In addition to the specific cultural-political consultation on the development of project partnerships that is part of TANZPAKT Stadt-Land-Bund, the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland (German Dance Association / DTD) is also stepping up its cultural-political dialogue with cities, federal states and the federal government. The aim is to strengthen and further develop both existing and new funding instruments and structures for dance.
In this endeavour, the DTD is working closely with local actors and the relevant departments in Cultural Offices at municipalities and federal state ministries, e.g. for the expert days. It is offering advice on all questions about dance locally and using its expertise to support the collaboration between cultural administration, politics and dance scenes.
In municipalities and federal state parliaments, the DTD is providing information on the artistic potential of dance and its impact in society, i.e. in cultural education, science and creative industries.
The DTD will continue to co-ordinate the Tanzförderung Stadt Land Bund dance-promotion initiative in which municipal, federal and national institutions exchange information, experience and ideas.
Since spring 2013, a working group of the Initiative Stadt-Land-Bund has brought together speakers and heads of specialist departments from state ministries, local authorities and the federal government, as well as other sponsors and experts from the dance scene.
20th Working Group on Dance Funding / Working Group on Internationalization & Creative Spaces on November 18, 2025, in Essen
On November 18, the Working Group on Dance Funding on federal and regional level met with the Working Group on Internationalization of Creative Transfer at PACT in Essen. Over 30 speakers, heads of offices, and department heads from municipalities and states met to discuss topics such as spaces, interfaces between the cultural and creative industries, networks, promotion, and internationalization. In the second part, the working groups met separately – in the area of dance promotion, the focus was primarily on “creative” ways of dealing with the current cuts, but also on a review of 13 years of dance promotion and the Dance Initiative Group. This gave cause for hope – in Munich alone, dance promotion has tripled during this period, funding instruments have been diversified, and cooperation between municipalities and federal states has improved considerably. Last but not least, the Dance Triennial was presented, which will be organized by the German Federal Cultural Foundation and the state of Hamburg in the port city from June 14 to 21, 2026.
As a start, the head of department K27 emphasised the position of the Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media in favour of a liberal cultural policy. In terms of content, the focus is on the defence of freedom of art, the press and opinion as well as the culture of remembrance, in particular coming to terms with the Nazi era and the Shoah. Issues such as cohesion in Europe, strengthening rural areas and combating social division are gaining in importance and are increasingly affecting cultural policy.
A survey of state and local authority representatives reveals a heterogeneous picture of dance funding. While no cuts are currently planned in some regions such as Bremen, Halle, Schleswig-Holstein or Saarland, there is often a lack of planning security, coordinated funding deadlines and binding co-financing by the federal states and municipalities. Elsewhere - for example in NRW, Dresden or Thuringia - there are already significant cuts or acute threats to existing funding structures. The situation is particularly critical in NRW, where there is talk of cuts of up to 50 per cent.
A central topic of the meeting was the lack of comparability of dance funding nationwide. A survey using digital tools showed that there is a great deal of support for the collection of relevant data. The results are to be used for argumentation with politicians, administrators and the dance scene.
On 24 October, the 18th edition of the working group took place as part of the Stadt-Land-Bund initiative – heads of department and officers for dance and performing arts as well as heads of cultural offices were guests at the TANZPAKT project ‘Tanztheater Erfurt - TanzWert’ at the Erfurt Theatre, where the TANZPAKT projects also met the following day.
The State Secretary for Culture in the Thuringian State Chancellery, Tina Beer, opened the conference, followed by a welcome from Caroline Waldeck, Head of Division – Theatre, Dance, Performance (K27) at the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. Dr Tobias Knoblich, Alderman for Culture, Urban Development and World Heritage of the state capital Erfurt and President of the Kulturpolitische Gesellschaft, and Apostolos Tsalastras, First Alderman, Treasurer and Head of Cultural Affairs of the City of Oberhausen and Deputy Chairman of the Cultural Committee of the German Association of Cities, opened up exciting perspectives with their impulses. Other representatives from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Schleswig-Holstein, Saxony, Bavaria, Hanover, Düsseldorf, Dresden, Leipzig and Freiburg reported on the current, largely precarious situation of cultural budgets in their municipalities and federal states.
After a keynote speech by Andrea Gern, Managing Director of Tanzszene Baden-Württemberg, on the topic of “dance in the area”, three working groups discussed how dance can be strengthened in rural areas and diverse communities and how the relationship between politics and administration can be shaped in a polarised society.
On 16 November, the 17th meeting of the Stadt-Land-Bund dance funding working group took place with two presentations on the topic of “Participation in dance” by Robert Hillmanns (Department of Participation, Diversity in Culture, Socioculture, Individual Support for Artists, MKW North Rhine-Westphalia) and Julia Rachuj (IMPACT Funding, Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion Berlin) took place. In addition to exchanging views on current developments, the discussion centred on how participation can be made possible in the long term, with dance standing for vitality, diversity and participation - qualities that our society needs more than ever, even in the face of increasing division.
On 14 March, the 16th working meeting of the Working Group Dance Funding Stadt-Land-Bund took place. On 14 March, the 16th working meeting of the City-Land-Bund dance funding working group took place. In addition to a survey on the handling of fee floors in the dance context, the focus was on the situation of municipal budgets. Marie Henrion, Head of Tanzbüro Berlin, and Heike Lehmke, Managing Director of landesbüro tanz nrw, presented a model for nationwide and cross-state scholarship funding as part of the Dance Initiative.
Since various participants of the last Working Meeting expressed the wish to discuss the topic of the jury in detail, this was the main focus of the 15th (digital) meeting of the Arbeitskreis Tanzförderung Stadt-Land-Bund. Susanne Stephani (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes e. V. – Darstellende Kunst / Bildende Kunst and member of the DIS-TANZ-SOLO jury) provided the impetus. The impulse presented the work of the DIS-TANZ-SOLO jury as an example of best practice. Afterwards, current challenges of selection procedures at federal, state and municipal level were discussed and experiences exchanged.
On May 2022, an analogue meeting of the Working Group Dance Funding Stadt-Land-Bund (Arbeitskreis Tanzförderung Stadt-Land-Bund) took place for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic at the TanzFaktur in Cologne. After a greeting by Caroline Waldeck (Head of Department K27 at the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media), impulses from the dance funding initiative group followed, as well as a video message from Holger Bergmann (Managing Director, Fonds Darstellende Künste) and an impulse from Helge-Björn Meyer (Managing Director, BFDK) on commonalities, challenges and funding priorities after the pandemic. Afterwards, the 35 or so participants from administrations, politics and the dance scene discussed the funding systems of the future in the three working groups "Maintaining structure - strengthening the dance scene", "Dance for the public of a diverse urban society" and "Making funding more sustainable". The evening ended with a joint dinner and a presentation of eight TANZPAKT projects.
Am 16. November fand das 17. Treffen des Arbeitskreis „Tanzförderung Stadt-Land-Bund“ mit zwei Impulsen zum Thema „Teilhabe im Tanz“ von Robert Hillmanns (Referat Teilhabe, Diversität in der Kultur, Soziokultur, Individuelle Künstlerinnen- und Künstlerförderung, MKW Nordrhein-Westfalen) und Julia Rachuj (IMPACT-Förderung, Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalt Berlin) statt. Neben dem Austausch über aktuelle Entwicklungen wurde diskutiert, wie langfristig Teilhabe ermöglicht werden könne. Tanz stehe für Vitalität, Diversität und Teilhabe – Eigenschaften, die unsere Gesellschaft mehr denn je benötige, auch angesichts der zunehmenden Spaltung.
Am 14. März fand das 16. Arbeitstreffen des Arbeitskreis Tanzförderung Stadt-Land-Bund statt. Neben einer Abfrage zur Handhabung der Honoraruntergrenzen im Tanzkontext stand die Situation kommunaler Haushalte im Vordergrund. Marie Henrion, Leitung Tanzbüro Berlin, und Heike Lehmke, Geschäftsführung landesbüro tanz nrw, stellten im Rahmen der Initiative Tanz ein Modell für eine bundesweite bzw. länderübergreifende Stipendienförderung vor.
Am 19. Mai 2022 fand in der TanzFaktur in Köln zum ersten Mal seit Beginn der Pandemie wieder ein analoges Treffen des Arbeitskreises Tanzförderung Stadt-Land-Bund statt. Nach der Begrüßung durch Caroline Waldeck (Leiterin des Referats K27 bei der Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien) folgten Impulse der Initiativgruppe Tanzförderung, sowie eine Videobotschaft von Holger Bergmann (Geschäftsführer, Fonds Darstellende Künste) und ein Impuls von Helge-Björn Meyer (Geschäftsführer, BFDK) zu Gemeinsamkeiten, Herausforderungen und Förderschwerpunkten nach der Pandemie. Anschließend diskutierten die rund 35 Teilnehmer*innen aus den Verwaltungen, der Politik und der Tanzszene in den drei Arbeitsgruppen „Struktur erhalten – Tanzszene stärken“, „Tanz für die Publika einer diversen Stadtgesellschaft“ und „Förderung nachhaltiger gestalten“ über Fördersysteme der Zukunft. Den Ausklang des Abends bildeten ein gemeinsames Abendessen und eine Präsentation von acht TANZPAKT-Projekten.
