The Berlin Senate (the regional government of the Land of Berlin) announced on Tuesday November 19 its list of budget cuts for the year 2025. The city wants to save 3 billion euros on a current budget of 40 billion euros . The cultural scene is particularly affected as well as other sectors, health, education, social services, etc.
According to the CDU (Christian Democratic Union) and the SPD (Social Democratic Party), 130 million euros budget, or 12% of the current Culture budget (more than a billion euros, 6 times the Culture budget of the city of Paris) will be eliminated in subsidies to theaters, operas, museums, and independent stages financed by the Land of Berlin.
For the senator in charge of Culture, Joe Chialo (CDU), the game is not yet over. A discussion is underway between finance senator Stefan Evers (CDU) and Joe Chialo: “I am currently in discussion with the Senator of Culture to find out if we can organize aid to different cultural institutions through other forms of financing “. Which is a way of saying that there will indeed be massive cuts.
This drop in subsidies has significant repercussions for the city’s cultural institutions. “We are horrified that reductions in cultivation are now even greater than initially feared” is moved by Olivier Reese, director of the Berliner Ensemble in Taz.
Among the cultural venues affected, the New Society of Fine Arts (NGBK) must forgo 126,700 euros, the New Berliner Kunstverein (NBK) 120,000 euros and the Professional Association of Visual Artists Berlin 271,000 euros. The Kunst-Werke (KW Institute for Contemporary Art) will no longer receive subsidies of 256,800 euros, the Künstlerhaus Bethanien will have 148,900 euros less. Consequences which will be visible on the programming of museums, notably the elimination of free visits on Sundays.
Theaters are also affected with 300,000 euros less for Grips, which represents more than the total budget for a season, “a theater without new production is absurd” warns Philipp Harpain in der Berliner Morgenpost.
The Mayor and Governor of Berlin Kai Wegner (CDU), however, announced that he would look for new forms of subsidies in the field of culture. The idea would be to allow structures to be able to take out loans without going through the Land of Berlin.
