BSW on culture and media

The BSW calls for a fundamental reform of the structures and oversight of public broadcasting. In the party's view, its coverage is too one-sided and too close to politics.

The BSW wants to change public broadcasting. The party says its reporting is often one-sided. The broadcasting council should be independent of parties. Citizens should have a say there too.

The broadcasting council is to include media professionals and citizens, with no party influence. News, commentary and opinion are to be clearly separated. Serious breaches of the duty of care are to be penalized using existing legal tools, developed further where needed. The public is to get more say.

The BSW wants to ease the burden of the broadcasting fee on households and not raise it. Programming should focus on information, culture and education.

The broadcasting fee should not go up. It should depend more on what a household can pay. The stations should mainly offer information, culture and education. Station heads should not earn unlimited pay.

The fee is to be set in a socially fair way. Entertainment, duplicate offerings and niche channels are to be cut back. A cap is to apply to the salaries of the directors and to administrative costs. Transparent financial oversight is meant to strengthen acceptance of the broadcasters.

The BSW demands that the state's Cultural Funding Act be passed in 2026. It is meant to secure cultural institutions permanently and stabilize their finances, with a focus on venues in rural areas. The party regards culture as part of public services.

The BSW wants a cultural funding law for Saxony-Anhalt. The state parliament should pass it in 2026. Theaters, museums and other cultural places should get money for the long term. Cultural places in the countryside matter most to the BSW.

Institutions to be secured include World Heritage sites, theaters, museums, socio-cultural centers and industrial heritage sites. Institutional funding is to be expanded and made permanent, especially for small and mid-sized venues in rural areas; third-party-funded projects are also to be safeguarded. For the independent scene, the program suggests cultural foundations or similar models. Church-run offerings, local culture such as choirs, local history museums and village festivals, as well as libraries, music schools and cinemas, are to be included and strengthened. The law is later to be evaluated for effectiveness.

The BSW wants to improve the social situation of artists and other cultural workers. It names a reform of the Künstlersozialkasse (artists' social insurance fund), better protection against old-age poverty and loss of earnings, and better working conditions for freelancers.

Many artists earn little and have poor protection. The BSW wants to change that. The artists' social insurance fund should be reformed. Self-employed artists are insured through it. Freelance teachers at music and art schools should get fair fees.

The Künstlersozialkasse is the body through which self-employed cultural workers get social insurance. Working conditions are to be strengthened for people who work freelance or on a project basis. For freelance teachers, the program calls for fair fees, protection close to collective agreement levels and uniform statewide standards.

The BSW wants children and teenagers across the state to encounter theater, music, art and literature regularly. Museums and libraries should be free of charge for school students, apprentices and university students. Cultural education should not depend on parents' income.

Children and teenagers should get to know theater, music, art and books. This should work everywhere in the state. School students, apprentices and university students should pay nothing at museums. Libraries should be free for them too. The BSW wants more support programs for young people.

Access is to come through school lessons and partnerships with cultural institutions. The party wants to reduce disadvantages in rural regions, for example by funding transportation and local offerings. Support programs for children and teenagers are to be expanded to foster talent early and strengthen participation.

The BSW wants funding programs to be transparent and free of political loyalty requirements. Public money should not be tied to ideological commitments, and the party rejects restrictions on expressing opinions. In civic engagement, it wants to support the full range rather than what it sees as one-sidedly political structures.

Clubs and artists get money from the state. The BSW says nobody should have to declare a political view for that. Awarding the money should be open and fair. Applications should get easier. The party wants to protect freedom of art and freedom of speech.

Applicants are to get options for advance financing, planning security and less red tape. Funding decisions should be made without political or ideological influence. The party advocates open debate in which differing cultural and social positions are respected. Engagement to be strengthened ranges from neighborhood initiatives, garden projects and sports clubs to cultural and educational initiatives.

The BSW wants to maintain and preserve historic town centers, industrial buildings and everyday architecture. It opposes monotonous functional buildings and what it calls faceless investor architecture. Culture, history and landscape are also to form the basis of tourism funding.

Old town centers and old industrial buildings are part of the state's history. The BSW wants to keep and care for them. The party is against dull new buildings. Culture and history should also bring tourists to the state.

Where preservation is no longer feasible for economic or structural reasons, demolition and high-quality new construction should be discussed responsibly. In tourism funding, the party wants to strengthen the themes of world culture and history, places that shape landscape and architecture, and nature-oriented, sustainable offerings. The program also names winegrowing as a foundation of the state as a travel destination.