At the Backnang street festival in 2024, the first contact was made with artist Jennifer Flint, who launched the Artists At The Meadows project. This is an association of local artists who have converted a retail space in The Meadows shopping centre into a gallery displaying their art work. During the visit to Backnang and the subsequent art event in Chelmsford with the painting of a shop window in the High Street, the idea of a vernissage in the cafe Teatime in Backnang was born. Over freshly baked scones, tea and piano music, the works of the exhibiting artists could be viewed and purchased. It was particularly nice to get the chance to talk to guests in this cosy atmosphere.
At the same time, pictures of artists from Backnang are travelling to Chelmsford to be exhibited at The Meadows.

The cover band Electronique is a musical collaboration that led to a performance at the street festival (Straßenfest) in Backnang and several gigs in Chelmsford. 
With hits from the 80s and early 90s, they hit the nerve of the audience in front of the stage at Willy-Brandt-Platz. We would like to thank the CJE in Backnang for the opportunity to use their premises for rehearsals.
AND we will definitely see you again at the next Straßenfest in Backnang. 

As part of the ‘Mitten in Europa’ festival organised by the Bandhaus theatre, artists from Chelmsford came to Backnang and left their creative mark. The graffiti artists, Scotty (AKA Brave1) and Howard (AKA ERZ), who are known to a wider audience as part of the Concrete Canvas Festival in Chelmsford, designed the old tower station in Aspacher Strasse. ‘It's an interesting building and not one I would normally choose as it's very tall and narrow,’ explains Howard. ‘We want to show the partnership between our cities, but also Backnang's past and visions for the future.’ How the artists realised their ideas was discussed in advance with the city of Backnang.
Howard Elston from ‘The Essex Rockerz’ designed the ‘Future Goose’ on one side of the tower in reference to the Backnang Geese War. ‘I did some research on Backnang and that was a very interesting aspect of its history,’ said Howard, who was visiting the twin town for the first time. He wanted to transport the story into the future by placing the goose in a futuristic space environment - with a headset and holding a tablet. The words ‘Technology connects us’ are written above everything, as the partnership was also founded due to the telecommunications industry in both cities.
Scott Irving from ‘Brave Arts’, who designed the other side of the tower with Candy Joyce, was also in Backnang for the first time. ‘The painting represents the similar industries of the twin towns,’ he said. He had researched the fact that both Chelmsford and Backnang manufacture components for satellites. In his opinion, both cities contribute to people being able to talk to each other - even over long distances. His work therefore shows two women facing each other, again with futuristic elements. Both are wearing headsets in order to ‘communicate with each other even in different times or worlds’, as the artist explained, and symbolically represent the two twin towns in dialogue.

In the 2022/2023 school year, a school partnership was established between the Schillerschule in Backnang and Baddow Hall Junior School in Chelmsford. This partnership is special because it is one of the few links between primary schools in Baden-Württemberg. 
In conjunction with the project, there are video conferences between pupils from both schools to communicate in English. These activities lead to initial contacts that encourage pen friendships and the like. The exchange is valuable for the primary school pupils as it makes them aware of the importance of learning other languages.
In March 2022, a delegation from the Schillerschule, including the head Mrs Otterbach and deputy head Mrs Bollmann, visited Chelmsford together with Mr Whitehead, Chairman of the Friends' Association, to visit the partner school and gain an insight into the English primary school. In this context, two trees were planted to symbolise the partnership. The city of Backnang supported the visit to strengthen the ties between Chelmsford and Backnang.
In November 2023, Mrs Mascott, in her role as Mayor of Chelmsford, visited the Schillerschule for a return visit. She was enthusiastic about further promoting the partnership. The new English club was delighted with the visit and was able to show what they had learnt. After the English lesson, an exchange took place in the staff room.
Mr McIntosh, headteacher of Baddow Hall School, also had the opportunity to visit the Schillerschule to observe lessons and learn more about the German education system. Both headteachers agreed to develop the relationship for the benefit of the pupils and their understanding of the world and jointly signed the Memorandum of Understanding, which will be displayed in both schools. Over the course of the year, further discussions will be held on how this partnership can be further developed. All in all, it was a successful exchange with many positive encounters.

In July 2018, the bilingual radio project started in cooperation with Chelmsford Community Radio. During one week in July, the 7th graders who attend the bilingual programme at the Max-Born-Gymnasium are introduced to the creation of radio programmes. The aim of the project week is to create several 30-minute programmes with presenting the show, interesting contributions and interviews, jingles and music. What was planned in autumn 2018 as a radio workshop with shorter contributions for the programme ‘Rund um Backnang’ resulted in weekly 60-minute broadcasts due to the pandemic. The Radio-AG students felt that they were being heard on the radio during this time with lessons at home and curfew. Creating the programmes gave the young people a sense of purpose in this difficult time. They also recorded programmes with the pupils in Chelmsford and friends in Scotland via Teams. The radio club continues strong and also travels to Chelmsford and hosts Chelmsford pupils from Boswells School. Every week, the young radio makers think about what the people in Chelmsford might be interested in about Backnang, their everyday (school) life and Germany. We would like to thank the MBG, the friend’s of the school charity, the city of Backnang and Erasmus for supporting this project.

You can listen to the programme Back-To-Backnang live on Chelmsford Community Radio on Sundays at 6pm German time. So Tune In!

https://max-born-gymnasium.de/schueler/ags/radio-ag/