1. ZURICH’S NIGHT COUNCIL
NIGHTS2018 – BRUSSELS
ZURICH’S NIGHT COUNCIL
Luca Rey
Member of Zurich Night Council, DJ, Promoter
Alexander Bücheli
Member of Zurich Night Council, Board Member of Safer Nightlife Switzerland and Safer Dance Swiss, General Manager and Press Officer Bar & Club Commission Zurich, Bar and Club Commission Switzerland, President NEWNet

2. Zurich goes out 400’000 inhabitants
Over 600 night café licences, 24hour-open-policy, 180 relevant clubs and nightlife bars, 3 main nightlife areas
Around 100’000 partygoers every weekend
40 night casesx per weekend reported by the local police
X = night cases refers to incidents (fights, rubbery), which needs police activities and happen between to 06.00

3. Street Parade Since 1992, second weekend of August
1’000’000 visitors = the biggest rave in the world
around 400 first aid medical cases
less than 100 hospitalizations
last person died in 2014

4. Going out at night - risk or pleasure?
Social interactions
Dancing (exercise)
Disconnect, relax
Music, colours and forms
Pleasure of drug use
Violence, vandalism
Hearing damages
Night-noise
Drug related risks
Sexual risk behaviour

5. National, regional and local government – legal framework
Zurich night network
Media
Night shops
Take a way
Uber
Police
Night Major Council
Bar & Club Commission
Property owner
Association of the young members of the political parties (Pro Nachtleben Zurich)
National, regional and local government – legal framework
Taxi
Public transport
Medical services
Security service
Club Owner
Licence office
Neighbours
Promoters
Supplier
Harm reduction offers
Prevent-ion offers
Bar, Lounge Owner
Club Staff
Art designer
Event-manager
Clubbers
DJ, VJ Musician

6. The Night Major Council
Situation: Established in 2015, based on an effort of the city council, the Bar & Club Commission and some individual nightlife activist.
Structure: Association without legislative and executive power; no subsidies
Aim: be an ambassador, giving the whole local nightlife culture a voice
Methods: regular meetings; know-how exchange; empowerment; mediation; campaigns; stakeholder involvement.

7. The Night Mayor Council
Why a council: The political system in Switzerland is not based on a majority approach. The city of Zurich has 7 mayors (including the president); a council can better represent the different perspectives.
Members: Six nightlife-activist (1 women and 5 men); each member is representing a “sub” culture, like underground, commercial players (BCK), party-goers, musician, night-women, LGBT etc.; the work is not payed it’s on a voluntary base.

8. Young Promoter Support
Situation: the average age of Zurich’s promoters is getting higher and higher; Most of them are still active since the 90’s, new “blood” is missing; Zurich is an expensive city, organizing an event or opening a club is related to a high investment.
Aim: empowering young people to start their career as a promoter; to establish new promoters for the next Zurich nightlife generation
Method: stakeholder involvement; young promoter round tables; young-outdoor-permission; searching non commercial indoor and outdoor spaces

9. Space Invaders
Situation: The more people go out the more space is needed for nightlife activities. The city of Zurich provides many nightlife spots but some of them are silently being uninstalled. A lot of these spots were opened in the 80s with very few additions since then.
Aim: engage with politicians, operators of the spots to ensure that their infrastructure remains functional for nightlife activities, empowering young people to book these spots
Method: stakeholder involvement; young promoter round tables; dialog with the respective operators

10. Open Club Day
Situation: non partygoers (parents, neighbours, politicians) are afraid about the “black hole” – because they don’t know what happens there
Aim: giving access to non partygoers to nightlife spot; giving answer to their questions related to the night; facilitating the discussion between night- activists and neighbours
Method: transparency; personalising the “black hole”; translating what happens in the night to a bigger audience

11. Bar & Club Commission
Situation: the nightlife-culture was not organized, other promoters were seen as competitors = it was not possible to defend the aims and the needs of the night-culture; to solve this, the Bar & Club Commission was founded in 2011.
Structure: today more than 120 bars, clubs and event labels are member of the association; the association is financed with membership fees and sponsoring
Aim: representing the interests and the aim of the places where nightlife happens in town (Bars, Clubs, Event-locations)
Method: lobbying; media work; staff training; political influencing; PR; open club day; coexistence; safer clubbing etc.

12. Toolbox Nightlife Together forward to a good night for all
Online Toolbox focussing on night-coexistences
The website includes:
Information about the legal frame
FAQ related to night-noise
Showing alternative process whiteout an involvement of the police or other public authorities
Information concerning the night culture and its importance for the city
Together forward to a good night for all

13. Zurich Nightlife Round Table
Situation: In 2001 the city of Zurich was taking the decision to established a mobile Drug Checking service; this service was creating a lot of rumours and it was difficult to find clubs or events to check drugs.
Aim: simplifying the regular exchange between the different nightlife stakeholder; focussing on pragmatic approaches and solutions.
Method: organizing three round tables per year; involvement - topics are defined by the participants themselves.
Participants: Promoters, Club & Bar Owners, Police, First-Aid Medical Services, Public Authority etc.

14. Staff Training
Situation: no specific nightlife education for bar tenders, bouncers and runners was existing; but they need to deal with difficult customers, the law related to the selling of Alcohol (under age protection) and cases of intoxication.
Content: guest-treatment, non violence communication, first aid, fire fighting etc.
Aim: empower the staff members
Method: workshop with external experts; onsite staff training; annual staff day with social – party – component; e-learning (future)

15. Influencing politicians
Situation: lack of support on the level of the local council. No influence on political decision related to the nightlife culture.
Content: legal framework, night policy, interfaces between the authority and the nightlife culture
Aim: increase the influence on the local politics of the night
Method: nightlife walks, meet & greets, building up of a local councillor group, food, bar, club and music culture

16. Future topics
Zurich Electronic Music Week: before the Street Parade in August, club week, dedicated to electronic music
Foundation Nightlife: to support special events, young promoters or to finance noise protections, sensibilisation campaigns etc.
Liberalisation 2.0: less obstacles for opening a nightlife spot, longer opening hours for outside terrace, gender neutral bathrooms etc.
Cooperation: intensify the cooperation with Gastro Zurich and the Swiss Bar and Club Commission

17. Contact: alex@a-buecheli.ch
THANK YOU!!
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