SPD on culture and media

The SPD wants to strengthen memorial sites on the Nazi era, expand visitor programs and root remembrance work more firmly in the regions. Hambach Castle is to get a new permanent exhibition for the 200th anniversary of the Hambach Festival in 2032.

The SPD wants to remember the crimes of the Nazi era. Memorial sites should get more support. More school classes should visit them. Hambach Castle will get a new exhibition by 2032.

The platform names the former concentration camp sites Hinzert, Osthofen and Neustadt as well as sites remembering other persecuted groups. Residents are to get help researching their town's history, especially under Nazi rule. A project with the state media authority is planned to preserve eyewitness memories. Sites of former prisoner-of-war camps are to become places of civic education; the SPD rejects the far right's use of memorials for its own ends. Remembrance work is also to cover the postwar period up to today, and the federal government is to contribute much more money for Hambach.

The SPD wants to build on the state's cultural development planning and work out a clear framework for arts funding together with artists, as a basis for a cultural funding act. Access to grants is to become easier. Artists should be able to make a living from their work.

The SPD wants to fund culture reliably. There should be clear rules for this. Artists should have a say in the rules. Applying for grants should be easier. Artists should be able to live from their work.

The funding guideline for culture is to become less bureaucratic, and for further areas the party will examine whether multi-year funding or funding beyond the budget year is possible. Scholarships, grants and existing prizes are to be strengthened. Funding structures are to be geared more closely to real living and working conditions. At the federal level, the SPD wants to push for better social security for people working in the arts.

The SPD wants to keep strengthening the state's major theaters, art-house cinemas, the independent arts scene and volunteer-run cultural initiatives. The program "Zukunft durch Kultur" (Future through Culture) is to be expanded, and more municipalities are to get regional culture managers. A solution is to be found for the high GEMA fees paid by nonprofit clubs.

The SPD wants to strengthen theaters and cinemas in the state. Independent theater groups should get help too. Volunteer culture groups get support from paid staff. Clubs often pay a lot for music to GEMA. GEMA collects money for musicians. The SPD wants to find a solution for this.

The Staatstheater Mainz, the theaters in Trier and Koblenz and the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern are to be strengthened. Cinema funding, including the cinema program prize, is to be developed further and linked more closely with media funding. For independent theater, the SPD plans a statewide network to make rehearsal spaces easier to use. On GEMA fees, it wants to work out a solution with everyone involved and push for uniform rules at the federal level. The Kultursommer Rheinland-Pfalz festival is to keep receiving funding and be developed further.

The SPD wants every child to gain early access to culture regardless of social background. Arts education is to be expanded, especially in cooperation with all-day schools. Libraries are to be secured as places of participation and supported in going digital.

Every child should experience art and music early on. This should not depend on the parents' money. Artists should work more with all-day schools. The SPD also wants to strengthen libraries. Libraries should get more digital services.

The program "Jedem Kind seine Kunst" (Art for Every Child), youth art schools and music schools are to keep receiving funding. The SPD wants to give targeted support to cooperation between artists and all-day schools. Libraries are to receive help with new services and with the digital transition. The SPD also wants to support artists and cultural institutions with digital concepts and with the use of artificial intelligence.

The SPD wants to preserve the state's cultural heritage, make it accessible to everyone and raise its profile beyond the state. State-owned monuments are to be renovated, the monument protection act made less bureaucratic and a monument protection prize created. The party wants to pursue the restitution of cultural property consistently.

Rhineland-Palatinate has many old castles and World Heritage sites. The SPD wants to keep and repair them. Everyone should be able to visit them. The law on protecting monuments should become simpler. There should be a prize for people who protect monuments. The SPD wants to return cultural objects that were wrongly acquired.

The digital projects "Kreuz Rad Löwe" and KuLaDig will continue in order to make history, culture and landscape more visible. Jewish heritage, including the SchUM cities and rural Jewish life, is to be preserved. Construction and renovation work is planned at sites such as Ehrenbreitstein Fortress and the castles of Sterrenberg, Nassau, Trifels and Nanstein. The state museums are to keep presenting historical state exhibitions. The SPD justifies the restitution of cultural property with historical responsibility.

The SPD is committed to the dual media system of public broadcasting and private media and wants to permanently safeguard media law against anti-democratic threats. Large platforms are to face stronger obligations and effective regulation at the EU level as well. The state media authority is to remain independent.

The SPD wants to keep both public and private media. Public media are, for example, ARD and ZDF. Media law should protect democracy. Big internet platforms should get more duties. Fact-based content should be easier to find. The EU should also set stricter rules for platforms.

The program cites threats to democracy, economic pressure on journalism and the market power of global platforms as reasons. Through the interstate media treaties, public broadcasting is to become more regional, more digital and more efficient. The Digital Media State Treaty, which Rhineland-Palatinate helps shape as the chairing state, is to secure fair competition and make fact-based content easier to find. The Medienanstalt Rheinland-Pfalz (state media authority) is to stay financially and organizationally independent, and the SPD wants to strengthen its pluralistic boards, which operate at arm's length from the state.

The SPD wants to bundle the state's media literacy programs in a joint strategy across all ministries and make them visible under one umbrella brand. It calls for clear, age-appropriate rules for social media use by children and teenagers. Community media and open channels are to be strengthened.

People should know how to use media well. The state has many programs for this. The SPD wants to combine them in one plan. Children and teenagers should be protected online. There should be clear rules by age for social media.

The strategy is to cover offerings from schools and youth work to programs for older people and give them a clearer focus. Places for media participation are to be strengthened statewide. The more than 700 volunteer digital ambassadors who help older people will be kept. The SPD wants to keep supporting volunteer work in community media, such as city council television. A statewide media library is to make contributions from open channels and media associations available in one place.

The SPD wants to expand the state's media funding and focus it more on film and games. A new Film Commission Rheinland-Pfalz is to support film productions as a central point of contact. At the federal level, the party advocates public support for the press.

The SPD wants to give more money for films and video games. There should be a new office for film crews. It is called the Film Commission. It helps with filming in the state. Newspaper publishers should also get federal support.

Based on a study of the state as a media location, infrastructure, the supply of skilled workers and innovation funding are to be improved. Media funding is to be networked beyond the state's borders. The Film Commission is to promote regional filming locations and secure more contracts for local film professionals. The SPD wants to invest in young creative talent and link the media industry, universities, artists and civil society more closely. Press support is meant to secure a diverse publishing landscape.