Germany
In 2007, Rainer Kern was the managing and artistic director of the year-long celebration for the 400th anniversary of the founding of Mannheim. As the representative of the executive mayor of Mannheim he was responsible for the UNESCO City of Music, and is now the director of this project. He is also currently the chair of all UNESCO music cities.
Rainer is both festival director and artistic director of the biggest German jazz festival: “Enjoy Jazz – International Festival for Jazz and More”, which he also founded in 1999 in Heidelberg. Enjoy Jazz is held every autumn for seven weeks in the cities of Mannheim, Heidelberg and Ludwigshafen. 2021 marks the 23rd Edition of the festival.
In 2007 Rainer founded the literature festival “lesen.hören” which is held every March in Mannheim.
In 2014/15 he developed the culture management degree programme for SRH University, Heidelberg, which started in the autumn of 2015.
In his work as a freelance international urban consultant, Rainer supports cities in establishing sustainable urban development strategies through art and culture.
