Status: 10/14/2022 2:07 p.m
Minister of State for Culture Roth is planning “a kind of ‘culture fund energy'”. The money should come from the federal special fund for cultural events – at least one billion euros. The help should start in January.
Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth has announced federal aid for cultural institutions in view of the high energy costs. “A kind of ‘cultural energy fund’ should be made available,” said the Greens politician to the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”.
The help should take effect from January 1st, then retrospectively from October, said Roth. She promised “a substantial sum”, but in return expects “that cultural institutions act in solidarity and do everything to save energy”. The federally funded institutions set a target of 20 percent energy savings. “And a lot of people are already doing that.”
Nationwide uniform procedure sought
In order to finance the program, money from the special fund for cultural events that has not yet been used is to be reallocated. According to Roth, this is a sum of “at least one billion euros”. “We are currently working with the Federal Minister of Finance to determine how much money is actually still there,” said Roth.
The Minister of State for Culture wants to get the energy package off the ground in close coordination with the federal states. “It must not happen again that concerts with international acts cannot take place because the rules in North Rhine-Westphalia are completely different than in Bavaria or Berlin.”
She therefore called on the countries to also support the cultural sector in the energy crisis. The goal of her fund is to avoid the closure of cultural institutions at all costs: “We cannot afford it, and we do not want to afford it, that, like in the first two years of the pandemic, the cultural institutions are closed, because then our democracy no longer has a voice,” said Roth. She wanted “museums, theaters and cinemas to be spaces that enable people to educate, communicate and socialize”.