German Cultural Council

The German Culture Council, or Deutscher Kulturrat in German, is the umbrella organization of the German cultural associations and has its headquarters in Berlin.  It is a political and lobbying association, member, for example, of European Movement International. The council is funded by taxpayers. It defines itself as a point of contact for the politics and administration of the German federal government, the German federal states, and the European Union in all cultural policy matters that overlap the individual branches of the German Cultural Council. Its purpose is to bring cross-sectoral issues into cultural policy discussions at all government levels, and "to advocate freedom of the arts, publications and information." In 2018, it called for German talkshows to be shut down for one year. History The association was founded in 1981 as a response to the German Federal government which wanted to abolish the reduced VAT tax on books and visual media. Fifteen artist and retailer associations succeeded in their protests and next founded the council. Its main source of funding is German federal funds. Membership fees and the sale of books on cultural policy provide are a minimal part of its income. Since its inception, it was established that the Cultural Council should become an "umbrella organization of umbrella organizations". In 1995, the working group was transferred to the fixed and more effective structure of a non-profit association. Early in the new millennium, it became the recognized umbrella organization of the federal cultural associations.