‘That's exactly what we were missing in Siegen. And instead of regretting that you can only find something like this in big cities like Hamburg or Berlin, we simply did it ourselves,’ says Ben Jost enthusiastically. Together with Oliver Gaumann and Timo Böcking, he is one of the inventors of the Feldfunk Festival. However, ‘simple’ is anything but ‘simple’, especially not as a layman and even less under coronavirus conditions. ‘We founded the Kulturfunk e.V. association in 2017 because we didn't want it to be a one-off event. It wouldn't be possible without the voluntary support of our members and many other people involved,’ says Timo Böcking. Böcking (piano) and Ben Jost (drums), together with David Just (bassist, like the others on the association's board and involved from the very beginning), also perform on stage themselves as ‘Die Drei’ - the professional musicians don't let that get in the way.

‘We are really happy that the festival has been able to take place in the last two years despite corona. Even if it was quite a shaky ride. The effort was enormous due to the official requirements and the visitor numbers were of course significantly lower than before, we were able to offer less of a supporting programme, and ultimately this also affected the financing. So it wasn't all that easy. But we are proud that we managed it and that there was no interruption as a result,’ says Oliver Gaumann, who recently started working as a project manager at the Erfahrungsfeld. The FFF takes place once a year in August. In 2022, by the way, it will run parallel to the city festival, but the three organisers don't see this as a problem. ‘We're not in competition, we're complementary. You hardly have a monopoly on one Saturday in summer and that's what makes a city - that you have the choice of where you want to go,’ explains Timo Böcking. Especially as the musical focus of the FFF serves a different niche than the offerings at the city festival, the organisers are sure of that.

Admission is free - thanks to numerous sponsors and supporters from the region. City marketing is also one of the supporters. And whatever is left over is donated. ‘We're not doing this to make money, but to offer people something that enriches the cultural landscape in Siegen, and everyone should have access to it,’ explains Oliver Gaumann. The organisers of the FFF are particularly grateful to the Hoppmann Foundation as the operator of the Erfahrungsfeld, because without the Erfahrungsfeld there would be no Feldfunk Festival.
‘Of course, something like this always involves a lot of work. We also started out naively and on a beer mood. Looking back today, we sometimes ask ourselves whether we would have done it all if we had known what was coming,’ laughs Ben Jost. ‘But we wouldn't want to miss it and that's why this year won't be the last Feldfunk.’