With the agreement reached by the coalition leaders on November 19, 2024, it was announced that the cultural budget is to be cut by €130 million. The Senate decision and the final cuts will only be announced next week. Berlin's cultural professionals are currently very worried about how the planned cuts to the cultural budget will be implemented and there is not much time left.
Consolidation lists have been circulating since the press conference on Tuesday. Looking at the approach of Tanzbüro Berlin (sponsoring organisation: Zeitgenössischer Tanz Berlin e.V.), it is striking: €350,000 is to be cut in the sub-appropriation, which exclusively comprises the funding of the Tanzbüro, but the said sub-appropriation, i.e. the grant to the Tanzbüro, only comprises €170,000. At the same time, €170,000 is to be cut from the Dance Round Table, a participatory process from which a sustainable development plan for the dance sector, which is marginalised in terms of funding, has emerged.
For us, this means that all scenarios are possible, even the complete cancellation of Tanzbüro Berlin can no longer be ruled out at this point in time. The cancellation of Tanzbüro would be a drastic cut in Berlin's dance landscape. As the operator of the information portal tanzraumberlin.de, Tanzbüro provides essential information on dance, both for professional dance professionals and interested audiences. With the venue network, the Tanzcard discount card and the tanzraumberlin magazine, the work of the Tanzbüro contributes significantly to the bundled visualisation of Berlin's diverse decentralised dance offerings and is in close contact with the audience. And last but not least, it would be a weakening of the Berlin dance scene and its artists if they were deprived of the advice and workshops offered by the Tanzbüro, the mediation of their needs and the accompanying work to improve their production conditions.
Tanzbüro Berlin has been the central point of contact for the Berlin dance scene in matters of professional work since 2005 and is available to provide advice and support. We want to celebrate our 20th anniversary in 2025. We don't envisage this as a pompous celebration with champagne and canapés - that wouldn't be our style. Instead, we want to support a scene with all the expertise that we have been able to gather in recent years and that will be so much needed in the coming times of crisis.
By the time the official lists are published, it could already be too late. To err is human: we very much hope that this is a typing error in the list. The loss of the Tanzbüro would not only mean the loss of six staff positions, but would also be a serious loss for Berlin dance - once lost, it never comes back.
Concerned greetings
Marie Henrion and Antonia Gersch
Head and Co-Head of Tanzbüro (working at Tanzbüro since 2016 and 2018)
Contact: postnoSpam@tanzbuero-berlin.de | +49 30 460 643 51/-53