The initiative group on dance promotion emerged from the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland (DTD) in 2012. The dialogue on the development of dance in Germany was consolidated in regular meetings of the group. The aim of the exchange of information and experience was to analyse the status quo, develop concrete funding needs and expand dance promotion.
In their coalition agreement for the 18th legislative period, the CDU/CSU and the SPD stated:
“Federal government promotion of the innovative art from of dance and its international reach should be continued in dialogue with federal states and developed further as part of a modern promotion programme with lasting effects.”
The initiative group on dance promotion emerged from the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland (DTD) in 2012. The dialogue on the development of dance in Germany was consolidated in regular meetings of the group. The aim of the exchange of information and experience was to analyse the status quo, develop concrete funding needs and expand dance promotion.
In their coalition agreement for the 18th legislative period, the CDU/CSU and the SPD stated:
“Federal government promotion of the innovative art from of dance and its international reach should be continued in dialogue with federal states and developed further as part of a modern promotion programme with lasting effects.”
The first results of this work meeting were discussed with the Culture Committee of the Conference of Ministers of Education on 17 October 2013. The committee agreed to hold working-level discussions about a dance-promotion programme with the Office of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM).
On the initiative of the DTD and Academy of Arts, a round-table discussion on the topic of dance promotion took place on 6 May 2014 when representatives from federal states, municipalities and parliamentary groups in the German Bundestag emphasised the need and interest for a joint funding programme in accordance with the coalition agreement.
On 7 May 2014, the DTD hosted the Dance and Politics symposium where the current work processes in the dance scene were conveyed and the need for modern-day dance promotion was once again clearly expressed.
The first joint meeting of representatives from the German Association of Cities and Towns, the Conference of Ministers of Education and the BKM took place on 24 October 2014 when dance promotion in the sense of the coalition agreement – namely in dialogue between federal states and federal government – was discussed. This amounted to a new phenomenon in the history of dance and cultural promotion in the Federal Republic of Germany.
Letters were then exchanged between the Chairman of the Culture Committee of the German Association of Cities and Towns Hans-Georg Küppers (3 March 2015 / 27 March 2015) and Secretary of State for Culture Monika Grütters as well as between the President of the Conference of Ministers of Education and the Secretary of State for Culture (3 June 2015 / 6 July 2015).
These letters expressed the municipalities’ and federal states’ interest in and commitment to dance, supported in principle the local-regional-national approach to dance promotion and clarified the tasks of the joint working group further.
A working-level discussion between Rüdiger Kruse MP (CDU) and Johannes Kahrs MP (SPD), Speaker for Culture on the German Parliament’s Budget Committee, took place on 6 September 2016. As part of the meeting, representatives of the Cultural Ministries of federal state governments expressed their interest in participating in an expanded dance-promotion initiative.
As part of the German Parliament’s budget negotiations for 2017, in November 2016 the Budget Committee released EUR 5.625 million to fund the introduction of a multi-year programme for the promotion of excellence in dance.