Cultural Spark*

Cultural Spark* wins KULTURGESTALTEN prize.

The Culture Policy Society emphasised “the visionary power of art and culture” in Augsburg on 20 October 2023 at its award ceremony for the prize KULTURGESTALTEN 2023. The Cultural Spark*, the Action Network Sustainability for Culture and Media and WIR2.0 by the city of Hanover – these are the winning projects for the Culture Policy Prize KULTURGESTALTEN, which the Kulturpolitische Gesellschaft e.V. awarded on Friday, 20 October 2023 in Augsburg. An individual prize was also awarded for the first time this year, and the first winner was Nicola Bramkamp, the art director of Save the World e.V.

The prize is funded by a grant of €15,000 in total from the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media, which has been divided equally among the three winning projects, with each one receiving €5,000. The winners in the categories Individual Projects, Initiatives and Network Projects, and (Model) Projects in Municipal Self-Governance, as well as Nicola Bramkamp’s commitment to cultural policy, all made a great impression on the jury of eleven experts thanks to their innovative formats, forward thinking and visionary perspective on social challenges. A total of 175 innovative projects had submitted an application for the KULTURGESTALTEN prize, of which 33 made it to the short list.

 More information about the prize 

What is Cultural Spark*

Cultural Spark* was launched in 2020 as a straightforward funding mechanism for independent cultural producers and has since become a catalyst for innovation, networking and community participation in the life of the city. Three years of Cultural Spark* have had a decisive impact on the cultural scene in Lübeck: there are now strong and wide-ranging links between independent artists (based in Lübeck and the wider region), cultural organisations, social and educational institutions, the Hanseatic City of Lübeck and the business community. More than 2,750 individual events organised and performed by Cultural Sparks* have taken place in Lübeck; many of them in new locations, such as shop windows, vacant premises, hidden courtyards, woodlands, in a glass elevator, on the back window of a car, in a kebab restaurant, on a sailing boat, and so on. The easy accessibility of the Cultural Sparks* means that they attract people who would otherwise find it difficult to experience cultural events, including in areas without the corresponding infrastructure, residential homes for elderly people and those with disabilities, schools and kindergartens. Innovative collaborative formats have been created involving different genres, and performances in unusual venues within the public space have attracted new audiences.

Up to €6,000 in funding is available per application (for artists, equipment and rent, for example) and up to four people can get together and apply to carry out a joint project; the funding is paid out as soon as the project has been approved.

The Possehl Foundation’s Board of Trustees has voted to continue the Cultural Sparks* in 2024 and will be providing funding for 50 more projects, in addition to staff and operating costs.

The current Cultural Sparks* programme can be found at www.kulturfunke.de and on Facebook & Instagram  (#kulturfunke).

Cultural Spark* PHOTOS 

Cultural spark in figures

• Calls for proposals: 7
• Cultural Spark* projects approved to date: 554
• Total funding 2020-2023 €4.6 million
• Events held: approx. 2,750 by 1,650 culture producers
• Where: at more than 500 venues (analogue & digital), including 300 outdoors
• Performances in social centres and schools: more than 150

More positive sparks

The Cultural Spark* has also resulted in new structures for the cultural sector: in 2021 the Cultural Spark* team, made up of Stefanie Reis, Pascal Simm, Heide Klingelhöfer and Tilo Strauss, moved into their new offices in the old town at Krähenstraße 32-34: here they have room for meetings, advising cultural producers, networking, workshops and brainstorming. A listings platform has been created on the website www.kulturfunke.de which publicises the cultural events and performances to audiences outside Lübeck and showcases the networking and advisory services offered by the Kulturtreibhaus.

German Cultural Sponsorship Prize 2020/2021

The Possehl Foundation and the Kulturtreibhaus (“Cultural Greenhouse”) were awarded the German Cultural Sponsorship Prize on 27 May 2021 for their Cultural Spark* programme. The prize is awarded by the Cultural Committee of German Business and the newspaper Handelsblatt and included a “Special prize for an outstanding cultural project in the context of covid-19”. Cultural Sparks was commended as a flexible and sustainable way of supporting cultural activities. What particularly impressed the jury was that “the initiative was repeated in autumn 2020 and spring 2021 – and is intended to continue once the crisis is past. Out of this critical situation the Possehl Foundation has managed to develop a project that enriches the cultural life of the city in a very modern way.”

ZDF "Volle Kanne", 28th May - Author: Sohad Khaldi