Things to know about 48h Wilhelmsburg (FAQ)

Musicians:in

Do you live, work or rehearse in Wilhelmsburg or Veddel? Then you can apply to perform at 48h Wilhelmsburg. All you have to do is fill out our application form for musicians.

Place/host:in

Would you like your location on the Elbe islands to be a venue for 48h Wilhelmsburg? Then fill out our registration form for venues/hosts.

Do-it-yourself:in

Do you have an idea that you would like to realize yourself during the 48h weekend? Whether it's a concert, performance, workshop or digital event. The only thing you need is a little support from us? Then register in the DIY category.

Program Committee

Every year, we look for representatives from the individual neighborhoods in the district to help us shape the 48h Wilhelmsburg program. The program committee works closely with the 48h core team from January to March and provides important impetus for the further development of the event.
The application phase for 2024 runs until November 20, 2023.

Production power

Over 100 concerts in one weekend at different locations all over the Elbe islands require a lot of organizational support. During the festival weekend, technicians, production staff and our awareness team ensure that the events run smoothly.
As a production worker, you ensure that everyone involved can experience a unique festival weekend. You are THE representative of 48h on site and can contribute your individual skills as an interface between visitors and the organization team.
48h production staff are active in the following areas:

• 1. event support:

  Keep calm and ensure a good atmosphere. Mark escape routes and signpost the venues, count visitors and be the contact person, moderate the various concerts and support the musicians by, among other things, walking around with your hat after each act!

• 2. as a ribbon seller on the road for a good cause:

  Do you like approaching other people and want to move freely around the festival? Then you're the perfect person to sell our supporter wristbands and use the proceeds to make another 48 hours possible!

• 3. up to date at the Infopoint:

  Be the contact person for visitors and interested parties at our 48h Infopoints. You can get program booklets, wristbands and the latest program changes. You'll also want to introduce people to the 48h concept and of course know where the best 48h concert is taking place today!

Musicians:inside

For the program committee and the program design:

• Audio sample: as a file (only for the program committee, will not be published)
• Alternatively or additionally: YouTube and/or Vimeo links (only for the program committee, links for your profile on our website will be requested separately)
• (Brief) motivation for your participation
• Technical Rider as PDF (this would be perfect, but is not mandatory)
• Do you have a backline?!
• When are you free on the 48h weekend?

For the online program, the program booklet and your profile on our website:

• Short description of you or your band
• Image(s) and/or logo
• Internet addresses: Homepage, Bandcamp, Soundcloud, Spotify, YouTube, other website that is important to you
• Social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok or any other platform that is important to you
• Contact details of a person who can be contacted by us

Places / Hosts

• Image(s) and/or logo
• Short description of your location
• Size of the event area in m²
• Is your location barrier-free?
• Internet addresses: Homepage, Facebook or similar.
• Social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok or any other platform that is important to you
• Contact details of a person who can be contacted by us

DIY:inside

• Brief description of your idea
• Image(s) and/or logo (optional)
• Internet addresses: Homepage, Facebook or similar.
• Internet addresses: Homepage, Bandcamp, Soundcloud, Spotify, YouTube, other website that is important to you (optional)
• Social Media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok or other platform that is important to you (optional)
• Contact details of a person who can be contacted by us

Yes, all your registrations are saved in your profile and you can reactivate them for 2024. To do this, log in to our website with your login details and follow the instructions in your account.

All registrations from 2023 that have not been reactivated will be deleted after January 16, 2024!

If you have any questions about registration, please send an e-mail to 48h@musikvondenelbinseln.de or call our support hotline:

From January 03 to January 12 always Mon.-Thurs. // 10 - 17 o'clock under 0157 92 51 00 34

We would also like to invite you to our registration information event on January 11. There you will have the opportunity to get more information about the festival and ask questions. The event will help you to get a comprehensive insight into the festival and support you in your decision to participate.

We look forward to welcoming you to the Wilhelmsburg Ost district office (Thielenstraße 11) on January 11 between 5:00 and 8:00 pm. Participation in the information event is not obligatory and is only intended to provide assistance for new registrations.

After you have successfully submitted the registration form for 48h Wilhelmsburg by January 15, it's time to wait and see.
In January, the 48h program committee starts its work: The registrations are viewed and prepared for further planning. The whole process will take until the end of February - then a rough outline of what 48h Wilhelmsburg 2024 will look like will be ready.

The first draft of the 48h program 2024 is expected to be ready at the beginning of March, so you will receive a message by then at the latest to let you know whether you will be taking part in the festival! The day and time of your performance/concerts at your location will now appear in your profile. Please confirm that you agree with the program schedule. From now on you have time to update the last data in your profile.

In mid-March, the 48h program will be given the finishing touches: all potential changes will be incorporated. The data in your profile will be checked again for completeness - if anything is missing, we will contact you.

The program planning is completed on 31 March!
After the programme and format planning, the further organization is initiated. The approval process with the municipal authorities is initiated.

In April you will receive your cooperation agreement from us, which contains all the information about the festival weekend!

May: Detailed questions will be discussed, technical requirements and set-up questions will be clarified with you. The Lynx Media Systems team will get in touch with you and, if necessary, the 48h Wilhelmsburg production team. The advertising for the festival begins: program, posters and social media work as well as press work - you are invited to advertise your event until the festival weekend.

June: Production runs at full speed in the last two weeks before the festival weekend. Depending on the corona situation, hygiene concepts and safety aspects are adapted. If there are any changes that affect your performance or your contribution, we will contact you.

June 06, 2024 We're excited, are you?

07 - 09 June 2024 Your weekend full of music in your neighborhood!

The host locations contribute to the costs of 48h Wilhelmsburg with a cooperation fee. The amount of the contribution depends on the size, type and available infrastructure (event technology etc.)

48h Wilhelmsburg can only be financed if we all co-finance it together - the public sector, the public and the host locations. To make it a success, we provide extensive program planning as well as the necessary technology and personnel on site in individual cases. The extensive marketing helps to attract guests to the stores and associations who may not be part of the previous target group during the rest of the year - but who may become regular visitors or support the association after 48h Wilhelmsburg.

Each event costs many times more than the cooperation fee corresponding to the size of the event space. We would like to see the cooperation fee not as a cost factor, but as an investment in our district and thus in our neighborhood.

The cooperation contributions are graded according to the number of square meters and divided into "commercial locations" (e.g. restaurants, businesses, etc.) and "non-profit locations" (e.g. associations, church communities, etc.). In these two tables you can see how high your contribution would be:

1) Cooperation contributions for non-profit locations

2) Cooperation contributions for economic locations

The amount of the cooperation fee for your location is also shown in the registration form!

As soon as the program planning has been completed, cooperation agreements will be drawn up for participating musicians/locations and DIY enthusiasts. In the cooperation agreements you will find all the information for your event as part of 48h Wilhelmsburg. Here you can also see what services you have to provide and what services the 48h Wilhelmsburg organization provides, how much you pay or how much the volunteer allowance is for your performance. The cooperation agreements must be signed and returned to 48h Wilhelmsburg. This confirms your appearance or event and assures us that you have understood the rules of 48h and will implement them accordingly. In the cooperation agreements we will see how much money we are allowed to pay you after the festival weekend, or how much cooperation fee we will charge your location.

48h Wilhelmsburg does not pay musicians' fees in the conventional sense: Currently, the musicians involved receive a lump sum for voluntary work from Bürgerhaus Wilhelmsburg in accordance with §3 No. 26a EStG. This is paid out as a lump sum. There is a minimum honorary allowance of €80 for solo musicians. From a duo there is 60,-€ per person. For groups/bands of 5 people or more, the limit of the honorary allowance is €300; this maximum limit also applies to choirs and larger bands. The artists also play on hat.

With the resources available to us, we rely on voluntary work from the neighborhood and from the musicians, which we want to reward at least symbolically. The hat money at the end of the concert comes on top and provides an appropriate bonus at best. Every year, we do our best to sensitize all participants of 48h Wilhelmsburg to this construct and to make it clear: 48h and the many concerts are not for free! The festival only works if those who can, make their contribution so that in the end everyone can celebrate music and the neighborhood on the Elbe islands for a weekend.

Even though a 48h concert is more of a solo show for the district, we try to support the musicians on the Elbe islands in other ways:

• Public relations: With a broad-based campaign, we advertise the 48h program and the participating musicians on all channels. Even beyond the weekend of the event.
• With 48h, we are creating a professional stage and a large audience for all musicians who want to take part, whether they are professionals or hobby musicians.
• At the 48h Merchkiosk, all musicians have the opportunity to sell their fan merchandise.
• We are a point of contact and supporter of musical projects in the neighborhood all year round and always try to respond to the needs of the district.
• We work all year round to maintain and expand our musical network.
• We are a body that is politically committed to the cultural and music scene in the district.

Musik von den Elbinseln uses music as a bridge between cultures and generations to strengthen community development in the district. The network was founded in 2008 by the Wilhelmsburg Community Center Foundation with the intention of using music as a method for urban development. Because music has the potential of a universal world language: it works beyond all language barriers. We call this "musical community building".

48h Wilhelmsburg is a central component of the idea:

Through musical community building, residents become active shapers of their own living environment. 48h deepens relationships in the district by working with people from the neighborhood and involving them in the brainstorming process. Together, we break down barriers, incorporate topics from the neighborhoods into project planning and strengthen existing structures!

48h is everything that flows from the neighborhood into the festival and back again. No more and no less.

With this in mind: listen to your neighborhood!

A project as big as 48h Wilhelmsburg costs a lot of money. Through many small contributions from visitors, friends and neighbors, we create planning security for 48h. This is how you can contribute:

Set an example!
Of course we could, as is usual at many other festivals, simply charge admission. But we want as many people as possible from our district to be able to take part in 48h Wilhelmsburg, even those who don't have that much money. That's why we've come up with something different: We want every visitor to wear a supporter wristband. These can be purchased from our team at the events for €5. The proceeds from the wristbands will go directly to the festival. Feel free to talk to us about it! And if you notice that other festival visitors can't (or don't want to) afford a wristband: Just give one away!

Money for the music!
Because we are aware of the value of music, art & culture and know what it means for the district and for 48h, we would like you to appreciate the music with sounding coins. That's why at the end of every concert we pass the hat to the musicians. The hat fee goes directly to the artists. After all, they also contribute to the success of the festival by foregoing traditional fees. All musicians receive a small honorary allowance from us, but some donate this directly back to the festival!

Are you (already) beeping?
Since 2016, the most diverse, colorful birds from the pen of Studio Ranokel have adorned the artwork of 48h Wilhelmsburg! New musical peeps are added every year. The 48h bird flock has become so large that unfortunately not all birds are equally in the spotlight.

We think - whether sparrow, blackbird or nightingale - every single 48h bird deserves a very special place! That's why we would like to award sponsorships for all the birds that you don't regularly see on our website, posters or stickers.

Become a member of the 48h-Freund:innenkreis and take one of our birds under your wing: From 3 € per month you are part of it! With a bird sponsorship, you can support 48h Wilhelmsburg all year round!

Become a bird pat:in

You can also become a bird patron at our info points, at the Bürgerhaus Wilhelmsburg and at the 48h Merchkiosk in Quiddje. Just ask the staff on site!

Or you can support 48h quickly and easily with a donation!
You can donate directly with your PayPal account, credit card or bank transfer.
Click here:

Help and join in!
Do you have the time and desire to volunteer at 48h Wilhelmsburg? Find out more here:

48h Wilhelmsburg is a musical neighborhood festival. It is organized every year on the second weekend in June by the Netzwerk Musik von den Elbinseln and the Bürgerhaus Wilhelmsburg with people from the neighbourhood. Bands that live, work or have a rehearsal room in Wilhelmsburg and Veddel play at 48h. Both amateurs and professionals play. All styles of music and ages are welcome. The concerts take place in Wilhelmsburg and Veddel in concert venues and neighborhood locations. 48h aims to bring people together and support culture from the district. The festival celebrates the diversity of the Elbe islands through the universal language of music.

We call this musical community building!

The network wants to present the district as it is found during the rest of the year. This is why the artists only perform on existing stages, go into empty spaces, studios or convert everyday spaces such as balconies, bookshops, hairdressing salons and living rooms. The collaborative design process enables participation, presents the diverse music scenes and creates encounters between neighbors far beyond the festival.

Want to find out more? Here you can find articles about our work and get a first impression of the festival weekend:

On our website you can now find an archive with all program contributions of 48h Wilhelmsburg 2023. In the archive you can view your artist profile throughout the year. If we receive requests for musicians/bands from Wilhelmsburg/Veddel, we can refer to the 48h archive and perhaps bring together one or the other artist and organizer. Super practical!

You don't want to appear there with your profile? No problem, please write us
an e-mail to 48h@musikvondenelbinseln.de so that we can remove your profile from the site.