Arts Centre
View of the SG Arts Centre – Halle 1 (centre) and the Schloss Mentin main building (right), from the outdoor area where the future open-air stage will be built. © Something Great, 2025
Schloss Mentin back facade with SG Arts Centre banners hanged for the guest performance “This resting, patience” by Ewa Dziarnowsla quoting Dionne Warwick song lyrics "What the World Needs Now is Love" / "Not just for some but for everyone", August 2025 © Something Great
Schloss Mentin back facade with SG Arts Centre banners hanged for the guest performance “This resting, patience” by Ewa Dziarnowsla quoting Dionne Warwick song lyrics "What the World Needs Now is Love" / "Not just for some but for everyone", August 2025 © Something Great
About
In 2022, Something Great founded the SG Arts Centre, an international arts centre at Schloss Mentin in the Ruhner Berge, a rural municipality located about 20 minutes from Parchim and 1.5 hours driving distance from both Berlin and Hamburg. Its venues are housed within the estate’s vast complex of former agricultural buildings, including its old barns, stables, distillery, workshops, and guest accomodation buildings. Some of these spaces have been repurposed and are already in use, while others are still to be renovated and are planned to open gradually to the public between summer 2026 and 2030.Development
The transformation of the Schloss Mentin outbuildings into spaces for the SG Arts Centre began with the conversion of Halle 1, a former 500-square-metre barn, into a rehearsal studio and multipurpose venue that includes a temporary bar and cafeteria during public events. Since then, Halle 1 has been the centre’s main space for artist residencies in spring and summer and for programme activities that occasionally extend outdoors and into the main building of Schloss Mentin, which had been closed to the public for more than twenty years. A former staff house now functions as the centre’s guest house for resident and visiting cultural professionals, with additional guest accommodation arranged in the village when needed.
Between 2026 and 2030, further outbuildings of the estate will be renovated and opened in phases, along with additional accommodation for resident artists, cultural professionals, and visitors. When this work is complete, the centre will be able to host up to 30 people on site. Extra guest rooms in the main Schloss Mentin building — which will not be managed by the centre — may be available for larger events of the centre, extending the total accommodation capacity to around 90–100 people. Hotels in nearby Parchim will provide further capacity when required.
The diagrams below show our current and future facilities. An interactive Google Earth map will be available soon for a detailed view of the spaces in use and those under development.
1 – SG Arts Centre Halle 1: Performing arts studio and multipurpose venue (operational since 2022); pop-up cafeteria during events; full cafeteria opening summer 2027 / 2 – SG Arts Centre Open Air Stage: Outdoor stage (opening summer 2026) / 3 – SG Arts Centre Galleries: Exhibition spaces for visual and time-based arts (opening summer 2028) / 4 – SG Arts Centre Workshops: Flexible workspaces (opening summer 2028) / 5 – SG Arts Centre Halle 2: Future main venue (opening 2030)
1 – SG Arts Centre Yellow Guest Houses: One guest house operational since 2022; two additional guest houses becoming accessible between 2026 and 2028 / 2 – SG Distillery Guest Rooms: Twelve guest rooms with private bathrooms (opening summer 2027) / 3 – SG Workshops Guest Rooms: Five guest rooms with private bathrooms (opening summer 2029) / 4 – Schloss Mentin: Additional guest rooms available when not used by the training facility
Timeline
Open-air stage construction
New Guest House renovation (additional accommodation for visiting artists)
Summer 2026
Open-air stage inauguration
Winter –Spring 2027
Halle 1 upgrades: access, bathrooms, cafeteria kitchenette
Distillery: completion of renovations - 12 guest rooms
Summer 2027
Reopening of Halle 1 with cafeteria
Opening of the Distillery Guest House
Winter – Spring 2028
Renovation of the Workshops Building
Renovation of the Galleries Building
Summer 2028
Opening of the Galleries & Workshops Buildings
Winter 2028–Spring 2029
Beginning of the renovations at Halle 2 (future main venue)
Renovations of Workshops Guest Rooms
Summer 2029
Opening of Workshops Guest Rooms
Ongoing renovations at Halle 2
Summer 2030
Opening of Halle 2 (future main venue)
Programmes
Residencies
We welcome artists and cultural professionals for temporary residencies at the SG Arts Centre, giving them the time and space they need to develop their work. Open studios or informal public events may be organised in connection with a residency, but the focus of our program is to provide space for artistic research, creation, and professional exchange. Public openings are only held when residents choose to host them and are never a prerequisite for a residency at the SG Arts Centre.
Community
Our community programmes create opportunities for people to connect with the arts and with each other. They include artistic education activities like workshops, community gatherings such as seasonal bonfires, and projects that bring international artists and local residents together. In a municipality and region with limited cultural infrastructure and few social meeting spaces, these programmes aim to strengthen cultural offerings and expand opportunities for people to meet, facilitating community life and cultural exchange.
Public Events
While the SG Arts Centre’s spaces are still gradually opening to the public, we occasionally organise public events. These range from open studios to guest performances. As more spaces open in the coming years, our public programme will grow to include larger events such as festivals and exhibitions.
Throughout the year we work closely with our associate artists. We offer workspace when needed and present their work at the centre from time to time, but our collaboration goes much further. We manage, coproduce, and tour their productions, bringing their work to audiences both nationally and internationally.
Through our radio shows we take our centre’s programming beyond our walls and into the airwaves. Each episode shares a commissioned mix by a music artist and hosts informal conversations with guests from the arts and culture sector that offer deeper insight into their work, their projects, and the thinking behind them.
Associate Artists
Throughout the year we work closely with our associate artists. We offer workspace when needed and present their work at the centre from time to time, but our collaboration goes much further. We manage, coproduce, and tour their productions, bringing their work to audiences both nationally and internationally.
Learn more about our associate artists in our homepage.
See upcoming tour dates.
See upcoming tour dates.
Radio
Through our radio shows we take our centre’s programming beyond our walls and into the airwaves. Each episode shares a commissioned mix by a music artist and hosts informal conversations with guests from the arts and culture sector that offer deeper insight into their work, their projects, and the thinking behind them.
Background
Schloss Mentin
Schloss Mentin and its estate have a history dating back to 1338. The current neo-Baroque manor, built in 1912, replaced an earlier Ritterhaus. Over the centuries, it served as a noble estate, craftsmanship centre, GDR-era children's home, and briefly, as an hotel. Later, it was renovated with ambitions of becoming a five-star resort, but the project was never completed, leaving the estate unused for a decade—until our arrival in 2022.
Know more
Ruhner Berge is a municipality of 14 villages in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. The construction of an highway in 1981 redirected traffic from what had been its strategic location along the former Hamburg-Berlin trade route, causing economic decline. In recent years, Ruhner Berge has focused on tourism, climate, and culture to revitalise the area.
Know more
View of the SG Arts Centre – Halle 1 (centre) and the Schloss Mentin main building (right), from the outdoor area where the future open-air stage will be built. © Something Great, 2025
Schloss Mentin back facade with SG Arts Centre banners hanged for the guest performance “This resting, patience” by Ewa Dziarnowsla quoting Dionne Warwick song lyrics "What the World Needs Now is Love" / "Not just for some but for everyone", August 2025 © Something Great