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Timeline

April 2021 The Future Music Camp will take place completely digitally for the first time. Among other things, it was about hybrid concerts, the future of podcast formats and streaming.

May 2020 The Pop Academy relaunches its YouTube channel with portrait film "Who do you want to be?".

June 2020 The first Popakademie Session goes online. The concept presents artists who are currently studying in Mannheim or have completed their studies. The sessions are developed and produced by students of the Popakademie's business degree programs.

December 2020 The Zukunft Pop conference will be held completely digitally for the first time. Experts from the music scene will address the topic of "Music in the Hybrid Age".

May 2019 The Future Music Camp is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

January 2019 The Department of Music and Creative Industries is opening an office in Berlin as part of the new foundation of the Institute for Music and Creative Industries Practice.

July 2018 The Popakademie Baden-Württemberg celebrates its 15th anniversary. Minister President Winfried Kretschmann opens the ceremony in Mannheim and praises the Popakademie as a “beacon institution for the province”.

June 2017 Popakademie graduate Alice Merton gets gold for her song "No Roots". By November she sells 400,000 copies, going platinum. The song becomes an international hit. The Popakademie also receives a gold record, awarded by Merton and her band.
Gold for Alice Merton and the Popakademie
Gold for Alice Merton and the Popakademie

April 2017 The Popakademie is awarded the German music prize ECHO as Partner of the Year, as well as the German live entertainment prize PRG LEA for the category Promoting Artists and Youth 2016.
Prof. Udo Dahmen and Prof. Hubert Wandjo with the ECHO prize
Prof. Udo Dahmen and Prof. Hubert Wandjo with the ECHO prize

February 2015 Baden-Württemberg’s Economic Minister Theresia Bauer and Mannheim’s Mayor Dr. Peter Kurz announce that the Popakademie will add a world music degree programme starting in Winter Semester 2015/16.

December 2014 Mannheim receives the title UNESCO City of Music, with the Popakademie serving as a pillar of the city’s music scene.

September 2011 After adding two additional storeys to the building, the first students begin their master’s degrees in Music and the Creative Industries.
In 2011 the Popakademie added two new floors and two new degree programmes
In 2011 the Popakademie added two new floors and two new degree programmes

December 2009 As part of a ceremony at the New Castle in Stuttgart, the successful coaching programme “Pop macht Schule” (formerly “School of Rock”) receives the State Teaching Award.

November 2009 The conference Zukunft Pop (“Future of Pop”) takes place at the Popakademie for the first time. Here, creatives and industry professionals discuss current and future perspectives of pop culture.

July 2009 At the first Future Music Camp in Mannheim, representatives of the music and creative industries as well as students from a variety of universities meet to attend lectures, talks and workshops regarding future topics in (digital) music business.

November 2008 The construction of a new building on Hafenstraße 82 officially commences. It will hold the new digital recording studio and SMIX.LAB, the newly founded research lab for digital music business.

Autumn 2007 The inaugural class at the Popakademie successfully complete their bachelor’s degree.

June 2007 KLINKT, the in-house artist agency, is founded.
Graduation ceremony at the Popakademie
Graduation ceremony at the Popakademie

May 2006 The Popakademie’s Bandpool receives a gold record for its emerging talent work with the band Revolverheld, whose debut album sold over 100,000 copies.

November 2004 Germany’s President Horst Köhler visits the Popakademie.

October 2004 With eleven partner institutions in six European countries, the Popakademie initiates the MU:ZONE Europe project, thereby laying the foundation for its internationalisation measures.

October 2004 The Popakademie’s new building on Hafenstraße 33 officially opens its doors, with opening ceremony guests including Minister President of Baden-Württemberg Erwin Teufel, Udo Lindenberg and Xavier Naidoo.
Udo Lindenberg and Erwin Teufel at the opening ceremony of the Popakademie building
Udo Lindenberg and Erwin Teufel at the opening ceremony of the Popakademie building

October 2003 The first two classes (54 students in total) begin their bachelor studies at the Popakademie in Music Business and Pop Music Design. Lessons are held in temporary spaces in downtown Mannheim.

April 2003 The Popakademie Baden-Württemberg is officially founded in Mannheim. The groundbreaking ceremony for its new building at Hafenstraße 33 in the neighbourhood of Jungbusch follows in July.
Prof. Udo Dahmen, Dr. Christoph Palmer, Tim Renner, Oliver Schulten, Prof. Hubert Wandjo, Xavier Naidoo and Dirk Metzger
Prof. Udo Dahmen, Dr. Christoph Palmer, Tim Renner, Oliver Schulten, Prof. Hubert Wandjo, Xavier Naidoo and Dirk Metzger