Can Germany still pay for arts funding?

Germany has long been admired for its generous public subsidies for arts and culture. Budget cuts could mean an end to that.

Germany likes to promote itself as a nation of culture. But that image is at odds with plans by the cash-strapped state of Berlin to cut arts funding by 12%.

The cuts would affect both world-renowned institutions and independent organizations in the areas of theater, orchestra, cinemas, dance and literature.

The German Culture Council, the umbrella organization for arts associations, has declared that "the golden age for culture is over."

It's a similar situation across the country: More and more municipalities and federal states face financial difficulties. The federal government, an important source of funding, is also holding back. Following the collapse of the coalition government of the Social Democrats, Greens and Free Democrats, the federal government has no budget for 2025. These are uncertain times for the arts. So what can arts managers expect?

Less money from the federal government

Until recently, things looked good for arts funding in Germany.

According to the Federal Statistical Office's Cultural Finance Report for 2022, public expenditure has only gone in one direction in recent years: upward. It climbed from €9.3 billion in 2010 to €14.5 billion in 2020, an increase of 55.1%. It will be interesting to see the new figures, which will be published in December 2024.

"Berlin is poor, but sexy" — the aughties-era slogan by former Mayor Klaus Wowereit today sounds like a mockery to the ears of many arts professionals: The Christian Democrat-led Berlin Senate is cutting its budget by €3 billion, with arts spending alone falling by €130 million.

The cultural scene is reacting with horror: The criticism ranges from "harsh cuts" to "clear-cutting." Artists and organizations are up in arms, and culture workers recently mounted a large demonstration at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.

Long list of cuts in Berlin

The cuts are affecting cultural sectors and institutions differently.

Berlin's Schaubühne theater, which faces cuts of €1.8 million, with no compensation for wage increases, fears that it will go bankrupt before 2025, being a limited liability company.

The Berliner Ensemble, facing a cut of €1.75 million, will have to cancel productions. The Volksbühne, which could lose €2 million, fears for its ability to perform; as does the Grips youth theater, set to see its budget cut by €300,000; the Theater an der Parkaue for children and youth, which faces a loss of €800,000; and the Deutsches Theater, where a €3 million cut is expected.

Also on the cut list are the Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt, at €1.8 million; the Friedrichstadt-Palast, facing a €1.6 million drop; Berlin cinemas, with a €3.5 million cut projected; the capital's literature houses, at €450,000, and many other institutions. The senate is also stopping the ongoing refurbishment of the Komische Oper (€10 million).

Economic thinking needed

Will this blood-letting cause Berlin to lose its international appeal? Will the once-divided, then reunited city become, as one theater director publicly asked, a "cultural dwarf," even a "soulless shrinking metropolis"?

In view of the economic and financial situation and the resulting drop in arts funding, Dorothea Gregor, cultural expert at the Liz Mohn Foundation, told DW that German theaters and cultural institutions facing "a huge structural change."

Gregor said many theaters "take it too much for granted that money will continue to flow as before," and added that artistic directors need to figure out how they can run their theaters more efficiently while still delivering top quality. She said entrepreneurial thinking was required, including when it comes to finding new funding options.

The value of arts and culture

Lutz Hillmann is director of the Deutsch-Sorbisches Volkstheater in Bautzen, Saxony, and the state chairman of the German Stage Association. He observes the debate over cuts in Berlin with a certain helplessness. The state of Saxony also faces a critical budget situation, with serious consequences for the cultural landscape of museums, theaters and orchestras. Hillmann says the theaters in Zwickau, Freiberg, Annaberg-Buchholz, Görlitz-Zittau and even Chemnitz — which will be a European Capital of Culture in 2025 — fear for their existence.

"What value do art and culture have?" Hillmann said. "If politicians decide that the arts are not so important in the context of all the federal, state, city and municipal tasks, then that will have an effect!" Theaters and orchestras, for example, have long since ceased to fulfill only traditional functions such as performances in a permanent venue. "We are social meeting places, we do work with children and young people, we go out into the public arena, we network." He emphasizes that cultural offerings are particularly important in rural areas. "If we don't keep this in mind," warns Hillmann, "we will have even more disastrous election results because people will become increasingly dissatisfied."

Democratic discourse

Olaf Zimmermann, managing director of the German Cultural Council, takes the same line. "Right now, cultural venues are urgently needed to debate current issues, to offer places for democratic discourse, to stimulate reflection or simply to create cohesion," Zimmermann wrote in the most recent issue of the association's publication.

"Cuts to institutions will also have an impact on the independent scene and the arts and creative industries," the association warns. From Cologne to Dresden, there is a threat of cuts to arts budgets that will be deeply felt. He warns that tight budgets must not signal the end of important projects such as introducing minimum pay for artists, digitization or improving the environmental sustainability of the arts sector.

Arts and culture alienated from each other

Gregor, from the Liz Mohn Foundation, said there was a lack of communication between cultural institutions and their donors, even a downright "alienation." She said it was important for both sides to sit down together 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 we no longer need the arts!"

According to the Cultural Relevance Monitor conducted by the Bertelsmann Foundation's Liz Mohn Center, 91% of people in Germany want arts offerings, such as theaters, to be preserved for future generations because they are part of the country's cultural identity. Three-quarters of respondents were also of the opinion that arts offerings should continue to be supported with public funds. Nowhere in the world, said Gregor, who is responsible for the Relevance Monitor, is the density of theaters, orchestras and opera houses higher than in Germany. "When I go to the theater," she said, "it's the best way to see my tax money at work."

This article was originally written in German