No sponsor found - theater does not sell naming rights

The Theater Görlitz-Zittau has abandoned its plans to sell the naming rights to the theater. Despite a high level of attention throughout Germany, no sponsor had been found who would have been prepared to offer the hoped-for sum, the theater announced. "There were a few interested parties, but they fell well short of the six-figure sum we were aiming for." The theater will now remain named after the Nobel Prize winner Gerhart Hauptmann.

Last autumn, director Daniel Morgenroth was still very confident. He had explained that they were breaking new ground in cultural sponsorship. The East Saxon stage wanted to become a pioneer. The role model was sport, where corporations have long been acquiring the names of venues and arenas.

Intendant sees public sector as having a duty

Now Morgenroth is focusing on other ways of financing theaters - and sees the public sector as having a duty above all. "Theatres cannot be financed by private sponsors, we need the commitment of the public sector in order to maintain the broad and multi-layered offer, the educational services and the function in an urban society that our theaters have," explained Morgenroth.

The Saxon state government must also secure long-term funding for theaters and orchestras outside of the major cities of Leipzig and Dresden. This would require an amendment to the Cultural Areas Act. Morgenroth referred to the neighboring state of Thuringia. There, the theater landscape is solidly financed for years to come and has planning security.

The theater's plans to sell the naming rights had caused many critical voices to be raised. Director Morgenroth saw the controversial debate as fruitful: Society had to be clear about which institutions it wanted. And then these would have to be financed.