Dresden culture petition against massive cuts

Dresden's municipal cultural institutions are fighting back against the planned massive cuts to their budgets and are looking for supporters with an online petition. They are prepared to make savings in order to contribute to a balanced municipal budget, "but the level of the planned cuts massively jeopardizes Dresden's reputation as a city of culture", according to the appeal "Dresden needs its culture!". This also weakens the attractiveness of the location. The aim of the e-petition, which has already been signed over 6,800 times, is to "avert or at least mitigate the impending cuts".

Demand for adequate funding

The 14 institutions are calling on the city council to provide adequate cultural funding, including internationally renowned institutions such as the Dresden Music Festival, the Dresden Kreuzchor and the German Hygiene Museum. The renowned museum would be doubly affected due to its foundation structure: a city cut of 565,000 euros is automatically linked to a reduction in the state subsidy of the same amount, resulting in a total loss of 1.13 million euros. The directorate warned that this would "pre-program a descent into mediocrity".