Anna-Kathrin Dietrich and Till Skoruppa joined the PopBoard office as the new management team in January 2025. Even though the two are not completely unknown faces in the cultural scene of NRW, we would like to introduce them to you in more detail here. In addition to the short texts on our team pagethe two have answered a few questions that shed light on their motivation and skills for their new work at PopBoard NRW.

SHORT INTERVIEW

1. what motivated you to join PopBoard NRW?

Anna: I have felt very connected to the pop landscape in NRW at least since my time at “create music NRW” over 10 years ago. Basically, I’m still influenced by my own active time as a musician and a lot of what I experienced and felt back then still applies today: pop offers low-threshold opportunities to try out creativity, especially for young people. Pop is also easily accessible for recipients. Pop has a huge influence on our society! Nevertheless, pop (music) is still underrepresented in the funding landscape at local, state and federal level. Young people in classical music receive different support than those in pop. This has always felt totally wrong to me and I am very pleased that through my work as managing director of PopBoard NRW I can now (again) help to ensure that pop is more strongly supported and promoted by politics and society.

TillI have been involved in association work and cultural policy advocacy for over ten years and really enjoy doing it. On the one hand, I find it meaningful to work on improving the framework conditions for culture and cultural professionals. On the other hand, it is incredibly enriching to be at the center of a large network and to work with so many people, some of whom are completely different, but who are all active in the cultural sector in one way or another and therefore have a lot in common. When I first heard about the PopBoard and took a look at the homepage, it didn’t take me a minute to understand what it stands for. The ideals and concerns of the PopBoard, as well as the problems it tries to solve, immediately appealed to views and a feeling in me that I have been carrying around with me for a long time. So two things came together here: my personal identification with the ideals of the PopBoard and my experience in association work. When I saw that the management position was being advertised, I didn’t really have to think twice.

2. what skills do you have for working at the PopBoard?

AnnaI have been working in network projects for many years. Providing a heterogeneous target group, like the actors within the PopBoard, with targeted information, networking, realizing projects… that’s not so easy! It takes a lot of planning in the background and requires a broad knowledge of the characteristics of the musicians and creative professionals! But it’s also great fun. We need networking and representation of interests “at the top”. I’m good at that and I’m looking forward to the new task! Through my work in the federal association Pueri Cantores, which is even part of an international community, I know where the challenges lie in bringing projects to a wider audience. At the PopBoard, I want to help us grow even more and ensure that our offers continue to be tailored to our target group. A creative environment also really motivates me and I am always amazed at the diversity of the pop scene. Last week, a DJ workshop for women over 70 took place in our office here in Ehrenfeld. Simply fantastic.

Till: First and foremost, I’m really keen on the topics! In my opinion, much of what the PopBoard has already initiated in its still short history was simply long overdue and I believe that I have a small portfolio of skills that will keep this momentum going. This includes, for example, the fact that I make music myself, have been playing in the regional league with my bands here for a long time and therefore know the scene well from the inside. I also studied musicology and worked in an orchestra for many years. As a student, I worked as a set-up assistant at concerts, and later in the orchestra office, where I got to know the terminology and cultural policy framework of the somewhat more “established” cultural sector. I then learned about association work from the ground up, so to speak. Starting as a trainee at the European Music Council and ending as Secretary General of the European Music School Association. So it’s a colorful mix of things that I bring with me here to further advance the PopBoard.

3. which cultural venue in NRW is a must-see?

AnnaDefinitely the Traumzeitfestival in the Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord! A festival in the midst of industrial culture, the main stage with a view of the blast furnace, an old foundry hall that is now a venue for pop culture… this setting is unique, captivating and stimulates creativity! Outside of the festival season, I recommend the small clubs that are not only to be found in the Rhineland and Ruhr region. As a native Westphalian, I’d like to mention the Bunker Ulmenwall in Bielefeld or the Hot Jazz Club in Münster as examples. Check out young artists while you can still experience them on small stages. And support your local scene.

TillCulture in North Rhine-Westphalia can be experienced in a wide variety of places – from stadiums and arenas to small clubs and festivals in all kinds of settings. Fortunately, a wide range is on offer here. To select just one cultural venue would not do justice to the many others. I’d rather describe a feeling: in my life, I’ve always been lucky enough to see bands in small clubs who were just at the beginning of a big career and only one or two years later were performing on much bigger stages. This special momentum that artists both feel and radiate when something big is about to happen has a fascination all of its own. When sweat is dripping from the ceiling and you can feel with every fiber of your being that something magical is happening, these are moments that stay with you forever. You can definitely have experiences like this anywhere in NRW – you just have to be a bit lucky.