The Dachverband freie darstellende Künste Hamburg (DfdK) views the Federal Government’s planned cultural-policy cuts as a grave and misguided signal. The draft budget for 2026 proposes cutting the federal culture funds — including the Performing Arts Fund, which is central to the independent performing arts — by roughly half. As a result, key networks and programs are facing closure: the Alliance of International Production Houses, the program Verbindungen fördern (“Fostering Connections”) with its nine networks, as well as explore dance – Network for Dance for Young Audiences, which has brought dance into schools and strengthened the work and visibility of Hamburg-based artists nationwide. We explicitly join the Performing Arts Fund in calling for these decisions to be reversed and for funding to resume from 2027 onward (Federal Budget 2026: Joint Appeal of the Independent Performing Arts – Performing Arts Fund).
We explicitly welcome the fact that the overall federal cultural budget is set to increase by around 10 percent, to €2.57 billion. This growth sends an important cultural-policy signal. All the more incomprehensible, therefore, is the plan to eliminate or severely cut precisely those programs that are essential for the independent performing arts sector. In recent years, the federal culture funds have established a vital foundation for artistic professionalization, networking, and innovation. The program Verbindungen fördern in particular has built important networks, cooperations, and development structures for artists in Hamburg. Numerous actors from Hamburg and venues such as LICHTHOF Theater, monsun.theater, Sprechwerk, and FUNDUS THEATER have developed long-term partnerships through the program, implemented outreach projects, and gained access to formats that would otherwise not have been possible. Networks such as produktionsbande, Zirkus ON, United Networks, FESTIVALFRIENDS, Tanz weit draußen, Netzwerk Freie Theater (NFT), and flausen+ have, through the funding and the exchange with one another, brought their expertise, experience, and qualifications into Hamburg’s scene, while also carrying extensive knowledge from Hamburg to the rest of Germany. United Networks specifically supports the visibility and networking of artists with marginalized perspectives and thus contributes to a diverse urban society — work that is indispensable in the current global political climate and in the struggle for democratic societies.
International production houses such as Kampnagel enable international co-productions, residencies, and professional development formats like the Academy for Performing Arts Producers. The severe cuts to the federal culture funds, along with the elimination of the Production House Alliance and the termination of Verbindungen fördern, sever a carefully built system. Under pressure are precisely those networking, training, and outreach formats that in recent years have been crucial to the professionalization of the independent scene and to strengthening its connection with audiences. Starting in 2026, these developments would be drastically limited or in many places rendered impossible — a far-reaching cultural-policy backward step.
The consequences for artists working in Hamburg are immediate. Hamburg-based practitioners in particular have made intensive use of Verbindungen fördern to build international collaborations, develop sustainable production practices, and establish long-term networks. The loss of these programs endangers livelihoods, diminishes artistic development opportunities, stalls engagement with diversity, and weakens the city’s cultural vitality.
The drastic cuts to federal culture funds and the elimination of federal support for the Production House Alliance severely restrict the work of production houses. At the same time, many Hamburg-based artists lose the programs and networks that, through Verbindungen fördern and other federal culture funds, have provided continuity, security, and professionalization in recent years. As a result, precisely those spaces come under pressure that are essential for social exchange, aesthetic experimentation, and critical reflection — spaces that an open democracy urgently needs. We therefore call on the Federal Government to reverse the cuts to the Alliance of International Production Houses and to the programs within the federal culture funds — especially the program Verbindungen fördern — and to restore the necessary funding from 2027 onward.
A strong independent scene needs strong structures. Production houses, federal culture funds, and programs like Verbindungen fördern are anchor points and laboratories for future-oriented formats — places where cultural democracy is practiced, shaped, and defended, and where artistic solidarity and professionalization are lived.
The Dachverband freie darstellende Künste Hamburg (DfdK) views the Federal Government’s planned cultural-policy cuts as a grave and misguided signal. The draft budget for 2026 proposes cutting the federal culture funds — including the Performing Arts Fund, which is central to the independent performing arts — by roughly half. As a result, key networks and programs are facing closure: the Alliance of International Production Houses, the program Verbindungen fördern (“Fostering Connections”) with its nine networks, as well as explore dance – Network for Dance for Young Audiences, which has brought dance into schools and strengthened the work and visibility of Hamburg-based artists nationwide. We explicitly join the Performing Arts Fund in calling for these decisions to be reversed and for funding to resume from 2027 onward (Federal Budget 2026: Joint Appeal of the Independent Performing Arts – Performing Arts Fund).
We explicitly welcome the fact that the overall federal cultural budget is set to increase by around 10 percent, to €2.57 billion. This growth sends an important cultural-policy signal. All the more incomprehensible, therefore, is the plan to eliminate or severely cut precisely those programs that are essential for the independent performing arts sector. In recent years, the federal culture funds have established a vital foundation for artistic professionalization, networking, and innovation. The program Verbindungen fördern in particular has built important networks, cooperations, and development structures for artists in Hamburg. Numerous actors from Hamburg and venues such as LICHTHOF Theater, monsun.theater, Sprechwerk, and FUNDUS THEATER have developed long-term partnerships through the program, implemented outreach projects, and gained access to formats that would otherwise not have been possible. Networks such as produktionsbande, Zirkus ON, United Networks, FESTIVALFRIENDS, Tanz weit draußen, Netzwerk Freie Theater (NFT), and flausen+ have, through the funding and the exchange with one another, brought their expertise, experience, and qualifications into Hamburg’s scene, while also carrying extensive knowledge from Hamburg to the rest of Germany. United Networks specifically supports the visibility and networking of artists with marginalized perspectives and thus contributes to a diverse urban society — work that is indispensable in the current global political climate and in the struggle for democratic societies.
International production houses such as Kampnagel enable international co-productions, residencies, and professional development formats like the Academy for Performing Arts Producers. The severe cuts to the federal culture funds, along with the elimination of the Production House Alliance and the termination of Verbindungen fördern, sever a carefully built system. Under pressure are precisely those networking, training, and outreach formats that in recent years have been crucial to the professionalization of the independent scene and to strengthening its connection with audiences. Starting in 2026, these developments would be drastically limited or in many places rendered impossible — a far-reaching cultural-policy backward step.
The consequences for artists working in Hamburg are immediate. Hamburg-based practitioners in particular have made intensive use of Verbindungen fördern to build international collaborations, develop sustainable production practices, and establish long-term networks. The loss of these programs endangers livelihoods, diminishes artistic development opportunities, stalls engagement with diversity, and weakens the city’s cultural vitality.
The drastic cuts to federal culture funds and the elimination of federal support for the Production House Alliance severely restrict the work of production houses. At the same time, many Hamburg-based artists lose the programs and networks that, through Verbindungen fördern and other federal culture funds, have provided continuity, security, and professionalization in recent years. As a result, precisely those spaces come under pressure that are essential for social exchange, aesthetic experimentation, and critical reflection — spaces that an open democracy urgently needs. We therefore call on the Federal Government to reverse the cuts to the Alliance of International Production Houses and to the programs within the federal culture funds — especially the program Verbindungen fördern — and to restore the necessary funding from 2027 onward.
A strong independent scene needs strong structures. Production houses, federal culture funds, and programs like Verbindungen fördern are anchor points and laboratories for future-oriented formats — places where cultural democracy is practiced, shaped, and defended, and where artistic solidarity and professionalization are lived.