Berlin’s culture budget will be cut by 12 percent in 2025, resulting in a loss of close to €120 million (around $127 million USD) in funding for the German capital’s arts and entertainment sector, according to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA).
Announcing the budget slash last week, Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner said the decisions to cut funding from the cultural sector were “painful.”
“We now have to see—and I hope the theatres will do the same, also in discussions with our cultural institutions—how we can manage to work even more economically here,” Wegner told the DPA.
The cuts, which will downsize Berlin’s cultural funding budget to around €1.2 billion in 2025, will impact several cultural institutions throughout the city. The Berlin International Film Festival will have its public funding cut by half, renovations of the city’s Komische Oper opera hall will be halted indefinitely, and the Berliner Ensemble theatre company will be forced to cancel five shows, the DPA reports.
The budget cuts have also been met with frustration from the city’s nightlife industry. Berlin’s Club Commission organized a protest against the reduction in funding at Brandenburg Gate last week.
Announcing the demonstration on Instagram, the Club Commission wrote, “Reducing funding for culture is not only a cultural but also a financial mistake. These cuts would place a heavy burden on numerous cultural creators and institutions and would also damage Berlin’s reputation.”
Published earlier this month, a report from The Federal Association of Music Venues LiveKomm, a trade organization for independent venues in Germany, found that 55 percent of German clubs will need additional funding in the next twelve months to keep their current events running, while 43 percent of clubs expect their economic situation to worsen next year.
Earlier this year, two of Berlin’s most iconic nightlcubs, Renate and Watergate, announced that they will be forced to permanently close next year due to financial pressures and rent increases. In March 2024, Berlin techno was officially recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage.
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