In a move that has sent shockwaves through Berlin’s vibrant arts community, the city government has unveiled plans for a staggering €130 million cut to its cultural budget. The proposed 12-13% reduction in annual arts funding has been met with fierce opposition from the city’s leading cultural institutions, who warn it will have devastating consequences for Berlin’s creative ecosystem.
Arts Institutions Unite Against “Brutal” Cuts
Decrying the cuts as “drastic and brutal,” an alliance of around 450 arts organizations that rely on state subsidies – from theatres and opera houses to nightclubs and galleries – has banded together under the banner “Berlin Is Culture” (#BerlinIstKultur) to demand a reversal. In an impassioned appeal to the city’s Christian Democrat-led (CDU) government, the group cautions that the savage budget slash will unleash a wave of “drastic programme cuts, layoffs and closures” that imperils not only jobs but “diversity, excellence, resilience and social cohesion.”
Theatres Sound the Alarm
Among the most vocal critics is Thomas Ostermeier, the celebrated artistic director of the Schaubühne theatre. Renowned worldwide for its bold, boundary-pushing productions, the Schaubühne now faces the gut-wrenching prospect of shuttering its experimental Studio stage and even potential insolvency by the end of 2025. “The cuts will permanently destroy Berlin’s cultural infrastructure,” Ostermeier warns, arguing they will “open up a new chapter” in which culture plays an ever-diminishing role in the city’s life.
If you destroy that, you are destroying even more than the culture. You are also destroying tourism, and the attractiveness for certain commercial companies to settle in this city is also reduced.
Thomas Ostermeier, Artistic Director of the Schaubühne theatre
Over at the storied Berliner Ensemble, spiritual home of playwright heavyweights Bertolt Brecht and Heiner Müller, director Oliver Reese paints an equally grim picture. Already, the theatre is scrapping five to six productions slated for the coming seasons. “In the end,” Reese laments, “there will simply be less new art.”
Culture as Democratic Pillar
For many, the cuts represent more than a financial blow – they strike at the heart of Germany’s postwar tradition of heavily subsidized theatre, conceived as a democratic bulwark to ensure the broadest possible public access to the arts. Actor Ulrich Matthes, who portrayed Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels in the film Downfall, insists this model is the envy of the world and vital to fortifying democracy, especially as far-right populism gains ground.
It is an incredible democratic achievement that the state, the cities, the country, subsidise [German theatre]… All these places where people come together and feel and think together are important, especially at a time when the [far-right populist] AfD [Alternative for Germany party] is constantly nibbling at culture with the aim of assimilating it at some point.
Ulrich Matthes, German actor
Omen of Nationwide Austerity?
While Berlin’s senator for culture, Joe Chialo, has vowed to fight to cushion the impact of what he himself has branded “drastic and brutal” cuts, seasoned observers fear the capital’s crisis could foreshadow a wider reckoning for arts funding across Germany. Many speculate Chialo is poised to become the country’s next minister of state for culture if, as surveys suggest, the CDU triumphs in next year’s federal election – portending potential belt-tightening on a national scale.
As artists and arts lovers gear up for a major protest march from Berlin’s city hall to the iconic Brandenburg Gate, the question reverberating through the city’s cultural circles is just how deep the wounds inflicted by the budget ax will run – and whether Berlin’s fabled arts scene can weather the storm without sacrificing the very qualities that have made it a global creative mecca.
