Open letter from the Bühnenverein Landesverband Berlin: Protecting Berlin’s culture in the budget crisis

“Dear Mr Mayor Wegner, dear Senator Evers, dear Senator Chialo,

at an information event on 19 September 2024, you explained to representatives of all cultural sectors the budgetary emergency facing the state of Berlin and the necessary and drastic savings requirements in 2025 and 2026, including for the cultural budget. A savings volume of 110 to 150 million euros or more for 2025 and a similar amount again for 2026 are on the cards.

Image above: by courtesy of Deutsche Oper, photo: Frank Lehmann

Savings of this magnitude would be tantamount to a clear cut for culture in Berlin:

The institutionally funded opera houses, concert halls and theatres would be forced to reduce the already planned and contractually agreed production and performance schedule as far as possible. With high fixed costs for staff and building maintenance, the only budgetary leeway is in the artistic programme. The impact on the city’s cultural programme would be drastic – the 29 member companies of the Bühnenverein alone reach around 3 million visitors a year.

Companies organised under private law were threatened with insolvency.

Cuts in project-related funding would affect the most vulnerable areas of the independent scene and the performing arts, literature, visual arts, dance and cultural education.

Important institutions in the independent scene, clubs, literature and the visual arts would be threatened with closure due to a lack of co-operation.

The ‘cultural workplace’ would be directly and extensively threatened by redundancies and many people losing their jobs. After all, 8.2% of the labour force in Berlin alone works in the cultural sector.

The cultural offering would be a fraction of what it is now. As a result, spaces for social interaction and encounters, social dialogue, cultural and political education, places for leisure and cultural enjoyment would disappear.

The indirect profitability associated with the cultural sector would fall massively. Economic sectors such as the hotel and catering industry, tourism, local transport, retail etc. would suffer severe losses.

The high international presence of Berlin culture through guest performances and collaborations all over the world would disappear. The international cultural scene, which comes to Berlin through many festivals and collaborations, would stay away from the city.

The diversity, excellence, strength and innovative capacity of culture in Berlin would be weakened or disappear. Berlin’s international appeal, which attracts many to our city and makes it such an attractive place to live, would fade.

The cuts that are being discussed do not set the course for the future of culture in terms of budgetary policy. With these plans, culture would hit the wall with full force.

As an association of opera houses and concert halls, orchestras, spoken theatre, revues and cabaret in Berlin, we call on the Senate to focus on the social and economic importance of culture in the upcoming consultations on consolidating the state budget as a whole. The savings achieved in the city’s smallest departmental budget are blatantly disproportionate to the immense damage that will be paid for decades to come. We appeal to you: Don’t cut Berlin’s culture. Berlin lives from culture. Culture forms society and creates quality of life. It is Berlin’s decisive location factor. It shapes Berlin’s image, especially in comparison with other German and international metropolises.

The Bühnenverein stands in solidarity with all areas of culture in Berlin. We do not allow ourselves to be driven into distribution battles. Berlin needs the diversity of culture, Berlin benefits from the reciprocal impulses of the various cultural sectors. This makes the city rich and fit for the future. Every euro spent on culture is an investment that pays off many times over. Ideally, socially and economically.

The petition can be signed at:
https://weact.campact.de/p/berliner-kultur-retten

Bühnenverein Landesverband Berlin
For the Executive Board Thomas Fehrle, Christina Schulz, Karin Bares and Tobias Veit
25 September 2024

The following supporters have joined the Bühnenverein’s open letter: Daniel Barenboim, Karin Bares, Janina Benduski, BBK, Philip Bröking, Yvonne Büdenhölzer, Frank Castorf, Annette Dasch, Justin Doyle, Lars Eidinger, Didier Eribon, Silvia Fehrmann, Joachim Flicker, James Gaffigan, Antonia Gersch, Fritzi Haberlandt, Philipp Harpain, Jörg Hartmann, Evelyn Marie Henrion, Evelyn Herlitzius, Jens Hillje, Jacob Höhne, Nina Hoss, Vladimir Jurowski, Ulrich Khuon, Burghardt Klaußner, Barrie Kosky, Kurt Krömer, Nina Kunzendorf, LAFT Berlin, Geoffroy de Lagasnerie, Ursina Lardi, lris Laufenberg, Gijs Leenaars, Carolin and Frank Lüdecke, Joana Mallwitz, Ulrich Matthes, Joachim Meyerhoff, Susanne Moser, Martin Muehle, Celina Nicolay, Andrea Niederbuchner, Sebastian Nordmann, Camilla Nylund, Thomas Ostermeier, Matthias Pees, Caroline Peters, Kirill Petrenko, Anke Politz, Sir Simon Rattle, Milo Rau, Oliver Reese, Anselm Rose, Sir Donald Runnicles, Jochen Sandig, Peter Sauerbaum, Berndt Schmidt, Anna Schudt, Torben Schumacher, Katharina Schüttler, Dietmar Schwarz, Elisabeth Sobotka, Doris Soffel, Evangelia Sonntag, Christian Spuck, Michael Thalheimer, Christian Thielemann, Robin Ticciati, Annemie Vanackere, GdBA, Georg Vierthaler, Rolando Villazón, Lars Vogel, Marius von Mayenburg, Sasha Waltz, Mark Waschke, Jossi Wieler, Angela Winkler, Martin Woelffer, Maja Zade, Andrea Zietzschmann