The Bundestag elections are on 23 February. We will decide how we will live together and where we are heading as a society. If we want to continue to live in freedom and diversity, we need art. Art is the motor for our imagination. It can make the impossible possible, the unthinkable conceivable and the invisible visible. Art shows us that the world can be changed and that it is we who have the power to change it.

That is why we are calling for culture to be enshrined as a national objective in the German constitution.

‘Culture is not an ornament. It is the foundation on which our society stands and on which it is built. It is the task of politics to secure and strengthen it.’

These were the words used by the Enquete Commission ‘Culture in Germany’ in 2007. We should work together to ensure that people find their way back into social discourse through art and culture and gain the confidence that life can be shaped and changed by us.

‘Creating good framework conditions for art and culture, expanding the cultural infrastructure, keeping spaces open for the free development of the arts and giving everyone access to culture is essential for our democracy and the task of the state,’ says Dr Carsten Brosda, President of the German Stage Association and Hamburg’s Senator for Culture and Media. ‘Because culture is for everyone – and must continue to be if we want to live together in diversity and freedom.’

Culture needs a strong argument in the debates about its state funding right now, because it provides us with the public spaces that we currently need so much. The financial security of theatres and orchestras as well as the independent scene is the basis for our cultural infrastructure: promoting democracy means promoting culture!

Further information can be found on the campaign website 
‘Theatre for Democracy’.