The Council for the Arts calls on the Governing Mayor and the Berlin Senate to reconsider the planned redistribution of funding at the expense of urban practice. A transparent dialog with the cultural scene is necessary to ensure sustainable and fair cultural funding!
In the final weeks of 2024, Berlin's entire cultural landscape was dominated by the internationally acclaimed debate about the cuts to the cultural budget, which revealed a serious lack of planning, dialog and transparency. The remarkable result is that many cuts are now proving to be impractical, uneconomical, in breach of contract and destructive. Another key problem is that the cuts were decided before expert discussions were held with the affected institutions and cultural professionals. In addition, this flawed process has considerably shaken confidence in a planned and sensible cultural policy.
Bad for culture, bad for democracy!
Unfortunately, this approach is continuing in the new year. The chaos of cuts continues without a plan: the Berlin Project Fund for Urban Practice is to be suspended in 2025 and its funds will instead flow into the almost canceled Youth Culture Initiative. In 2020, the Berlin Council for the Arts initiated the Draussenstadt program and thus the Berlin Project Fund for Urban Practice. However, this reallocation of funds means that the youth culture initiative can only operate for six months. In the second half of 2025, the cultural institutions permanently supported by the program will be able to draw on funding from the Berlin Project Fund for Cultural Education.
This is very worrying news for the Council, which played a key role in establishing the Cultural Education Project Fund in 2008. The planned redistribution calls into question both the future of cultural urban development and the sustainable promotion of cultural participation in Berlin, and established funding structures are in danger of disappearing.
Important role of the Urban Practice Project Fund
In recent years, the Urban Practice Project Fund has made a decisive contribution to facilitating innovative projects and artistic interventions in Berlin's urban space. The project fund is an essential instrument for promoting decentralized cultural work, cultural participation and the innovative design of public spaces. Its abolition represents a step backwards - not only for art and culture, but also for the vision of a sustainable city that can meet the challenges of climate change, social inequality and the post-pandemic reality. By providing targeted support for projects that promote the art of city-making, participation and cross-departmental dialog between politics, administration and civil society, the fund is a driver of cultural urban development. Its abolition not only jeopardizes important structures, but also the diversity of Berlin's cultural landscape and social cohesion.
Shifting funds: opportunities and challenges
The Council for the Arts generally welcomes the increased funding of youth culture, as young people urgently need spaces and resources to develop their creative potential. However, the planned redistribution at the expense of urban practice poses a dilemma: Pitting different cultural funding areas and stakeholder groups against each other contradicts the basic idea of a holistic, inclusive cultural policy and democratic ethics.
What does this mean for cultural urban development?
The decision marks a paradigm shift in Berlin's cultural policy: away from the broad and inclusive promotion of urban culture by various actors, including the independent scene, towards the institutionalization and linking of independent funding to large cultural institutions. A forward-looking and sustainable cultural policy should strengthen both areas and create synergies instead of playing them off against each other.
Berlin needs a culture of the future
Berlin's future lies in an urban development based on cultural participation, social justice and sustainable innovation. The Council for the Arts appeals to those responsible to find solutions together with the cultural scene so as not to jeopardize this future.
Appeal to politicians
The Council for the Arts calls on the Governing Mayor and the Berlin Senate to critically reconsider the decision on the planned redistribution of funding at the expense of urban practice. A transparent dialog with the entire cultural scene is needed to ensure sustainable, balanced cultural development planning.
Berlin must remain a role model for innovative and inclusive cultural policy - for the city and far beyond!
For the Rat für die Künste Berlin
Franziska Werner, Sabine Kroner, Daniel Neugebauer und Oliver Baurhenn - Speakers