Cologne's culture in danger: Savings threaten significant festivals!

Cologne's culture in danger: Savings threaten significant festivals!

Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Deutschland - On December 25, 2024, the cultural scene in Cologne is shaken by drastic cuts to the city budget. The newly presented draft, which comprises a volume of around 6 billion euros, stipulates that the grant for the renowned eight bridges Festival for contemporary music and for the ensemble concerto Cologne. The financial support for numerous projects in the free scene, including the Cologne Jazzweek, is also drastically shortened. These unexpected cuts question the planning of artists and organizers and raise the question of how these string pullers can ignore the cultural needs of the city.

culture in the sights of the austerity measures

The current cuts are considered by many as dangerous wave through the city and the countries, whereby the culture often has to serve as the first goal for savings. Culture Senator Carsten Brosda already criticized that art is increasingly under pressure and there are attacks on basic democratic concepts such as freedom and solidarity. This has immediate and worrying consequences for the lively cultural landscape of Cologne, as the disappointment in the community of artists shows. Short -term savings could endanger the long -standing tradition and the reputation of the eight bridges, which offers artists from all over the world a platform to present their works.

As reported by the Cologne city of Anzeiger, there are almost no conversations to communicate the drastic measures or to discuss possible solutions. The head of culture is criticized because he has not developed any effective strategies to support culture in this crisis situation. The uncertain financial support for the Cologne Jazzweek and other projects could result in that these important cultural events cannot take place, which would significantly endanger the city's future cultural diversity. Many affected people raise the alarm and demand a rethink with the city managers in order to continue to preserve the cultural identity of Cologne in the future.