SPD on culture and media

The SPD wants to double cultural funding within two legislative terms. The money is to benefit, among other things, the digitalization of cultural institutions, grassroots and community culture, and cultural life in rural areas.

The SPD wants to spend twice as much money on culture. This should happen over two terms of government. Rural areas should also have good cultural life. Small stages, movie theaters and clubs should be modernized.

Community culture, intercultural work, inclusion and grassroots culture are to be strengthened; the SPD wants to support underrepresented groups through training, programs and quotas. The program names libraries and music schools statewide, more youth art schools, more touring performances by regional theaters and independent groups, and more money for choirs, amateur culture and folk music. A program called "Gute Kulturorte 2025" is to upgrade smaller venues, clubs, meeting places and memorial sites in terms of technology, energy use and accessibility. An annual festival for LGBTIQ* culture is also planned. The SPD wants to actively advance the Ruhr region's bid for UNESCO World Heritage status.

The SPD wants to raise the minimum fee set in the state's culture law significantly and expand social protection for artists. Cultural funding is to take gender equity into account.

Artists should be paid better. The culture law sets a minimum fee. That is the lowest pay allowed. The SPD wants to raise it clearly. Social protection for artists should also get better.

The program promises better funding and fair fee agreements for people working in the arts. To protect the dignity of everyone involved in the cultural sector, support and counseling services as well as oversight mechanisms are to be set up and developed further. Where there is systemic misconduct, an institution's funding can be ended.

The SPD wants to keep WDR as a full-service public broadcaster with adequate funding from the broadcasting fee. More of its content should be freely licensed, and its broadcasting council should reflect society more broadly.

The SPD wants to keep WDR strong. WDR is the public broadcaster in the state. It should keep offering a full program. It should get enough money from the broadcasting fee. More of its shows should be free for everyone to use.

The program commits to WDR, the largest state broadcaster, as a full-service channel with adequate fee funding. More content produced or commissioned by WDR should carry Creative Commons licenses, especially educational, news, information and knowledge content. The WDR broadcasting council should also include groups that are not, or no longer, represented there. The SPD also welcomes ideas for a European platform that makes public-service content available across borders. In addition, it wants to expand accessible formats such as sign language and plain language.

The SPD wants to strengthen local journalism and keep North Rhine-Westphalia's local radio stations with their own newsrooms. To fund journalism in the long run, it should be eligible for nonprofit status, alongside new funding models.

The SPD wants to protect local news. Local radio stations should keep their own newsrooms. Journalism should be able to count as nonprofit work. That means it serves the public and pays less tax.

The program calls local radio indispensable for local information and for disaster response. It aims to include journalism in nonprofit law, to fund a shared marketing platform, and to develop further models such as foundations. Volunteer outlets such as citizen media should receive support. The state media authority (Landesanstalt für Medien NRW) should in future also be able to fund digital innovations that make journalistic content easier to find, distribute or market. The SPD also calls for fair working conditions for media workers and protection from violence and threats.

The SPD wants to further strengthen North Rhine-Westphalia as a location for games and media, especially the Ruhr area. A new event format is meant to bring together the online community and traditional media.

The SPD wants to strengthen the media industry in the state. This includes video games. The Ruhr area should benefit most. There should be a new event that moves between cities.

The program describes the state as Germany's leading games location. It plans a new event format held in changing places across the state, linking the creativity of the online scene with the experience of established media. Institutions such as the Grimme Institute, the Film- und Medienstiftung, the Mediengründerzentrum and the International Film School are to be funded and developed further.