CDU on culture and media

The CDU wants to increase the state's cultural spending by another half, in several steps. Municipal theaters and orchestras are also to receive considerably more state money.

The CDU wants to spend more money on culture. The state should pay half as much again as today. This should happen step by step. Theaters and orchestras in the cities should also get more money.

After the increase since 2017, the culture budget is to grow by another 50 percent in stages. The state's share of the operating costs of municipal theaters and orchestras is to rise from about ten percent today to 20 percent in the long run. The CDU also plans a reinforcement fund for cultural institutions run or funded by municipalities. Cooperation is meant to strengthen the cultural infrastructure.

The CDU wants artists to have better incomes and reliable social security, and seeks a joint solution with the federal government and the other states. Funding is to be more tailored, multi-year and less bureaucratic; the cultural and creative industries are also to get their own funding.

The CDU wants to help artists. They should earn more and have better social security. Funding should run for several years. That should mean less paperwork. Small book publishers should also get money.

The plan includes a restructured and expanded scholarship program and continued support for young artists. The independent scene is to be strengthened in all disciplines, and the new funding models are to be extended so that ensembles can plan ahead. Multi-year funding commitments are meant to cut administrative effort. For the cultural and creative industries, the CDU wants to present a cultural economy report and a new funding guideline. Small independent book publishers are to get their own program, and pop culture activities bundled by POPBOARD NRW are to be supported.

The CDU wants to strengthen diversity as a core part of its cultural policy and support a diversity competence center. The Dritte Orte ("third places"), cultural meeting points mainly in rural areas, are to be set up statewide.

The CDU wants more diversity in culture. There should be an advice center for this. Rural areas should have cultural meeting places everywhere. These are called Dritte Orte, or third places.

The diversity competence center is to serve as a service and advice point and build on the existing overall concept for diversity and participation. The regional culture program is to be developed further. The Dritte Orte, which the program regards as a success, are to be available across the whole state. The CDU also wants to fund approaches that make cultural institutions more sustainable in ecological, economic and social terms.

The CDU wants to speed up digitalization in the cultural sector. Museum collections are to be recorded digitally across the state, and artists are to get shared digital production spaces.

The CDU wants culture to become more digital. All museums should record their collections on computers. Artists should get digital workshops. They should be able to share them.

Digital practice is to be developed in four areas: artistic production, networking, education and outreach, and preserving cultural heritage. The state is to fund shared digital production sites with current technology and create new spaces for experimentation. The digital recording of collections, so far tested in pilot projects, is to be extended to all museums.

The CDU wants to expand the work of memorial sites in the state and turn the former prisoner-of-war camp Stalag 326 into a memorial of national importance. It also wants to strengthen the bodies representing expellees and ethnic German resettlers.

The CDU wants to strengthen memorial sites. These are places that remind people of history. A former camp for prisoners of war should become a major memorial. The culture of Germans expelled after the war should also get more support.

Memorial sites are to use digital tools to convey knowledge. According to the program, one in three Soviet prisoners of war in the German Reich passed through Stalag 326 between 1941 and 1945, most of them of Ukrainian origin. The planned Unna-Massen memorial is to be supported further together with the Haus der Geschichte Nordrhein-Westfalen. The state advisory council and the state commissioner for expellees and (late) resettlers are to be strengthened because, in the CDU's view, these groups contributed substantially to prosperity. The Martin-Opitz-Bibliothek is to become an affiliated institute of Ruhr University Bochum and a center for the history of Germans in Eastern Europe.

The CDU wants to continue the state program that funds Heimat (home and local identity) projects. It supports volunteer and local initiatives that preserve places people identify with and keep customs alive.

The state has a program for local identity. It gives money to people who do things for their town. The CDU wants to keep this program going. More people should take part.

The program is called "Heimat. Zukunft. Nordrhein-Westfalen." and, according to the CDU, has had 150 million euros so far. It funds initiatives that preserve or newly create places people identify with. In the CDU's view, this helps maintain customs and traditions and pass them on to coming generations.

The CDU wants to continue supporting film and television in North Rhine-Westphalia and improve conditions for productions. Movie theaters in rural areas are to be strengthened.

The CDU wants to keep supporting film and TV in North Rhine-Westphalia. The state's film foundation should get money for this. Movie theaters in the countryside should get help too.

Funding for the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW (the state's film and media foundation) is to be adjusted on an ongoing basis. This should let the foundation support interactive and multimedia internet and games projects alongside classic productions. The platform notes that state funding for film, TV and games totaled 17.2 million euros in 2021. The CDU counts a lively movie theater scene as part of the state's culture.

The CDU wants to adapt the dual system of public and private broadcasting to the digital age. Local radio is to be strengthened and the profile of public broadcaster WDR sharpened.

The CDU wants to strengthen local radio stations. They should get help with going digital. The public broadcaster WDR should focus more on special content. That means content private stations offer less of.

Local stations are to be supported in the move to digital distribution. Together with the state media authority, the CDU wants to look for ways to lower transmission and distribution costs. WDR's structure and mandate are to be developed further. Public broadcasting should give more weight to content that adds to diversity and that private media are less able to provide. Broadcasters are to be given more responsibility of their own.

The CDU wants to build up people's skills in handling media and information. This is meant to help against hate, threats and fake news online and enable a thoughtful use of digital media.

The CDU wants everyone to be able to handle media well. This should help against hate and fake news on the internet. Projects for children, teenagers and adults should be strengthened.

Existing initiatives for children, teenagers and adults are to be strengthened and linked up. The Landesanstalt für Medien (state media authority) is to become the central contact and coordination point for such projects. The CDU wants to strengthen its role in protecting minors online and in countering hate speech, disinformation and extremism on the internet. The platform points to the #DigitalCheckNRW project that has already been launched.

The CDU wants to keep quality journalism competitive online, especially at the local and regional level. Journalism should be able to qualify as a nonprofit activity under tax law.

The CDU wants to strengthen local journalism. Journalism should count as a nonprofit activity. Nonprofit means: it serves the public and gets tax benefits. Checked news should be easy to find on the internet.

The CDU backs initiatives for better training, recruiting young talent and local journalism, and wants to raise the profile of the Grimme Institute. Editorially vetted content should be findable online without discrimination. Advertising rules for the internet and broadcasting are to be aligned in law. The platform also supports a cross-border digital platform in Europe, more inclusion and diversity, and accessible media offerings. Collective wage agreements and social standards should be observed on film shoots.