Preface
In 2024, after receiving standard funding from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media at a level of 10 million EUR, the Fonds had the ability for the first time to tender all newly developed funding programs agreed with the federal states and the federal government with the exception of research grants. As in years past, standard funding was augmented by the Global Village Kids programs in the context of the "Kultur macht stark" funding for cultural education.
In total, 266 projects were supported in six support programs in 2024; 732 formally correct grant applications were submitted. Given an application volume of approx. 24.7 million EUR in all programs, an actual grant total of 7.7 million EUR was realized. This is a grant funding rate of approx. 30%.
In addition to the funding figures, the following points from 2024 should be highlighted:
- The Fonds appointed a Young Jury for the first time.
- The Fonds published a new website for the Federal Theater Prize.
- The Fonds held approx. 1,500 consultations.
- The Fonds welcomed around 6,000 people to its events.
Film "BLICKWECHSEL“
The Fonds accompanied the evaluation of its Neustart grants with a new film: "BLICKWECHSEL“ by Janina Möbius is a documentary foray into the independent performing arts in many federal states and different genres. In contrast to the last film, "DENNOCH! – Zur Lage der Freien Künste“, which focused on the independent arts’ works during the pandemic, "BLICKWECHSEL“ shows multiple perspectives on the independent arts on the basis of different audiences. "BLICKWECHSEL“ is thus more of an observation of changing perspectives among audience members and seeks out successful participatory and co-creation processes as well as shared experiences – also in the face of changing cultural political aspects in a period of the freedom of art’s limitation due to rightist ideological limitations.
The film, which celebrated its premiere on May 25th at the HAU Hebbel am Ufer, has already been shown in 10 cities and has been available on the Fonds’ website since the fall of 2024. And in 2025, numerous institutions, production houses, the Goethe Institut and university institutes will also present the film and organize associated discussions. Events are planned in, among others, Dresden, Frankfurt, Essen, Dusseldorf, Leipzig, Hamburg, Berlin, Mexico City und Palermo in 2025.
Once again, the concept of a cinematic evaluation has proven to be almost ideal for the promotion and review of the Fonds’ work in comparison to standard evaluation processes.
"THE ART OF STAYING MANY“
Not least because of this, the Fonds once again opted for a special measure for further evaluations in 2024: Given the antidemocratic currents already emerging during the corona period and characterized by conspiracy theories, antisemitic motifs and hostility towards democracy, the Fonds focused on precisely this increasing polarization in the arts and society in the THE ART OF STAYING MANY series. In the eight cities of Berlin, Leipzig, Dusseldorf, Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Potsdam, Erfurt, Weimar and Dresden, nine forums on art, freedom and democracy were realized with a total of over ten thousand attendees. This series was also observed by a film team, this time with the artistic idea of making a kind of journey into the complexity of artistic as well as social debates both visible and tangible. The film will have its premiere on March 12th 2025 on the occasion of the Fonds Darstellende Künste’s 40th anniversary.
Prizes for the arts
The Tabori Prize and the Theaterpreis des Bundes were awarded together at a common gala for the first time in 2024. The event focused particularly on the artists, their innovative strength and their commitment to theater as a social space for reflection and aesthetic experience at the cutting edge. It was a recognition for the diversity of structures and work methods in the federal theater landscape.
Restructuring the head office
The largest challenge for management in 2024 was the restructuring process. At the middle of the year, the Fonds team was made up of 23 employees (20,34 Full-time-equivalents among them 2 Full-time-equivalents in special programs and projects) and three low-level employees: the work locations were divided up among one main office and one branch office. Since July 2024, the Fonds head office has been operating with 14 employees (12,8 Full-time-equivalents among them 2,5 in special programs and projects). The goal was to redesign job descriptions and responsibilities together with the team managers and employees and to ensure that future work efficiency remains at the high level of the evaluation results, but also to expand it in the face of current demands. Service orientation, optimization of processes and digitalization remain in the foreground. Until the end of the year, the branch office at the Lützowplatz was closed and the office work concentrated on the Welserstraße as the head office. Work contracts were oriented towards regular working hours of 36,25 hours per week, and the orientation to the TVÖD analogous to the classification processes of the federal government were evaluated as legally safe.
The digitalization of the application and grant processes as well as accounting were mostly completed in 2024; this year, the inclusion of decision processes and jury access is still open for a comprehensively modernized data bank.
In cooperation with the new federal government in 2025, we remain committed to achieving good conditions and reliable support structures for the independent performing arts together with artists, ensembles and networks.
Holger Bergmann
Managing director, Fonds Darstellende Künste
