Bernd Schweinar has been the managing director of the Verband für Popkultur in Bayern e.V. (VPBy) for over three decades. In the beginning, it was a musicians' self-help association that first had to fight for its eligibility for funding. Today, the VPBy is institutionally funded by the state of Bavaria with € 690,000 (2023).

In the meantime, the network has grown to almost 200 of almost all well-known Bavarian clubs and festival stages, music and cultural initiatives, etc. The VPBy got a special boost from his crisis management during Corona, where Schweinar initiated the "Bavarian cultural rescue umbrella" with the Minister President.

Since 2011, he has also been the artistic director of the Bavarian Music Academy at Alteglofsheim Castle.