Students inspire with side events for the inff25

Over the course of two semesters, a team of students from the part-time Master's degree course in Sport, Culture & Event Management at the FH Kufstein Tirol developed three innovative side events in cooperation with Innsbruck Tourism and the innsbruck nature film festival (inff). The practical project expanded the film festival, which took place this year from October 8 to 12, to include a diverse range of creative, educational and interactive experiences. The aim was to sensitize and inform visitors about sustainability and environmental issues. The hours of conception and preparation work bore fruit. The side events met with positive feedback from the visitors.

THEORY TURNED INTO PRACTICE

The students conceived, planned and carried out the following events with the help of the innsbruck nature film festival and Innsbruck Tourism:

Sound of nature: On Sunday, 12. October, 2025, the Klang der Natur matinee at Kulturbogen 55 in Innsbruck invited guests to a special concert experience where music and literature were all about nature. Young pianists from the Tyrolean State Conservatory presented works by Chopin, Bartók, Debussy, Hindemith, Fazıl Say and Liszt under the direction of the internationally renowned Duo d'Accord.

Actor Thomas Lackner enriched the concert with impressive recitations of poems by Baudelaire, Bachmann, Kaléko and Âşık Veysel. The result was an atmospheric interplay of words and sound that made the artistic diversity of nature tangible and was met with great applause from the audience.

Voices of disappearance: from 4. to 12. October 2025, a sound installation in Innsbruck's city center drew attention to the silencing of native bird species. In the Sparkassenpassage between Maria-Theresien-Straße and Sparkassenplatz and at the entrance to the Metropol cinema, the songs of two endangered bird species in Tyrol could be heard: the corncrake and the skylark. The voices were accompanied by information boards about their habitat and endangerment.

The installation in cooperation with Be Acoustic invited passers-by to pause, listen and pay attention to the now rare voices of these animals. The result was a sensory experience that drew attention to the decline in biodiversity and highlighted the importance of conscious listening as a way of perceiving nature.

Beat the trash

On Saturday, 11. October, 2025, everyday waste was transformed into musical instruments at the Beat the Trash interactive children's workshop at Werkstattcouch in Innsbruck. Under the guidance of music education student Selina Zwick, children aged 8 to 12 made guitars out of milk cartons, rain pipes out of cans and small rattles out of crown corks. The workshop was complemented by an informative quiz that taught children about waste separation and the decomposition time of different materials in a fun way.

With a lot of creativity and enthusiasm, not only music was created, but also an awareness of sustainable action and the value of reuse. The workshop was rounded off with a creative performance by the children with their self-made garbage musical instruments.

ADDED VALUE AND CHALLENGES

The side events offered an opportunity to promote awareness of nature and sustainability. Creative and interactive formats were used to sensitize participants of all ages to environmental issues and encourage them to think about them.

For the students, the project was a practical opportunity to plan sustainable events and gain important experience in organization and teamwork. Budget and time were a particular challenge for three events. The cooperation with Innsbruck Tourism as the client and the innsbruck nature film festival also taught the students how important regular and clear communication and good time management are in practice.

However, these challenges were successfully overcome in good time thanks to regular team meetings and constant communication with the contacts at Innsbruck Tourismus and the innsbruck nature film festival. In this way, the side events contributed to the film festival and to a more conscious approach to sustainable event management.

Links:

• We are one - Innsbruck Nature Film Festival 2025 | Website
• Tourismus Information Innsbruck | Website
• Experiences - INFF | Website
• Sport-, Kultur- & Veranstaltungsmanagement | pt

This article was written by students on the part-time Master's degree course in Sport, Culture & Event Management as part of their practical project.