Themes & Focuses 

Cultural institutions can apply for funding twice a year in all artistic and cross-disciplinary areas. Only innovative projects with an international context can receive General Project Funding from the Federal Cultural Foundation. 

We support individual projects of excellence and of experimental nature that highlight topical social and cultural issues.

We develop multi-year, application-based funding programmes on current cultural issues through extensive research and consultation with the cultural scene. Its funding enables theatres, libraries and museums, for example, to engage with new audience groups and critically examine their existing structures.

Cultural Beacons are top-rate institutions and event series that play an influential role in their respective field and exemplify the rich character of Germany’s cultural scene. The current Cultural Beacons include the documenta, the Donaueschinger Musiktage and the Berlin Theatertreffen. Thanks to multi-year funding, Cultural Beacons enjoy a greater degree of planning security.

Asking questions is an essential part of our work at the Federal Cultural Foundation. It allows us to discover and better understand the issues that drive the art and cultural scene. ‘fünf zu eins’(five to one) is a online magazine of the German Federal Cultural Foundation. Twice a year, we present five works of art and culture that address a question of contemporary relevance.