SPD on culture and media

The SPD wants to further develop and permanently secure state support for the cultural and creative industries. The games industry would get its own funding line.

The SPD wants to support the creative economy. This includes companies that make video games. These companies should get their own funding program. Parents should be able to learn more about video games.

The Dieburg media campus of Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences would be expanded specifically for games funding. At the state level, the SPD also plans programs that build media literacy around video games and are aimed at parents as well. The party describes itself as a reliable partner of the industry.

The SPD wants to give more weight to cultural education inside and outside schools and introduce a statewide culture pass for everyone under 18. The aim is free access to culture for children and teenagers. The platform treats culture as an essential public service, including in rural areas.

The SPD wants more cultural education for children and teenagers. There should be a culture pass for all of Hesse. It is for everyone up to age 18. With it, they can enjoy culture for free. Rural areas should have cultural offerings too.

The platform counts music and art schools, museums, theaters, adult education centers, libraries, cinemas and independent-scene projects as cultural education. The federal program "Kultur macht stark" is to be secured institutionally with additional state money. Cultural initiatives are to be better networked, especially outside metropolitan areas. The SPD wants to fund choirs, orchestras and other amateur music in addition to the federal fund. Music schools are to be financed in equal thirds by three funding parties.

The SPD wants to keep funding the state theaters and give the independent performing arts scene multi-year funding. Theaters are to become more open, with more diversity in leadership and more outreach programs. The party argues this secures theaters for future generations.

The SPD wants to keep paying for the state theaters. Independent theater groups should get money for several years. Theaters should be open to more people. More different kinds of people should work as leaders there.

Theater structures are meant to reflect a changed society, which is why the SPD backs more diversity at the top of these institutions. Whether the state supports Frankfurt's municipal stages is to be examined together with neighboring municipalities. The SPD also backs Darmstadt's effort to provide premises for the Deutsche Akademie der Darstellenden Künste (German Academy of Performing Arts).

The SPD wants to sharpen the profile of state museums and archives, open them further and give them more staff and money. Collections are to be made accessible digitally. Proven looted objects are to be returned, which the platform calls an ethical obligation.

The SPD wants to strengthen museums and archives. They should get more money and more staff. The collections should also be visible online. Museums should give back objects that were stolen.

The platform lists a more international audience, more diverse offerings and the digitization of holdings as growing tasks for museums. Digital cataloging is meant to allow modern presentation, reach the public better and ease provenance research, meaning research into where objects came from. The SPD regards the state museums and state archives as outstanding institutions.

The SPD wants to support independent artists with higher funding, affordable workspaces and minimum fees. Music clubs are to be recognized as cultural institutions rather than mere entertainment venues and be better protected. The platform cites the sometimes precarious working conditions in the scene.

The SPD wants to give independent artists more money. They should get cheap places to work. There should be minimum fees. That is pay that must not go lower. Music clubs should count as places of culture.

Independent artists are to become much more visible. To protect clubs, land-use rules are to be reviewed and adjusted together with municipalities. The SPD plans a dedicated state funding line for non-commercial club programs. Further funding options for clubs and festivals are to be discussed with club and hospitality associations, with targeted support for emerging artists.

The SPD wants to use incentives to promote cooperation on cultural offerings in cities and rural areas. The Frankfurt RheinMain cultural region and its cultural fund are to grow, and a comparable cooperation is planned for northern Hesse.

The SPD wants cities and villages to work together on culture. There should be incentives for this. The Rhine-Main area already has such cooperation. Northern Hesse should get a similar one.

Municipalities that draw up a cultural development plan are to receive state money. Culture is to carry more weight in urban development concepts, above all through cultural spaces open to everyone. Fairground operators and market traders are to have a future in Hesse, since the SPD sees fairs and markets as part of community life.

The SPD wants to preserve and expand the news and information offerings of Hessischer Rundfunk (hr, Hesse's public broadcaster). Public broadcasting is to contribute to democratic opinion-forming as a leading medium and become cross-media. The party commits to the broadcaster's symphony orchestra and big band.

The SPD wants to strengthen Hesse's public broadcaster. It should offer a lot of good information. There should be more programs in easy language. The broadcaster's orchestra and big band should stay.

Younger people are to have more of a voice in programming, and rural areas are to be better informed and represented. The offering should reflect a pluralistic society and include more formats in easy language. A cross-media offering, meaning one spread across several media channels, is meant to reach more people. The broadcaster should not only distribute culture but remain able to stage and produce it itself.

The SPD wants to raise economic film funding and expand HessenFilm und Medien GmbH, the state film funding body. This is meant to close a gap with states that increased their budgets during the pandemic. The platform also counts the games sector among the growing creative industries.

The SPD wants to give more money for films from Hesse. Other German states have raised their funding. Hesse should catch up. Young filmmakers should get help too.

Film organizations based in Hesse, including SPIO, the film industry's voluntary self-regulation body, the Murnau foundation and the German Film Institute, are to keep good and improved location conditions. The SPD wants to achieve this together with regional industry associations. Funding for emerging talent and university film is to receive particular attention.