Since 2011, POOLgroup has been involved in the SWR Summer Festival in Stuttgart’s Schlossplatz square, acting as a general service provider and technical partner for the entire production. The square in front of the Neues Schloss (“New Palace”) turns into a multi-day festival space with evening concerts, shows, and programming by the public service broadcaster SWR – including  the ARD Family Day, live acts, and a broad mix of entertainment for a very heterogeneous audience.

The POOLcrew ensure that this city center setting operates reliably from a technical, logistical, and safety perspective.

The SWR Summer Festival engages the audience, showcases programs, and delivers live entertainment:

• during the day, it is a public festival mile with activities, promotions, and opportunities for audience interaction,
• in the evening, there are large-scale shows, concerts, and TV-related formats performed against the backdrop of the Neues Schloss.

The goal is to deliver an inviting, family-friendly event that showcases the SWR brand, brings its public service mission to life, and delivers professional, festival‑grade production standards throughout – from the main stage to the smallest corner of the site.

The combination of a city center location, strict safety requirements, and a broadcast-driven lineup makes this event distinctive:

• a downtown venue with limited space, local residents to consider, heavy traffic flows, and tight constraints,
• simultaneous activities on both the main stage and festival mile,
• high volumes of visitors with very different profiles – from families attending the ARD Family Day to music fans at the evening concerts,
• and the challenge of managing all aspects of an ongoing event – technology, infrastructure, safety, and public spaces – over several days.

This requires a partner who doesn’t just organize planning, technology, staging, logistics, and safety as separate entities, but treats them as a coherent whole.

As a general service provider, POOLgroup is responsible for the overall management and project coordination of all technical and infrastructure trades for the SWR Summer Festival.

Key service modules include:

SWR Summer Festival services

• Safety, infrastructure & approvals
  Developing safety, infrastructure, and approval plans in close cooperation with SWR and the City of Stuttgart – including ground plans, emergency routes, hygiene and health measures, as well as technical contributions to the safety plan.
• Comprehensive technical planning
  Planning all relevant trades – lighting, audio, video, rigging, energy and water supply – including thought-out visitor guidance and backstage and supply routes. Initial ideas and detailed plans lay the groundwork for set-up, operation, and dismantling.
• Stage and set design
  Design of the main stage and other areas in front of the Neues Schloss, tailored to the program while maximizing visual impact and sight lines – with an arrangement that works in daylight and delivers broadcast-quality images in the evening.
• Signal distribution & redundancy
  Design of signal paths and redundant transmission systems for audio, video, and control signals to ensure festival operations continue even if individual components fail.
• Event direction & stage management
  Event direction, show calling, and stage management every day: Coordinating the lineup, set changes, artist handovers, and technical cues to perfectly align the live running order, the needs of the broadcaster, and audience experience.
• Event technology & infrastructure operations
  Technical delivery of audio engineering, lighting, rigging, stage automation, media technology, and IT, supported by event infrastructure such as set and exhibition construction, temporary buildings, and logistical solutions to material and personnel flows.
• 24/7 operation and support
  Round the clock technical support, safety monitoring, and live support ensures that the festival mile, evening lineup, and infrastructure operate flawlessly during the entire event – from the first cable bridge to the last show finale.

For visitors, the SWR Summer Festival is a public celebration with a straightforward artistic direction:

• a lively festival mile during the day,
• in the evening, intense concert and show experiences in front of an iconic backdrop,
• with clear pathways throughout, good sightlines and sound coverage, and a sense of safety even when busy.

At the forefront is a seamless, professionally delivered festival, with the technical complexities kept backstage.

Since the 2011 Summer Festival, SWR has relied on POOLgroup and a team that now knows every detail of the event: From the layout of Schlossplatz to the requirements of the authorities as well as the workflows involved in the festival mile, main stage, and ARD Family Day.

Our long-term collaboration means the festival can be continuously developed without losing its stable foundations:
New ideas for the lineup and additional event formats can be woven into the established safety, technical, and infrastructure frameworks instead of being built from scratch each year.

Today, the SWR Summer Festival exemplifies how a public service broadcasting brand, a city center festival, and professional event production can be successfully integrated – with the POOLcrew as the trusted general service provider behind the scenes.