The programs we intend to offer are aimed not just at the “art elite” but also at broad sections of the population, i.e. people who seldom have occasion to visit a museum, children and teenagers, or senior citizens. Different segments of visitors have different expectations and different experiences when they visit a museum or attend a concert. As we want to enable as many visitors as possible to enjoy an astonishing experience and to leave with lasting memories, we have drawn up principles and measures to ensure that the Zentrum Paul Klee is able to create an enjoyable atmosphere, one that is conducive to the experience.

The offer we provide has to cover every area of the Zentrum
The experience value of a visit to the Zentrum Paul Klee depends first and foremost on the core offers we provide. The requirements of different target groups need to be taken into account as much in the choice of exhibition themes and the staging of the collection itself as in the compilation of the program of music and interdisciplinary events, not to mention the way in which the programs are communicated. Also crucial to the overall evaluation are factors such as the quality of the service provided, the clarity of the information and the visitor guidance system, cleanness, the quality of recreation amenities, value-for-money at the Cafeteria, and perhaps even the selection of postcards in the Shop. In other words the offer we provide has to cover every area of the Zentrum that is of relevance to our guests. After all, our prime objective is to ensure that visitors enjoy returning to the Zentrum as our guests.

Something unique and of a high standard
Crucially this sense of well-being (a crucial factor that influences the willingness of visitors to absorb the values on offer) depends on visitors being able to choose to avail themselves of certain offers – or not.

This requirement is a major concern for the Zentrum Paul Klee. That’s why we have chosen to offer our public a wide array of multimedia communication facilities in what we have called the Museum Street. The Museum Street, which connects all three hills of the Zentrum, is a thoroughfare, a place of encounter and spontaneous and organised communication: In the area of the North Hill the Museum Street opens out into a large foyer for an initial overview and information on everything the Zentrum has to offer, as well as cultural events in Bern itself. Here visitors have access to computer stations, newspapers and culture magazines. The Shop is located in the extension of the Museum Street in the Middle Hill. The Shop is not just a source of revenue but a communication and image platform for the Zentrum, which we intend to nurture and stock with great care. Finally, in the South Hill, our reference library with around 400 books provides an opportunity for a more in-depth study of the art and culture issues raised at the Zentrum Paul Klee. Here again our guests can use the PC terminals installed here to log on to the Zentrum Paul Klee database, among other things. They then have access to Paul Klee’s complete oeuvre and therefore to all 4,000 works that make up the Zentrum’s collections. For each work they can retrieve basic information and links to related works and groups of works. We intend to complement this basic information continually with additional multimedia information. All the information and communication resources on offer are governed by the principle that they reflect the Zentrum’s philosophy and its practical implementation at the Zentrum Paul Klee. What we offer is not something random; rather, it is something unmistakable and unique, and of a high standard.

Appeal in the long term
At this point I would like to look ahead to the future. Our mediation objective in the medium term is to make accessible to our visitors the vast scientific knowledge base and the findings of future research into the person and work of Paul Klee, and to do so with as few restrictions as possible. A great deal of work still has to be done until we achieve that goal. But ultimately we want to retain our appeal in the long term, too, and for that we regularly need to offer something new.

New publications and offers
The following new publications and offers are to be issued in connection with the official opening:

• The inauguration/de luxe edition features the history of the collection and the project as well as contributions by all the players involved. It is first and foremost a representative, richly illustrated retrospective.
• The abridged guide to the Zentrum Paul Klee in several languages is particularly useful for summing up a visit to the Zentrum and, with certain limitations, can also be used to as a companion guidebook during the visit itself.
• Finally the architecture book on the Zentrum Paul Klee by the author Werner Blaser is an appreciation in architectural and historical terms of the Zentrum itself and its architect Renzo Piano.

Visitors to the presentation of the collection have the possibility to use an audio guide during their tour. They have a choice between a program orientated according to the musical aspects of Paul Klee’s work and a program that reflects the views of the contemporaries, relatives and friends of Paul Klee. Both profiles allow new insights into the work of Paul Klee; they are optional additional offers and are therefore ideally suited as a companion guide for a second or third visit to the Zentrum Paul Klee.

Over the coming months we shall be drawing up personnel mediation offers in co-operation with the children's museum.

General public as our first official guests
Unusually for a museum the Zentrum Paul Klee will open its doors to the public on a Monday, specifically on Monday, 20 June 2005. Indeed this is the only way we are to welcome the general public as our first official guests. Admittedly, it is a symbolic act, but for us this symbolic act is a matter of principle.

Tuesday, 21 June 2005: official opening event
The official opening event is to take place on Tuesday, 21 June 2005. A large number of public and private events are to be held over the following ten days, organised jointly with our ten founding partners. Each day is to be under the patronage of one founding partner. In this context each founding partner is to offer visitors a cultural event during the Zentrum’s opening hours, subject to space availability. The events are all related to the Zentrum Paul Klee in one way or another and provide an insight into just how broad the range of activities on offer at the Zentrum actually is. The program is to be communicated in good time.

During the two inaugural weeks we will also be organising special events for the communities of the Regional Cultural Conference of Bern and for the representatives of museums and cultural institutions of Bern.

Tourism
Finally a word on the subject of tourism marketing. We have excellent contacts with Bern’s Tourist Bureau. Thanks to the Tourist Bureau we have already been represented three times at the International Tourism Fair in Berlin (ITB), and we are always featured as part of promotion packages on offer abroad. Co-operation with Switzerland Tourism is also well underway. So thanks to the Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern together with Basel is to be included in the new “Art and Architecture” theme route. We are delighted to be able to play a leading part in Bern’s tourism marketing. Our aim and efforts are to ensure that this commitment also bears fruit for Bern’s other cultural institutions, and for Bern’s hotel industry and trade in general.

Conference and congress activities
The Zentrum Paul Klee’s conference and congress activities are also certain to provide spin-off benefits. We enclose our brochure on this subject. Already we are taking reservations and bookings as our aim is to be able to provide not just a good infrastructure but also an attractive cultural setting. Many of our future conference delegates will want to stay overnight in Bern, to go out in Bern in the evening, and to shop in the city. We see many opportunities for partnerships that can be of mutual benefit to both sides. Our partners are also of the same opinion, and many interesting contacts have already been established in this respect.

(Every voiced opinion is valid.)