Observing the erosion of the previously abundant community spirit that has shaped Berlin’s arts landscape, 3D artist and Digi-gxl member Harriet Davey explains that a decrease in both funding and jobs means that people are forced to stretch themselves beyond boundaries that allows for the sustenance of collective organising and thinking within the design industry, stating, “People just don’t have the time or the energy anymore.”
While the government is doing its best to devalue art and design by defending its cuts, with Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner calling for “a change of mentality, including in culture”, multidisciplinary designer and PR specialist Judith Weber, who works with social and cultural organisations, feels that the public is more aware than ever of how the creative sector impacts them on a day-to-day basis, thanks to the activism the initial announcement of the funding cuts inspired. They explain: “The protests were really long. A lot of people went. I think that people really noticed the importance. Plus, it isn’t just some avant-garde, elite programmes being cut. It’s a wide range of cuts that might affect the whole population.”
They do, however, fear the legacy of this type of austerity in the arts, adding, “The question is what projects are going to be left in the end – who’s going to get the money? A lot of diversity funds have been cut, which gives quite a bleak outlook, and a lot of queer organisations have been severely affected. If you allow these important projects to disappear, and in the next election we have an even higher rise in conservative power, who’s going to be left to fight it?”
The threat of censorship – a well-known weapon of fascism – is another feeling that has emerged as a result of the funding cuts. With little to go around, and the centre-right CDU government coming into power later this month, it seems unlikely that critical voices will be supported above those willing to pander to party lines. And with February’s announcement of the withdrawal of an additional €15 million in culture funding in 2026, resistance through design and culture is set to be stifled by bureaucratic economics.