A year of hunger and a new stage
The Government Council of the Canton of Zurich is supporting twenty charitable projects with a contribution from the lottery fund. Among others, the Oberland Cultural Commission is receiving a contribution for a project about the famine year 1816 and Karls kühne Gassenschau for a new grandstand.
1816 was a year without a summer, which resulted in a serious hunger crisis, particularly in the Zurich Oberland. The gloom was caused by a huge volcanic eruption in Indonesia. A regionally broad-based association, founded under the patronage of the Culture Commission, is now organizing an exhibition and an open-air play in the Ritterhaus Bubikon on the events of 200 years ago, for which there is already a great deal of interest, including from schools. The association is receiving a contribution of CHF 250,000 from the lottery fund towards the costs of the two sub-projects.
The Karls kühne Gassenschau theater group has to replace its 40-year-old grandstand for safety reasons, at a cost of CHF 730,000. It will now receive a Lottery Fund contribution of CHF 300,000 towards this. The Foundation of the Evangelical Society of the Canton of Zurich will receive CHF 400,000 each for the renovation of its hostel for the homeless in Zurich and the initiators of a regional project show Limmattal, which aims to promote identity-creating projects in this region beyond the cantonal border. The cantonal government is also providing CHF 300,000 to support a project at the University of Zurich that aims to promote the independence of elderly people living alone through the therapeutic use of dogs.
The organizers of Züri Fäscht 2016 are also to receive CHF 800,000 from the lottery fund. This is what the cantonal government is proposing to the cantonal council. The increased contribution compared to previous festivals will enable additional security costs and partial compensation from the Zurich Transport Association (ZVV) for the night network.
