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Crowdfunding started: Student café “Zur Auszeit” in the starting blocks!

Directly on Hof’s Karolinenstraße – in the past and in better gastronomic times, locals liked to bluntly call it “Kalorienstraße” – there is to be a real student café for the first time starting in the fall. The Kulturdrang e.V. association founded at Hof University of Applied Sciences has now launched a crowdfunding campaign for this purpose in cooperation with VR Bank Bayreuth-Hof and is hoping for as much support as possible. The goal is to create a lively meeting place in the heart of the city for all students, pupils and the young at heart.

Here at Karolinenstraße 30 in Hof, the student café “Zur Auszeit” is to be built;
Image: Kulturdrang e.V.;

“We want to create a place to get to know each other, relax and be creative – and thus launch a real link between our university and the city,” says Amy Rehde, a student of business psychology. Together with Hannes Steinel (Mobile Computing) and Jan Schilling (Computer Science), she heads the newly founded association Kulturdrang e.V., which already counts 30 students among its members. Together, they are committed to promoting culture and revitalizing downtown Hof through student life.

Café and cultural stage

In order to achieve this, the group wants to transform the former bar “Amici” (Karolinenstr. 30) into Hof’s very first real student café. The name of the new location has also already been decided: “Zur Auszeit” is to be the name of what will later attract visitors not only as a classic café, but also on some evenings as a cultural stage and cocktail bar. The existing pub in the city center offers space for about 60 people. Thereby, there is a small inner courtyard and also seating in front of the pub. “The big advantage for us is: the café is already fully equipped, so no major renovation work needs to be done here or new purchases made. The bar, including the tap system, is also already ready for use and is maintained free of charge by Kulmbacher Brauerei. And fortunately, the toilet facilities are also in perfect working order,” says Amy Rehde happily. Jan Schilling adds, “We were also in constant communication with the city of Hof and made several visits. This property was simply the perfect place for us, as it is very centrally located and many things are already ready for use. Even an elevation for a later stage is already in place. The landlords – one of whom is currently studying himself – are also convinced of our vision and are very supportive.”

The core board of the new Kulturdrang e.V. association: from left, Jan Schilling, Amy Rehde and Hannes Steinel; Photo: Kulturdrang e.V;

Crowdfunding started

Despite the good starting position and the fact that there will initially be no food offerings and thus no kitchen, the new opening will of course still involve costs. To cover these initially, crowdfunding is already underway on the Internet: “Our goal is to raise EUR 20,000 to cover rent, utilities, insurance and minor renovations during the start-up period,” says Jan Schilling. To ensure that as many good ideas as possible can be realized, VR Bank Bayreuth-Hof is also subsidizing the project through co-funding: each donation of EUR 5 or more is increased by 25 percent from a donation pot – up to a maximum of EUR 2,500 per project. In general, there is already a lot of support for the young people: “For example, we were sponsored by the Society of Friends and Sponsors of Hof University of Applied Sciences e.V. a portafilter, i.e. a high-performance espresso machine, to support the project. And the Gamma company is providing us with the Internet,” Hannes Steinel reports enthusiastically.

Coffee in many facets, but also refreshing drinks like this one, will soon be available at the café
“Zur Auszeit; photo: Kulturdrang e.V.;

By students, for students

After a successful financing phase, the association then wants to get to work immediately with a lot of its own effort. “We have already formed teams that are responsible for the individual tasks and are already planning them. Our common dream is to open as early as the end of September and welcome the new freshmen of the winter semester with us,” says Amy Rehde hopefully. A permanent task of the Kulturdrang e.V. association is to continue running the café even when the people currently in charge have long since finished their studies. “Later, hopefully equipped with our own cultural stage, we want to launch regular events that will bring student character to the city and spotlight the university’s achievements,” adds Jan Schilling. International cultural evenings, speed dating for companies, the presentation of student initiatives or even a stage for lecturers to present university projects live are just some of the ideas that will be realized in the “Auszeit” in the future.

Join in now!

Anyone who would like to support the crowdfunding for Hof’s first student café can do so here until August 13, 2023.

In addition, Kulturdrang e.V. also offers various sponsorship packages with which the project can be supported. Information is available at: info@kulturdrang.de

Rainer Krauß

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