Klaus-Kuhnke-Institute

The Klaus Kuhnke Institute (KKI) for Popular Music is both an archive and a research centre. It has been an institute at the Bremen University of the Arts since 1992.

It was founded in 1975 by the three Radio Bremen employees Klaus Kuhnke, Manfred Miller and Peter Schulze as a non-profit limited company and initially operated under the name "Archive for Popular Music". It was the first archive of its kind in Germany and developed into one of the most important jazz and pop archives in Europe.

After Klaus Kuhnke's tragic death in an accident in 1988, it was renamed the "Klaus Kuhnke Archive for Popular Music". In 1991 it moved from the Viertel to the premises of the University of the Arts Bremen (Dechanatstrasse 13–15). A year later it was declared an institute of the HfK Bremen by the senatorial authority, but kept its name "Klaus-Kuhnke-Archiv für Populäre Musik" for the following 30 years.

In 2022, there was a generational change in the management. Since then, it has been called the "Klaus Kuhnke Institute for Popular Music" and is increasingly dedicated to its own research activities in addition to archival work.

Students and lecturers at HfK Bremen can use the extensive archive holdings free of charge. The diverse materials (sound carriers, books, journals, etc.) are also accessible to external users, but for a small fee.

Montag–Freitag: 9:30–16:30 Uhr

Klaus Kuhnke Institute for Popular Music
University of the Arts Bremen
Dechanatstraße 13–15
28195 Bremen

Institute Director & Contact Person: Nico Thom