The office team
Dorette Gonschorek,
Managing Director
Dorette’s (she/her) passion lies in working with and supporting artists behind the scenes. She realizes these at the label and music publisher ROOF Music (roofrecords.de), with a focus on music publishing. Since July 2021, Dorette has been working as Managing Director for PopBoard NRW, where she enjoys improving structures in the pop culture sector. She is also a volunteer for the non-profit organization Musikbüro Bochum, which aims to strengthen the local and regional pop music scene. Even in her free time, Dorette can’t let go of music, is the front woman in a band, but also enjoys spending time in nature hiking and cycling, gardening and traveling with her camper.
Contact: dorette.gonschorek@popboard.nrw
Norbert Oberhaus,
Managing Director
Norbert (he/him) has been an integral part of Cologne’s cultural scene for over 30 years and is known to most as the founder and managing director of cologne on pop GmbH, which has been organizing the annual c/o pop festival and its accompanying convention since 2004. He began his career in the music industry in 1992 in Cologne’s Stadtgarten, from then on organizing numerous cultural events on behalf of local authorities and companies and later on his own responsibility. In addition to his role as managing director, he is a member of numerous associations and organizations such as Klubkomm e. V. and the Bundesverband Popularmusik e. V. (Federal Association for Popular Music).
Networking is part of Norbert’s daily business; he not only knows how to inspire politicians and administrators, but also everyone else around him for his projects. He has long been preoccupied with the idea of not only making pop culture more visible in North Rhine-Westphalia, but also giving pop culture the recognition it deserves. It is therefore a matter close to Norbert’s heart that he is now also championing these issues as managing director of PopBoard NRW and will (probably) not stop until he has convinced the whole of NRW that pop music is culturally relevant and worthy of support!
To clear his head in addition to all the hard work, Norbert likes to go jogging, cook for himself and others or meet up for a leisurely game of chess.
Contact: norbert.oberhaus@popboard.nrw
Karla König,
Management Consultant
Karla (she/her) has been coordinating and managing projects in various sectors at the interface between science, culture and the creative industries since 2007. Her experience ranges from handling various project formats in the agency environment, to working on project-related planning processes in the university environment, to her position as project manager of various event formats in the cultural sector. She also studied something to do with media and culture. Karla has been part of the PopBoard NRW team since February 2023 and supports Dorette and Norbert in their work as a management consultant.
Karla thinks structure is good, only on the dance floor (front left or where there is enough space) please as freely as possible and crosswise. Otherwise, she lives according to the motto: ice cream always works and a little (more) intersectional feminism never hurt anyone!
Contact: karla.koenig@popboard.nrw
Teresa Zoller,
Public Relations Officer
Teresa (she/her) moved from Lake Constance to Cologne in the fall of 2009 to study musicology. After several internships in the cultural sector, she deepened her knowledge with a master’s degree in cultural education and cultural management in Mönchengladbach and gained several years of practical experience in the marketing team of the c/o pop music festival. After professional detours as a project manager in the classical music and comedy scene, Teresa has been back to pop music since July 2022 and is responsible at PopBoard NRW for all topics that need to be brought to the public. Always relaxed, but with lots of creative ideas and the latest social media trends in mind, Teresa can be found outside the office enjoying feminist events, concerts, game nights and vegan food.
Contact: teresa.zoller@popboard.nrw
Marco Hussels,
Project manager
As a native of Cologne, Marco (he/him) has always been keen to help shape the city’s subculture and pop culture scene. As an organizer and DJ, he has played every relevant club and the well-known off-locations in and around Cologne since 2005. As co-founder of the Bassliebe collective, he was able to make a lasting impact on events in the cathedral city during the heyday of Cologne bass music.
Marco has also already seen the inside of the Institute of Media Culture Studies at the University of Cologne and has also completed training as a marketing communications specialist. Since 2015, he has been working as a project manager at a creative agency, which he has been in charge of since 2022. This year, he joined the PopBoard NRW office team as a freelance project manager to further push the structures and networks of pop in NRW.
Yoga and meditation are the tools of choice for keeping on top of the project juggling. Soccer also plays a major role in his life.
Contact: marco.hussels@popboard.nrw
Katharina Würzberg, Project manager
Katharina (she/her) is new to the team and new to Cologne, having swapped the Isar for the Rhine in fall 2022. She first studied political science in Munich and later cultural and music management. Along the way, she organized festivals, gained experience in art museums, theaters and a concert agency and spent many years on the road with her own band.
Katharina found her first professional home in Cologne at the Sommerblut Kulturfestival. Among other things, she is responsible for funding applications and the festival’s accessibility. Since summer 2023, she has also been supporting the PopBoard NRW team as a project manager. In the evenings and at weekends, Katharina can sometimes be found playing volleyball in the sports hall – when she’s not at a concert, at the theater or in the company of friends and food.
Contact: katharina.wuerzberg@popboard.nrw
Johanna Bauhus,
Awareness person
Johanna (she/he) is our awareness person. She co-founded the awareness, diversity and inclusion agency “Safe the Dance” and is constantly working on best practices and standards for awareness concepts and implementing them, e.g. at major events such as the SBÄM Fest or DEICHBRAND Festival 2023. Johanna has been involved in our awareness process from the very beginning and helped develop 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 a “Culture&Creative Pilot 2022” for her clear set of values and high social transformational power. She plays bass in the band “Wenn einer lügt dann wir” and her new career aspiration is to be a lobbyist for change processes in pop culture.
If you notice something that is not going so well for you or if you notice something where, for example, boundaries have been violated or people have not felt comfortable, you can contact Johanna. It will treat every message confidentially and as quickly as possible.
Contact: awareness@popboard.nrw