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Berlin City Moves Forward $135M Cuts In Funding

The Berlin administration announced a cutback of €130 million ($135.2 million) in its culture budget for 2025, shocking many.

The huge cut represents 12% of the city’s culture budget in 2024. The decision also starkly contrasts the German capital’s efforts for many years to emerge as the biggest cultural hub in Europe. Notably, in 2021, Germany approved €2.1 billion as its culture budget, a massive €155 million increase from 2020.

The decision to cut cultural funding was met with outrage and protests ever since it was announced. Many museums, artist advocacy groups, and other think tanks had argued that such a move would damage the status of Berlin. Many others also warned that most public museums in the city run on minimal reserve funds; indeed, reports cited that most museums utilize 80 percent of their allocated funds on fixed monthly expenses alone. As such, an abrupt cutback on funding might force them to fire staff or even close their shutters. Indeed, some museums have already come forward announcing that they would not be renewing most of their staff contracts for the coming year. Another concern was how German laws bar public museums from seeking private philanthropy the way their European or American counterparts could.

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Despite the protests, the government went ahead with the planned budget cuts. Some, like Mayor Kai Wegner, have supported the move, citing them as necessary for the financial sustainability of the city in the coming year. The exact details of the distribution of the updated budget might not be available until the end of January, further adding to the discontent among museums.