Cultural New Year's reception 2026: Stadtgarde is honored with the 2025 Culture Prize

On Thursday, January 15, 2026, the City of Offenbach am Main will award the 30th Culture Prize as part of the Cultural New Year's Reception at the Capitol Theater Offenbach. The prize, endowed with 2,500 euros, will go to the Stadtgarde Offenbach in 2025. The music and dance club was founded in 1982 and offers guard and show dancing for children, young people and adults as well as Guggemusik and more. "Hardly anything has as many different forms as 'culture'. Culture also means bringing the most diverse people together," says Lord Mayor and Head of Cultural Affairs Dr. Felix Schwenke. "The Stadtgarde does this to a great extent and has a big heart for our city and its people. It makes great music, dances furiously, brings people together at its children's carnival events or at the Schneckenberg regardless of their budget and entertains in a striking, inspiring way."

The Stadtgarde includes numerous well-known formations such as the Icebreakers with their distinctive Guggemusik or the Glamour Girls. With the Guggemusik as well as the guard and show dance groups, the association is present at numerous festivals and celebrations in Offenbach and the surrounding area, thus helping to shape Offenbach's cultural city life.

The Lord Mayor emphasizes what the Stadtgarde exemplifies: "An active club life, such as the Stadtgarde cultivates, especially for children and young people, ensures cohesion, exchange and a lively togetherness. In a world in which too much happens online, this is a valuable contribution to opportunities for encounters in the real world and thus also a contribution to a democratic and solidary urban society." These were some of the main reasons for presenting the Stadtgarde with the 2025 Culture Prize.

Based on Schneckenberg, the Stadtgarde currently has 131 members, 87 of whom are active. The oldest member is 82 years old, the youngest four years old. The Stadtgarde's activities include show dancing for children, young people and adults, male ballet, guard dancing for children and adults, Guggemusik, the committee (representing the association at events) and the entertainment committee for organizing events. Events include the New Year's reception, at which the dances for the current campaign are presented, new songs from the music group are presented and members are honored and thanked. Other events include the BiebeRio carnival in the TV Bieber gym, the KidzNight with free play, campfire and night hike, the Mainuferfest, the Oktoberfest and the Christmas market on Schneckenberg.