Study Commission on Culture in Germany

The Study Commission on Culture in Germany has concluded its work with the presentation of its final report.

The report takes stock of cultural life in Germany and makes more than 400 recommendations to create a more enabling environment for cultural activities.

After four years of work, the Study Commission on Culture in Germany has presented its final report to the President of the German Bundestag. At a debate in the German Bundestag on 13 December 2007, the Study Commission unveiled the most comprehensive study of cultural life in Germany for more than 30 years.

With the report, the Study Commission has provided a cultural compass which describes the situation and the problems but also points to the opportunities for culture and cultural policy in Germany. The report ends with more than 400 recommendations for legislators at federal, Land and local level and for culture professionals across the board. The Study Commission emphasises that with its report, it aims to stimulate the cultural policy discourse in all sectors and put forward practical proposals on ways of improving the cultural environment.

Despite occasional divergent opinions and ideas, the Members of the German Bundestag and the external experts in the Study Commission were able to reach unanimous agreement on the text of the final report. The Chair of the Study Commission, Gitta Connemann, MdB, emphasises that the members of the Commission were always united in their goal of preserving and promoting Germany’s unique cultural landscape and unparalleled cultural diversity, based on an awareness of the shared responsibility of the state, business community and civil society.

The Commission drew on numerous sources of information for its work. In all, 12 separate studies were commissioned, numerous surveys were carried out, and experts were consulted at 45 hearings and meetings. The key topics addressed by the Commission included the following:

• The significance of art and culture for the individual and society
• Culture as a public and social task
• Public and private promotion and financing of culture and the arts (structural change)
• The economic and social situation of artists
• The culture and creative industries
• Cultural education
• Culture in Europe - culture in the context of globalization
• Statistics on culture in the Federal Republic of Germany and the European Union

To facilitate further consultations on practical policies to implement the numerous recommendations made in the final report, it was referred to the Committee on Cultural and Media Affairs of the German Bundestag.

For enquiries about the final report published as a Bundestag Printed Paper, please contact Bundesanzeiger Verlagsgesellschaft mbH at parlament@bundesanzeiger.de (€19.60 including postage) or the Federal Agency for Civic Education. The report is available in book form from ConBrio-Verlag.