The Stift church: an international place for musical encounters
About this good practice
The Reformed Church on the Stift is a remnant of a Benedictine abbey founded in the mid-12th century. The Stiftchurch was founded from a religious perspective and still serves as a religious building where church services are held. From a Catholic monastery, noble ladies transformed it into the Protestant Stift Church, it changed into a Protestant building. The building is part of a complex. And that complex as a whole has continuously related to the environment, the needs of the residents and the time. And it still is. During time, the Stift grew out into a lively hamlet and today the church building is part of the monumental village view of Weerselo with various functions.
Nowadays various social activities took place with temporary working spaces and ephemeral events. It's like a social hub, with for example weddings, memorial services, markets, you can rent a meeting room, there’s a restaurant and in some periods the Stift church is the centre of an international music festival.
Since 1964, the Stichting Stiftsconcerten Weerselo has organised five to six concerts in the Stiftskerk on Het Stift in Weerselo every year. Top musicians who bring world-class chamber music to a special, intimate and rural setting and put the beauty of Twente in the spotlights
The ambition is that a large and diverse audience will experience pleasure, emotion and inspiration through this total experience of music, culture, landscape and nature.
Resources needed
The Stiftfestival is organized by the Stift International Music Festival foundation. In total, 50 volunteers were involved in organizing the festival and 10 of them offered a place to sleep as a host family.
There are also many partners involved and there are also many subsidy providers.
Evidence of success
The Stiftfestival is the most popular event of Overijssel and attracts over 4,500 visitors. Esspecially the atmosphere, the cultural setting and the social added value of the Stiftfestival is particularly appreciated. In addition, it is also a successful example because it not only attracts visitors from far away, but also organizes many events for its own residents, making it a pleasant local meeting place with a high social added value for the village of Weerselo.
Potential for learning or transfer
The church building and its historic surroundings provide a fantastic setting for social or cultural activities. No interventions will be made to the building. It’s still in religious use. The proceeds from all side activities and the great festival generate money to maintain the restauration of the church building.
Thanks to the great success of the international festival, the church building gets more visitors and it’s becoming more famous. This attracts more visitors and more activities, such as a restaurant in the former chapter house and activities for the local communities and their children.
The famous music festival took place at different locations in Twente, which is valuable for visitors because of the beautiful Twents ‘coulissen’ landscape. This also requires good cooperation with other parties and event locations. You have to organize a lot and, also, the organization is of such a level that it is very expensive and still depends on donations and subsidies.
Further information
The Stift Festival
Images
Documents
A beautiful overview .docx
Website
Good practice owner
You can contact the good practice owner below for more detailed information.