Stage association sounds the alarm - theaters threatened with insolvency

The 28 theaters in Saxony could be facing a difficult year. "The financial situation is very serious, especially for some theaters in rural areas," says Lutz Hillmann, Chairman of the Saxony State Association of the German Theater Association. If there is no support in the form of financial aid from the state and local authorities next year, some theaters are "acutely threatened with insolvency". In particular, the high personnel costs due to pay rises would lead to high deficits in some theaters.

"The situation at the Plauen-Zwickau Theater is currently quite blatant", added Hillmann. "But they are by no means an isolated case." The West Saxon theater could face a deficit of around 3.3 million euros next year, says Sandra Kaiser, Managing Director of Theater Plauen-Zwickau. "If there is no financial support, we would have to file for insolvency at the end of 2025."

Over 100 million euros per year from the state

The situation of Saxony's theaters and some orchestras is "still completely in the doldrums", especially due to the unclear government situation without a new budget, as state association head Hillmann describes it. In addition, the Cultural Areas Act should be reworked - and come back into force in an amended form in 2026. "Everything is up in the air here too at the moment." The funding rate for theaters under the law is between 20 and 30 percent, significantly lower than in other federal states, "and no longer sufficient". The state supports the municipalities with around 106 million euros per year via the Cultural Areas Act.

The further disbursement of previously put together aid packages is also unclear from next year, according to Hillmann. "In view of the tight budgets everywhere, a certain restlessness is spreading among theater companies." Over the past two years, the Free State of Saxony has supported theaters and orchestras in Saxony with 4.6 million euros via an aid package in order to safeguard cultural offerings in these difficult times.

In addition to the problems at the Plauen-Zwickau Theater, the Saxon Wind Philharmonic in Bad Lausick and the Gerhart-Hauptmann-Theater Görlitz-Zittau were also a cause for concern, according to association head Hillmann. "This year, they could be saved once again." The Freiberg theater in Central Saxony was only saved from closure for the time being by a complicated financial agreement between the municipalities. At the Festspielhaus Hellerau, cuts were made across all areas and divisions.

Cautious planning

The Eduard-von-Winterstein-Theater in Annaberg-Buchholz is trying to draw attention to itself in view of the uncertain public budget situation with a petition and currently 3,300 supporters. "We are the largest employer in the cultural sector in the Ore Mountains," says Moritz Gogg, artistic director of Erzgebirgische Theater- und Orchester GmbH. 150 employees from 18 nations are employed here. The in-house collective agreement with the orchestra expires at the end of January 2025.

"We have not been adequately funded for over 20 years. We are planning very cautiously for next year." For this reason, some positions in the theater operations will not be filled for the time being, and there will be one less new production in autumn 2025. "We will only breathe a sigh of relief when the full amount of money we have applied for actually arrives next year," says Gogg.