The cultural heart

[Евгений]

In Germany, March 20 published a book about the failure of cultural policy. Four experts in the field of cultural management Dieter Hazelbah, Armin Klein, Pius and Stefan Opitz Knyuzel put a disappointing diagnosis of German society, entitled his book "Cultural infarction: Too much of everything and everywhere the same." The authors have proposed a radical solution - to close half of the museums, theaters and libraries that exist at public expense. In Germany there are about 6.3 thousand museums, 140 theaters sites and 8.2 thousands of libraries, which are funded primarily from federal and regional budgets. Each year, the authorities allocate their support of about nine billion euros. Most of these institutions can not exist without subsidies, since recouped only 15 percent. However, only every tenth German is a regular visitor to them.
 The authors have put a few key issues. Why do the majority of Germans should sponsor theaters and museums, if you do not go there? Why fund the agencies that did not cause the interest of the public? As a result, they concluded that the state support only hurts the art - in this area do not have enough free competition, as well as citizen participation in shaping cultural policy.

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The authors compare the current state of museums and theaters with permanent seasonal sales and offers to halve the proposal as a way to revive the variety and raise the value of art. All of this, they are enveloped in a provocative form, stating that "the culture can be waived - at least half."
  
Managers kulturyVse authors are directly related to cultural policy. Dieter Hazelbah works at the Institute for the study of culture, a long time, he was a consultant to various cultural organizations. Armin Klein worked in one of the theaters of Frankfurt and is now included in the Board of Governors of cultural policy. Pius Knyuzel - Swiss, and in 2002 headed by the Swiss cultural foundation Pro Helvetia. In the late 1990s he took up the cultural management, becoming head of Sponsorship at Credit Suisse in the field of culture. Stefan Opitz is a professor of cultural management at the University of Kiel. Since 2009 he works in the Ministry of Education and Culture of Schleswig-Holstein. The authors in numerous interviews, fighting off a flurry of criticism fell down on them, make it clear that no claim to ultimate truth, and just wanted to start a discussion on the reform of cultural policy. In their view, the current system has become too heavy-handed and undemocratic, so it should stir. A key argument, which they oppose is the fact that only the state-financed art can be free, because it does not depend on demand. Critics fear that, as soon as museums and theaters will no longer receive subsidies from the government, they will focus on the needs of the crowd and turn high art into entertainment. However, the authors look at it another way: in their view, the state, funding cultural institutions, and treats its citizens, both with young children, choosing for them "good" and "bad" art that is worthy of subsidy, and what is not.
 The head of the German Union of Museums Volker Rodekamp (Volker Rodekamp) criticized the book and said that such provocations are not going to benefit the cause, in this case need constructive suggestions. His organization was a few weeks before the release of "Cultural infarction" has released a practical for museum directors about what criteria guided the choice of exhibits for the exhibition and what art, gathering dust in storage, you can give away, sell or even destroy it. The emergence of such leadership is no accident: politicians routinely call a museum "clean up" store, which leave a lot of money.
 In this context, museums, who are required to move to self-sufficiency, and to solve their financial difficulties, eventually had to resort to extreme measures and sell works of art. In 2000, the Bonn museum sold the painting by Georg Baselitz, to pay off debts due to the loss-making exhibition. In 2006 the management decided to Krefeldskogo museum sell its main attraction - a picture of Claude Monet's "View of the British Parliament building" - to make repairs. Its cost was estimated at 20 million euros. To save a picture from the sale was only through the intervention of the artistic community.
 In 2010, the Bremen Museum Weserburg sold at auction painting by Gerhard Richter, "Sailors' more than 13 million euros to improve their financial situation. Then the leadership of the German Union of Museums has not approved the move and said that it is impossible to sell the cultural values, even in hard times.
 In addition, German museums have increasingly assert their art and to prove to officials why two or three similar paintings by Albrecht Durer is a value, even if we are talking about the copies. Now, even the Association of German museums offer in his new leadership to choose one of the paintings, which are best preserved, and the rest get rid of.
 The representatives of museums and theaters argue that the authors offer "Cultural infarction" lead to cultural impoverishment of the nation. They are accused of is that they are judged on cultural policy, sitting in the universities and ministries. This, in particular, declared responsible for cultural policy in Munich and chairman of the Committee for Culture of Cities Congress of the German Hans-Georg Kyuppers (Hans-Georg Kueppers). He argues that in this case is inappropriate to even talk about subsidies - it is about investing in the spiritual development of cities, therefore, not be required in this area yield.
 Decisions of the urgent problems of government funding of cultural institutions do not have none of the contending parties. However, despite the criticism of the book's authors, they have achieved their main goal - to provoke public debate on the topic, which has long been suppressed in German society.
Daria Eremin