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How Hamburg Combats Loneliness With ‘Culture Buddies’
What if a ticket to the opera could also be a prescription against loneliness? In Hamburg, the nonprofit KulturistenHochZwei — a play on the words culture (kultur) and tourists (touristen) — is turning concert and museum visits into powerful social medicine.
Founded in 2015 by Christine Worch, a former marketing executive who left her career to care for her father with dementia, the initiative pairs teenagers with older adults to attend cultural events — everything from symphony performances to plays and art exhibitions. For the seniors, many of whom live on limited incomes and might otherwise stay home alone, these shared outings are a way back into public life.
“With the young people, I feel young again,” one 85-year-old from Bramfeld in the northeastern part of the city said after a concert at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie. “They’re so kind and respectful. Everyone talks badly about youth these days, but these students are wonderful. We even exchanged phone numbers. I hope we can go again soon.”
KulturistenHochZwei participants celebrate friendship. Credit: Boris Rastami Rahet
“I’d been immersed in my career when my mother died and my father became ill,” Worch recalls. “When I saw how isolation accelerated his decline, I realized how important social contact and culture are for older people, and how fragile those connections can be.” She watched her father’s world shrink. “That’s when I realized: Aging isn’t just a biological process, it’s a social challenge.”
She began volunteering to bring art experiences to low-income seniors. One woman she visited told her, in thick Hamburg dialect, “That’s nice, dear, but I’ve got no one to go with.” That comment, Worch says, “was the spark.”
A year later, she registered KulturistenHochZwei as a nonprofit company. What started with a few pilot outings is now a citywide network that has facilitated more than 6,000 cultural visits and has inspired similar programs in other German cities.
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The idea is as elegant as it is effective. Seniors who fall below the income threshold — €1,350 ($1,575) per month for individuals or €1,750 ($2,040) for couples — receive free tickets to cultural events. But instead of attending alone, they’re matched with a “culture buddy” aged 16 or older, recruited through partnerships with local schools. For the young volunteers, the outings are a crash course in empathy and human connection.
The teenagers commit to at least three cultural outings per school year and receive a certificate for their volunteer service. Before their first event, they attend a five-hour training designed to build empathy, including wearing a 35-kilogram “aging simulation suit” that restricts movement and vision. The students wear it on buses and in public spaces to experience what it means to move through the city as an older person.
At first, the students often laugh, thinking it feels like “fitness training.” But after half an hour, their posture changes; they begin to hunch over, move slower, and struggle with steps and curbs. “That’s when understanding starts,” Worch says. “They realize how much effort simple things require as we age.”
The tickets are free for both the senior and the student, thanks to partnerships with about 50 local cultural institutions and donors. But what the participants gain can’t be measured in euros.
“It was wonderful — Haydn, Ravel and Stravinsky, seventy musicians on stage!” one 89-year-old from Winterhude said as she described her evening at the Laeiszhalle. “My young companion smiled so warmly, always held the door, and even walked me back. Everything was one hundred percent perfect.”
Students are equally enthusiastic. “It was super,” said 18-year-old Lukas. “Even though the music wasn’t really my style, we both enjoyed it a lot. I’d love to go again.”
Another student, Paul, 19, recalled a chilly evening escorting a senior from Eimsbüttel: “She was so nice, and I wanted to lend her my jacket because she was cold.”
Her version of the story? “Paul was a real gentleman. Imagine — he offered me his jacket! Such a well-mannered young man.”
KulturistenHochZwei tackles not only isolation but also age-related poverty. Around 85 percent of participating seniors are women, reflecting broader economic disparities in retirement income.
‘Culture buddies’ at a music performance at Docks club in Hamburg. Credit: Christine Worch
The organization’s funding rests on four pillars: Roughly 20 to 25 percent from government agencies, and the rest comes from contributions from private foundations and philanthropists, corporate sponsorships, and grassroots fundraising.
“Germany, like many Western countries, has enormous wealth but also increasing poverty,” Worch says. “I wanted a model where both the ten-euro donor and the five-thousand-euro donor can contribute, because everyone should be aware of this divide.”
But its greatest capital may be human connection. “There was a time when many retirees simply slipped through the cracks,” she says. “Now there’s more awareness that aging is a shared responsibility. Culture gives people a reason to step out the door — and someone to step out with.”
The joy is palpable. One participant wrote after a dance performance: “I was feeling down all day, but I thought ‘I can’t cancel now.’ By the end, I was dancing! The pain was gone. Please prescribe this instead of medicine: Dancing and KulturistenHochZwei!”
For many participants, the outings reshape how they see each other and the generations they come from. Often, the pairings create lasting bonds. One student struggling with physics was matched with a retired physicist who began tutoring her; they still stay in touch. Another senior still meets the student she was paired with years ago for coffee: “It’s wonderful to see what a great young woman she’s become since I met her as a schoolgirl.”
Another young man joined during the pandemic and later decided to study nursing. “That’s the ripple effect,” says Worch. “They discover empathy as a strength.”
Roughly 70 percent of students complete the required three outings per year, while 20 percent volunteer far more often. “They tell us they don’t want to stop,” Worch says.
In 2021, the Hove Fiedler Foundation in Kiel adopted the concept and now operates an independent branch under Worch’s guidance. The KulturistenHochZwei brand is trademarked, but Worch is open to expansion: “The idea is adaptable anywhere that has culture, youth, and seniors — which is everywhere.”
At its heart, KulturistenHochZwei reframes both aging and adolescence. Seniors are no longer passive recipients of care but active cultural participants. Teenagers, often dismissed as self-absorbed, reveal generosity and patience.
“At first, people told me, ‘no teenager will want to go out with an old person,’” Worch recalls with a laugh. “But I had a different image of youth — engaged, open-hearted. And they proved me right.”
Many students come from immigrant families; roughly one in five has a migration background. The project’s inclusive structure allows them to see aging, and Germany’s social fabric, from new perspectives. “They discover that cultural participation isn’t about class or nationality,” Worch says. “It’s about human connection.”
As one elderly participant summed it up: “These young people — they give you faith in the future. So kind, so thoughtful. You just want to see more of them.”
A student added: “We went to the Elbphilharmonie, but what I’ll remember most is how easy it felt to talk to her. It didn’t feel like volunteering, it felt like friendship.”
The idea that culture can improve health isn’t new, but initiatives like KulturistenHochZwei make it tangible. Public health experts increasingly refer to “social prescribing” — non-medical interventions, like volunteering or arts engagement, to boost wellbeing.
In 2023, the World Health Organization published evidence linking cultural participation to lower depression rates, better cognition and even longer life expectancy. In that light, KulturistenHochZwei looks less like a nonprofit and more like a preventive health program, one that happens to involve Bach, Stravinsky and museum strolls.
“Culture opens doors,” Worch says. “And once those doors open, loneliness has a harder time getting in.”
The organization is careful in setting boundaries. Seniors who join must sign a code of conduct affirming democratic values and respectful behavior. “We once had a participant who made racist remarks, and another who acted inappropriately toward a student,” Worch recalls. “Both were immediately removed. Everyone must understand: This project stands on the foundation of human dignity.”
KulturistenHochZwei also trains students to recognize early signs of dementia among their senior companions and to respond with patience. “If someone becomes confused or restless, we teach them not to insist on their plan,” Worch says. “Just take a breath, sit for a moment, and continue when the person feels ready. Empathy is more important than the schedule.”
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The nonprofit works closely with volunteer psychologists who can mediate if conflicts arise, though Worch notes such issues are rare.
“When you attend a cultural event together,” Worch reflects, “you’re not caregiver and care recipient. You’re two people sharing beauty.”
Hamburg’s seniors are still writing thank you letters full of hearts and exclamation marks. “Please, more of this,” one wrote. “Music and people — what could be better?”
Worch smiles when she reads those notes. “Our society needs bridges,” she says. “Culture builds them naturally. We just provide the map.”
The post How Hamburg Combats Loneliness With ‘Culture Buddies’ appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful.
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