Steffi Klär war 15 Jahre Programmleiterin eines Basler Clubs, ist selbständig im Bereich Kommunikation & Events tätig und setzt sich im Vorstand des Verein Kultur & Gastronomie und der Schweizerischen Bar- und Clubkommission SBCK für bessere Rahmenbedingungen der Gastro– und Veranstalterszene ein. Für und mit Musikkultur arbeiten zu können hält sie für ein grosses Privileg: vor, hinter oder auf der Bühne.

Steffi Klär is a trained PR-person and passionate musiclover. For over 15 years she has booked Kuppel, a small club in Basel. Since it’s building in 1986 the club has lived in a provisional status and wasn’t supported financially by the city. Thus the programming held many challenges concerning budget, styles and audiences, which led to a wide spectrum of sounds, concerts and clubnight being presented, and the work with bookers in Switzerland and Europe being on fairly close almost familiar terms. From Folk and Pop to Rock, from Reggae to World, from HipHop to Electronical Music countless Swiss Live- and DJ Acts have played the special tent-alike club, but also international acts like Goldie, LTJ Bukem, RZA, Dilated Peoples, Tina Dico, HVOB, dOP or Robert Owens got the place to almost burst. After over 20 years working within this provisional status, Kuppel has been closed in April 2016 to make place for a new building. Financed by a foundation, the new Kuppel shall hold around 600-700p, combine concert-culture with clubnights and corporate events and logistically and from its impact be able to widen the programmes spectrum and booking focus. In a time where more and more booking-agencies are trying to get bigger and are fusing, clubs and festivals are often booked exclusively, Steffi Klär still believes in sharing ideas and finding the right matches, trying to connect widely rather than to channel to get as much talent and innovation from bottom to top through our cities and countries as possible. And she’s looking forward to go on working this way with possibly better preconditions and the same amount of passion in the future.

Picture: ©Matthias Mangold