Kuppel Basel begins a new chapter under joint leadership

Jo Vergeat has joined programme director Sandro Bernasconi in the joint leadership of Kuppel Basel. Vergeat took up the managing director role on 2 November, bringing a new partnership to a venue that combines a concert hall, rehearsal rooms and the electronic-focused Nest club.

Kuppel’s official team page lists Vergeat as managing director and Bernasconi as head of programming, both in co-leadership. Vergeat previously worked in cultural management and is a member of Basel-Stadt’s cantonal parliament. Bernasconi became Kuppel’s programme director in 2025 after working on the canton’s club and nightlife brief.

In an interview published by Basel outlet Bajour on 4 November, the two described a venue that wants to deepen its relationship with the local scene while connecting it to musicians from elsewhere in Switzerland and abroad. Bernasconi said programming priorities would continue to develop through dialogue with the music scene and partners. Vergeat identified reaching younger and more varied audiences as a challenge.

That ambition matters for the site as a whole. Kuppel’s main hall has space for up to 600 people, while Nest is a separate basement club with a capacity of up to 200. The complex also contains eight rehearsal rooms currently used by 14 local bands, according to the venue.

Nest’s programming gives the leadership change a direct connection to electronic culture. Its programme includes house, breakbeat, bass, trance and techno alongside other styles. In an earlier interview with electronic-music broadcaster sunshine live, Nest’s Betty Achterberg described an electronic focus and an emphasis on local artists, labels and collectives. The November leadership change does not itself announce a new musical direction for the club.

The venue’s history gives the handover another layer. The previous Kuppel closed in 2016; the rebuilt site reopened in October 2024 after an eight-year interruption. In Bajour’s interview, both leaders discussed the importance of creating continuity and making the venue a place where people can meet and feel at home.

For the city’s electronic community, the development to watch is how the new management’s stated openness to local collaboration translates into day-to-day support for artists and collectives. The current programme is evidence of what is already happening, while the longer-term plans remain ambitions rather than a newly announced schedule.