Germany, the nation of culture without money for culture?

2024-12-13 08:20:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Theaters, museums and orchestras in Germany are financed by public funds. Now you have to save a lot. Creativity is required - not only in Berlin. Especially in rural areas, culture plays an important role.

Culture is important in Germany - many would agree with that. But this conviction wavers for those who see heated debates in Berlin these days about the funding of theaters and orchestras, cinema, ballet and literary events: budgets are expected to shrink by up to twelve percent. This affects both traditional institutions and the independent scene. The reason: The Land of Berlin needs to save. "The golden times of culture are over," states the German Cultural Council, the umbrella organization of German cultural associations.

Up and down the country the same picture: more and more municipalities, counties and states face financial difficulties. Even the federation, as an important financier, must be careful. After the dissolution of the SPD, Green and FDP government, the federation is left without a budget for 2025. Uncertain times for culture: what should cultural managers expect?

The money from the federation is dwindling

In Germany, the financing of culture is mainly done by state funds - unlike, for example, Great Britain or the USA, where a large part is financed by tycoons, donors and sponsors.

Until recently, the funding of culture in Germany was going well. According to the report for the year 2022 of the Federal Statistics Agency for the financing of culture, public spending on culture in the last ten years knew only one direction: climbing. They rose from €9.3 billion in 2010 to €14.5 billion in 2020. But those times are over.

"Berlin is poor, but sexy" - the slogan of the former mayor of Berlin Klaus Wowereit today sounds like a mockery in the ears of many creators: the Senate, led by the Christian Democrats, is cutting the budget by three billion euros, and only spending on culture is reduced by 130 million euros. What about the cultural scene? She reacts in horror: Critics speak of "harsh cuts" to "zero shearing". The cultural world is on the offensive against these decisions.

Cultural sectors and institutions are affected in different ways. The Berliner Schaubühne, for example, which is a GmbH (cut 1.8 million euros, without compensation for the increase in fees) fears bankruptcy in 2025. The Berliner Ensemble Theater, one of Berlin's most popular theaters, (cut 1.75 million euro ) is forced to reduce performances. The Volksbühne (2 million cut) is afraid that it will lose the opportunity to show theater, as well as the youth theater Grips (300,000 euros), the theater for children and young people, the Theater an der Parkaue (800,000 euros) and the Deutsches Theater (with a cut of three million).

Also on the list of cuts are the Konzerthaus on the Gendarmenmarkt (1.8 million euros), the Friedrichstadt-Palast (1.6 million euros), the Berlin cinemas (3.5 million euros), the Berlin literary houses (450,000 euros) and many others. The Senate is also interrupting the restoration of the Comic Opera (cut: 10 million euros).

An entrepreneurial mindset is required

Is Berlin thus losing its international charisma? Will the city, once divided, then reunited, as one theater director publicly asked, turn into a "cultural dwarf" or a "soulless and withered metropolis"? Due to the economic and financial situation and - as a result - the decline in cultural investments, Dorothea Gregor, culture expert at the Liz Mohn foundation, sees the German theater and cultural landscape facing "a major structural change".

However, many theaters "take it as a matter of course that the money will continue to flow as it has been until now". Artistic directors don't think enough: "How can I run my theater more efficiently and still deliver high quality?" To open up new funding opportunities, an entrepreneurial spirit is required, Gregor tells DW.

A place where society comes together: Theater is not just the stages

On the other hand, Lutz Hillmann, director of the German-Sorb People's Theater in Bautzen in the state of Saxony, at the same time the president of the German Stage Society of this state, desperately follows the debate about cuts in Berlin. Even in the state of Saxony, where culture is financed with the so-called "cultural spaces" through a tax, the budgetary situation in many places is critical - with serious consequences for the cultural landscape of museums, theaters and orchestras. According to Hillmann, theaters in Zwickau, Freiberg, Annaberg-Buchholz, Gërlitz/Zittau and even in Chemnitz fear for their existence.

"What is the importance of art and culture?" asks Hillmann. "If the politicians decide that culture is not so important in the context of all the tasks of the federation, the cities and the municipalities, then this will have its impact." Theaters and orchestras, for example, no longer fulfill only their traditional duties, such as performances in a permanent location.

"We are social meeting places, we work with children and youth, we go out into the field, we create networks". Because it is precisely in rural areas that cultural offers are extremely important. "If we do not take this into account", warns Hillmann, "we will have results even more disastrous in the elections, because people become more and more dissatisfied".

Democratic discourses

Olaf Zimmermann, managing director of the German Cultural Council, shares the same opinion. "Right now there is an urgent need for cultural environments to address current issues, to provide platforms for democratic discourse, to stimulate reflection or simply to create cohesion," Zimmermann writes in the current issue of the association's "Culture and Politics" publication. .

"Cuts in institutions will also have an impact on the independent scene and the cultural and creative industry", warns the association. Whether in Cologne or Dresden, in many countries there is a risk of cutting the budget for culture, which goes to the core. But despite the reduced budgets, important projects should not be left aside, such as minimum fees for artists, digitalization or even the sustainability of the culture sector."

Distancing culture and politics

Dorothea Gregor from the Liz Mohn Foundation finds communication deficits between cultural institutions and their donors, even a real "distance". Especially now it is important, that both sides sit down at the table and discuss the next steps as equals. We are in the same boat - says Gregor, - there is no one, not even in Berlin, who says that we no longer need culture".

And what do people expect from culture? According to the "Culture Relevance Monitor" from the Liz Mohn Center of the Bertelsmann Foundation, a large majority (91 percent) of people in Germany want cultural offerings in theaters, for example, to be preserved for future generations, because they are part of the identity of their cultural (82 percent). Three quarters of respondents are of the opinion that cultural offerings should continue to be supported with public funds. Nowhere in the world, says Dorothea Gregor, do you find more theatres, orchestras and operas for spirit than in Germany. This has historical reasons. "When I go to the theater," she says, "it's the best way to see the tax money I've paid"./ DW