foundations

In 2002, the country’s first State Minister for Culture, Julian Nida-Rümelin, launched the German Federal Cultural Foundation and equipped it with 40 million Euro. It was about time. The support for culture from municipalities and federal states has been far less than sufficient. And – after union wage increases, theater closures, reductions in theater departments and positions – theater’s whole point, the art, has been less and less at the focus of attention.

Thus the political sphere took on the concept of “excellence” from the academic support structures (sometimes called “lighthouse” programs) in order to nudge the theaters into a competition, as had been previously been the case with the universities. Universities apply for so-called external, tertiary or third-party funds, often from industry. In order to minimize industry’s influence on the freedom of research, foundations (often closely associated to corporations) ensure that generations of students experience more than just canteens and lecture halls, which are financed by tax money.

Basic operations are considered primary funds; in a theater, this includes income from tickets. Secondary funds are moneys that stem from ...