MEHR Festival

The MEHR Festival is a new initiative by the Otto Brenner Foundation and will take place for the first time in 2026. Here, people from trade unions, academia, civil society and the cultural sector will work together on issues shaping the future.

MEHR embodies the desire for a life shaped not by scarcity, competition and fear, but by possibilities: more time. More space. More security. More say. More solidarity. More future. The aim is to translate this aspiration into concrete prospects – through dialogue, joint analysis and the development of plans for the future. Following the festival, the ideas developed will be pursued further and put to the test in practice.

With the Otto Brenner Foundation’s first MEHR Festival, taking place from 16 to 19 June 2026, a meeting place will be created for everyone who wants to shape the future. A place where ideas become strategies – and strategies become projects that can truly make a difference.

We are dedicated to the great challenges of our time:

Establishing a democratic economy and society. Strengthening prosperity and cooperation across regions. Making housing a human right and a common good. Shaping digitalisation in a way that is both inclusive and sustainable. Organising migration in accordance with human rights and for the benefit of all. And positioning trade unions so that they remain a place of collective strength and solidarity in the future.

To this end, we bring together people who would otherwise rarely sit down together:

Colleagues from workplaces and allies from social movements, cultural workers and engineers, programmers and lawyers, urban planners and trade unionists, community organisers and architects, fellow campaigners from NGOs, universities and political parties.

In councils, we jointly develop strategies that guide our daily work towards a better future. Hackathons give rise to concepts, plans and campaigns that can be implemented straight away. Inspiring talks open up new perspectives. And the cultural programme creates spaces for exchange, for discovering new things and for having fun together.

The festival takes place at different locations in Bockenheim, Bornheim, and Ostend.

The MEHR Festival is organised in partnership by the Otto Brenner Foundation with IG Metall.