Grüne on culture and media

The Greens want to plan low-cost spaces for arts and culture systematically into urban development. A dedicated management company for cultural properties is to look after suitable city-owned sites, because rising commercial rents and scarce space are putting pressure on the scene.

Culture needs space. But rents for such spaces are rising. The Greens want to plan cheap spaces for culture. A new city company is to manage buildings for culture.

In large new developments, contracts are to set aside space for the cultural and creative scene that can be rented cheaply and long-term. Schools and other public rooms are to be available at low cost for amateur music rehearsals, and school construction is to plan for the technical requirements. The new cultural property company is to be run by Kreativgesellschaft Hamburg and take over suitable sites. To protect artists and small businesses from displacement, the Greens want to reform commercial tenancy law. The search for permanent open-air sites for clubs is to continue, including on land offered by port businesses.

The Greens want a reliable culture budget and stronger cultural life in the neighborhoods. Neighborhood cultural centers are to receive sufficient funding, and new centers are to be created in areas with high social need. History workshops and the public libraries (Bücherhallen) are also to keep receiving support.

The Greens want to support culture in the neighborhoods. Cultural centers should get enough money. New centers should open where people have little money. The public libraries should also be able to offer more.

Funding is to be set so that neighborhood cultural centers can absorb higher costs, pay collectively agreed wages, and offer varied programs. As further sources of funding, the platform names the culture and tourism tax and an increased renovation fund. The work of the local history workshops is to continue to be supported. For the public libraries, the party wants to keep backing the development plan and to expand both access and what the libraries offer.

The Greens want to keep the "Musikstadt" (music city) vision and support music continuously from daycare to university. Orchestras, amateur choirs, and projects for young talent are to get more support. The music industry is also to be strengthened as a sector.

Hamburg should stay a city of music. Children and young people should be able to make music early. Choirs and orchestras should get more money. Companies in the music business should also get help.

The necessary funds are to be provided for Ensemble Resonanz and the Hamburger Symphoniker, and the state music council is to keep receiving support. Amateur choirs are to get more help because of rising costs for directors and rehearsal rooms; institutional funding for choirs with their own choir school and scholarships for children from poorer families are to be examined. Dementia-sensitive singing is to be promoted, and the TONALi project is to receive structural funding. For the music industry, the party plans a dedicated business development structure, suitable space, and support for innovation and music tourism.

The Greens want to give Hamburg's music clubs more support in light of rising artist fees and rents. They plan a new funding guideline and an annual investment fund for soundproofing and energy-efficiency upgrades. Spontaneous, non-commercial open-air parties are to be easy to register.

Music clubs have high costs. The Greens want to give them more money. Clubs can use it for soundproofing, for example. That also helps the neighbors. Outdoor parties should be easier to register.

The new funding guideline is to support clubs based on transparent criteria, in addition to or instead of the Live Concert Account. The investment fund is to get its own guideline with a simplified procedure so that measures can be carried out quickly. The Future Fonds Hamburg for sustainability in event operations is to be continued and increased. The party wants to find sites for long-term open-air use by live clubs and wants pop, rock, and jazz better represented on the jury of the Musikstadtfonds. For so-called free open airs, it is aiming for a rule modeled on Bremen's.

The Greens want to preserve Hamburg's built cultural heritage despite the pressure on scarce land. The representation of heritage protection in the monument council and the monument association is to be strengthened. The party sees a right of associations to sue as a possible tool.

Old, valuable buildings in Hamburg should be kept. The Greens want to strengthen the experts for heritage protection. Associations may also get the right to go to court. That way they can protect monuments better.

The platform acknowledges that conflicts over use are unavoidable when land is scarce. For a proper debate, the voices of heritage protection in the Denkmalrat (monument council) and Denkmalverein (monument association) are to carry more weight. A right of action for associations would allow them to have compliance with heritage protection reviewed in court.

The Greens want to build up Hamburg as a film location and double the funding budget for films and series. Filmfest Hamburg is to receive an additional one million euros per year. The platform justifies this with the added value, tax revenue, and jobs it says the industry brings.

Many films and series are made in Hamburg. The Greens want to give twice as much funding for them. The film festival should get one million euros more per year. The film school should also get more money from the city.

The higher funding is meant to strengthen the local film industry against competitors and prepare it for the federal funding reform, for example through location marketing and incentive models. The Hamburg Media School is to receive gradually rising grants to reduce its dependence on private donations. The party wants closer ties between the creative industries of Hamburg and Scandinavia and targeted funding for projects with social impact. At the Filmfest, the extra money is meant for prominent guests, better-endowed prizes, and higher costs; smaller festivals such as the Queer Film Festival and the Kurzfilm Festival are to get funding adjusted to rising costs.

The Greens want to preserve the major stages, support private theaters facing rising costs, and improve funding for the independent performing arts. The independent scene is to share in increases in theater funding through a fixed ratio. Culture for children and young people is also to be strengthened further.

Hamburg has big and small theaters. The Greens want to support all of them. Independent artists should get more funding and fair pay. Theaters for children and young people should stay strong too.

The party backs the expansion and conversion of Kampnagel and wants to support non-municipal houses such as the Ohnsorg or Ernst Deutsch theaters as costs rise. For the independent scene, it plans a second state funding round per season, higher structural funding for venues, storage and rehearsal space, and a network office. Research projects, revivals, and guest performances are also to be funded, and the minimum fee for freelance artists is to be adjusted for inflation. In the long run, increases for municipal and private theaters are to be reflected for independent artists as well through a fixed ratio.

The Greens want to create a dedicated support structure tailored to the music industry. The platform justifies this with the sector's importance for the economy, tourism, the city's image and attracting skilled workers.

Very many people in Hamburg work in the music industry. The Greens want to give this industry special support. There should be a separate support office for it. It should help with skilled workers, new ideas and promotion.

According to the platform, Hamburg is Germany's largest music industry location, shaped by small and mid-sized companies. The new support structure is meant to train and attract skilled workers, back innovation, market the location internationally and advance music tourism.

The Greens want to expand the city's remembrance policy and create new memorial and learning sites on the Nazi era. Remembrance is to be guided by victims and survivors of far-right violence and, in the platform's view, help defend democracy.

The Greens want to remember the crimes of the Nazi era. There should be new places for remembering and learning. One place should honor the resistance against the Nazis. A reporting office should record damage to memorial sites.

A new documentation and learning center on the resistance is to be built at Bürgermeister-Petersen-Platz. In Fuhlsbüttel, a focus on the prison system during the Nazi era is to be developed; the listed ensemble of buildings is to be renovated, with no housing built there and no marketing under the name "Santa Fu." In Farmsen, a memorial site on the murder of disabled and sick people is to be developed. A public ombuds and reporting office is to follow up on vandalism and banned Nazi symbols. Resistance fighters are to become more visible through school and street names, and the HAMREA research project is to be supported.

The Greens want to make May 8, the Day of Liberation, an official public holiday. The goal is a nationwide holiday; until then, Hamburg is to adopt its own.

World War II ended in Europe on May 8, 1945. The Greens want to make this day a public holiday. Ideally in all of Germany. Until then, it should be a holiday in Hamburg.

May 8 is already a day of remembrance in Hamburg, which the Greens say they pushed for. According to the platform, the day stands for the end of the systematic murder of millions of people and for the foundation of today's democratic self-understanding. The party wants to promote a corresponding holiday in neighboring states.

The Greens want to develop the citywide remembrance concept on colonial heritage further and strengthen research on it. According to the platform, Hamburg bears a special responsibility for coming to terms with its colonial history.

Hamburg has a colonial history. The Greens want to keep working through this history. The university should do more research on it. The Hagenbeck zoo should remember the human exhibitions it once held.

People affected by colonialism and its consequences are to be involved in developing the concept. A profile initiative for research and cooperation with the Global South is planned at the University of Hamburg. The party expects the Hagenbeck zoo to take responsibility for its former human exhibitions and to commemorate them visibly. As a Fair Trade city, Hamburg is to promote fair trade and work to dismantle trade conditions that disadvantage the Global South.