Statement on the 2025/2026 budget

Saving on independent culture means saving on Cologne's future!

The arts and culture scene is speaking out against cuts in culture and in favor of a cultural policy with foresight.

The draft budget for 2025/2026 proposes cuts of around 6 million euros or 20% compared to 2024. In combination with inflation and the equally endangered funding from the state, federal government and foundations, these would have serious consequences for the city's rich artistic and cultural ecosystem.

Yet only 0.25% of Cologne's budget goes to the independent arts and culture scene, which organizes and stages 80% of cultural events in Cologne. It reaches far more than one million visitors a year.

The proposed cuts will not make a significant contribution to a balanced overall budget, but they would destroy cultural offerings and institutions that cannot be revived later. Cutting back on independent culture means cutting back on artistic innovation and diversity, on cultural education and the promotion of democracy and, last but not least, on an important economic factor in the city.

We demand far-sighted cultural policy instead of intransparency and mismanagement

Cologne needs and deserves a cultural promotion strategy that shapes the future with foresight. A strategy that takes the irreplaceable value of the so-called 'voluntary services' of art and culture for our society seriously and underpins them with appropriate, secure funding and guarantees planning security.

The current budget, with its massive cuts in culture, was never agreed with those involved in culture. The cultural scene was and is available for discussions. It is calling for more transparency in the preparation of the budget. And more foresight and participation in the development of a funding policy that enables a vibrant and diverse cultural life in our city. The draft budget presented does not meet these needs in the slightest.

However, the austerity plans are not only causing anger and concern among cultural professionals (who were not involved in any of the decisions), but also among our audience, the citizens of Cologne. The city's financially out-of-control cultural building policy, which is a massive burden on the cultural budget due to the financing costs of the opera renovation, plays a central role here.

Reverse the cuts! Culture tax to be invested 100% in culture!

We are counting on politicians to correct the administration's plans to cut the arts and culture scene in the budget negotiations. We expect the existence of important ensembles, festivals, initiatives, projects and cultural spaces to be safeguarded. We demand that a substantial part of the income from the cultural tax ("bed tax"), which has increased from 7 to 26 million according to the budget, be used for its actual purpose, the promotion of art and culture, especially the independent scene.

The independent scene includes: Exhibition venues and off-spaces, film culture and literary organizers, music and theater stages, dance and circus spaces, clubs, concert halls, festivals of all genres, hundreds of ensembles and thousands of individual artists. They stand for participation and access to art and culture for all Cologne residents.

We are in solidarity. However, short-sighted cuts cost much more than they bring in. They are taking away from the future of our city.

In solidarity with our colleagues throughout Germany: #WIRSINDKÖLN and #KölnIstKultur

KulturNetzKöln e.V. / IFM e.V. / VdK - Verein für darstellende Künste Köln / Filmszene Köln/KINOaktiv e.V./ Filmbüro NW e.V. / Roundtable Zirkus / Kunstinitiativen Köln e.V. / AIC - Art Initiatives Cologne

* KulturNetzKöln can only publish a short statement at the moment, as we see it as our task to represent Cologne's entire independent cultural scene as a united front. Intensive discussions and consultations are currently taking place in order to precisely analyze the effects of the 2025/2026 budget cuts and to formulate well-founded demands. This process takes time, as it requires a comprehensive exchange within the scene.