which makes our thinking and actions a little more attentive every day.
We also welcome your feedback. Please contact us at mail@popboard.nrw if you encounter barriers in our projects or collaboration, or experience exclusionary or discriminatory structures or actions.
The following accessibility measures are already being implemented:
- When selecting our venues, we ensure that they are as barrier-free accessible and usable as possible, and that this information is provided in advance.
- We have translated selected information on our website into German Sign Language (DGS). For selected events, we also offer interpretation into German Sign Language (DGS).
- We have translated selected information on our website into Easy Language.
- We provide an image description in the alt text for uploaded photos, videos, and graphics across all channels.
- As part of our offerings, we inquire about accessibility needs and thereby strive to enable participation for all attendees.
Awareness
PopBoard NRW should be as varied and diverse as the society in which it operates. The participation and inclusion of all people in pop culture is therefore a central concern of PopBoard. We want to create a space that is as free from discrimination as possible, where everyone feels welcome and respected.
Our events have awareness guidelines, and we work together with trained awareness teams.
Do you want to report an incident or draw our attention to something? Did something negative happen to you at a PopBoard event? Then you can contact awareness@popboard.nrw.
Our awareness person Lena Turowski will treat every message confidentially and process it as quickly as possible.
PopBoard Glossary
Our glossary aims to contribute to greater certainty and clarity in dealing with terms in the context of diversity, awareness, and discrimination-critical discourses.
Code of Conduct
The Code of Conduct serves as a guideline and code of conduct for PopBoard NRW – internally and externally. It aims to ensure that both PopBoard NRW employees and all individuals who come into contact with PopBoard NRW feel safe and protected. The Code of Conduct should help to reflect on the work and impact of PopBoard NRW from a discrimination-critical perspective and to raise awareness for diversity.
The guideline was developed in a collaborative process in which the shareholders and employees of PopBoard NRW actively participated.
However, this is only a first step. In a continuous process, the guidelines developed here will be reflected upon, expanded, and adapted to societal discourses.