Berlin Mayor defends culture budget cut

The Mayor of Berlin Kai Wegner has defended plans to cut the German capital’s arts budget by over 12%.

The cut, equivalent to more than €130 million annually, forms part of wider cuts totalling over €3 billion.

Two years ago Berlin’s art spend, which accounts for around 2% of the city’s entire budget, was increased to €947 million annually. At the time, a pledge was made to increase the culture budget to €1 billion by 2025.

Now, following an appeal and protests against the proposed cuts, Wegner has said: “I think we have to get away from the mentality of ‘we need money from the state’”.

“I also expect our theatres and opera houses to explain exactly how they can operate more economically and with their own resources,” the mayor, who belongs to the centre-right Christian Democratic Union, added. “This is a task that applies to all of us – regardless of which area we work in.”

Among the first tangible victims of the cuts is the loss of Museumssonntag, an initiative offering free entry to museums across the city on the first Sunday of every month, which was discontinued last week.