The
KuPoGe
The Association for Cultural Policy (german: Kulturpolitische Gesellschaft e.V.) was founded in 1976 and is the platform for cultural policy discourse in theory and practice in Germany.
The KuPoGe is a network and association of around 1,500 people and organisations interested in and committed to cultural policy from the fields of cultural policy and administration, cultural practice, science, art, cultural education and training, social practice work and journalism, among others.
It is responsible for the Institute for Cultural Policy (IfK) and two national contact points for EU funding programmes – the german contact point for the »Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values« (CERV) funding programme and the Creative Europe Desk KULTUR (CED) thus the desk for the Creative Europe’s Culture Programme in Germany. It is also currently coordinating the European Compendium for Cultural Policies and Trends.
Goals and
Tasks
KuPoGe is committed to publicly accountable, democratic cultural policy that is actively shaped at all political levels, ensures cultural diversity and artistic freedom and that aims to enable as many people as possible to access and participate in art and culture.
To this end, it provides impetus for reform processes, drafts guiding principles and objectives for cultural policy together with stakeholders from the arts, culture and cultural policy and contributes to their conceptual design.
Main areas of work
- Intensification of cultural policy discussion and exchange
- Communicating and discussing information and professional perspectives through publications and events
- Qualification and profiling of cultural policy and cultural policy research
- Preparation of scientific expertise, stocktaking and research commissions
Activities and services
Association for Cultural Policy develops digital and analogue exchange formats that create spaces for discussion and exchange. The Association for Cultural Policy conferences, e.g. the biennial Federal Cultural Policy Congress, or the thematic summer/autumn academies are effective forums for cultural policy discussion in Germany.
In the Association for Cultural Policy regional groups, members have the opportunity to exchange experiences, network and help shape regional cultural policy. They are an important base and seismograph of national political activity.
Association for Cultural Policy publishes the quarterly journal »Kulturpolitische Mitteilungen«, the »Jahrbuch für Kulturpolitik«, a biennial featuring research article on selected focus topics and the publication series »Edition Umbruch. Texte zur Kulturpolitik« series. Podcasts and web talks are available online and focus on current topics. Members also receive the members’ newsletter. In addition, we provide information about the association’s current activities in our digital newsletter every two weeks.
The cultural policy information system KIS offers online databases with a comprehensive bibliography, chronicle and conference calendar.
The Creative Europe Desk CULTURE is the official german national contact point funding from the European Union. The contact point provides information and advice on the EU funding programme Creative Europe CULTURE.
The CERV Germany contact point provides advice and information on the European Union’s »Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values« (CERV) funding programme.
Organisational chart
Statutes and
policy programme
The Association for Cultural Policy is committed to a publicly accountable, democratic cultural policy that is actively shaped at all political levels, ensures cultural diversity and artistic freedom and aims to provide access to art and culture to as many people as possible.
Our
history
The Association for Cultural Policy was founded in Hamburg in 1976 as a nationwide association for the development of cultural policy and has been based in the federal city of Bonn since 1996, after stops in Cologne and Hagen.
The beginnings
The founding and development of the Association were determined by the aim of bringing the reformist political commitment of the 1970s (»Daring more democracy«) to bear in the cultural sector. Hermann Glaser, Hilmar Hoffmann, Olaf Schwencke, Alfons Spielhoff and others, who were also the initiators of the Association for Cultural Policy, were key actors of this movement.
The development
A structural peculiarity of the german cultural sector was also decisive for the founding initiative of the association: due to the federalist structure of the distribution of competences and the tendency to view the arts from a sectoral perspective, there was no overarching exchange of experiences and hardly any programmatic debates that could have given cultural policy as a whole a profile and visibility. This shortcoming was to be countered by the founding of an independent forum as a neutral level alongside the spheres of interest of cultural policy, administration and the cultural scene.
KuPoGe in figures
| 1976 | Foundation of the Association for Cultural Policy on 10 June in Hamburg-Altona (then West Germany) |
|---|---|
| 1977 | Publication of the first issue of »Kulturpolitischen Mitteilungen« (published quarterly) and first joint cultural policy colloquium with the Academy of Loccum. |
| 1978 | Publication of the first edition of the »Dokumentationen« series |
| 1981 | Call for the foundation of the German Cultural Council; after its foundation: Membership in the Council for social arts practice and Cultural Education |
| 1986 | Initiative to found the Fonds Soziokultur e.V. and participation in the fund’s committees from 1988 until today |
| 1990 | Establishment and operation of an office for the new, eastern german federal states in Berlin (until 1994) |
| 1993 | Establishment of the publication series »Edition Umbruch. Texte zur Kulturpolitik« |
| 1996 | Relocation of the office from Hagen to the House of Culture in Bonn and establishment of the Institute for Cultural Policy |
| 1997 | End of mandate of the founding president Dr Olaf Schwencke and election of the new president Dr Oliver Scheytt |
| 1998 | Adoption of a new cultural policy programme |
| 2000 | Start of funding for the Institute for Cultural Policy by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media (BKM) |
| 2001 | Organisation of the first Federal Cultural Policy Congress and publication of the first »Jahrbuch für Kulturpolitik« |
| 2004 | Cultural Contact Point (CCP), since 2014 under the name Creative Europe Desk KULTUR (CED), becomes a legal entity within the Association for Cultural Policy |
| 2008 | Establishment of the Contact Point Germany »Europa für Bürgerinnen und Bürger« (KS EfBB) (since 2022 CERV) |
| 2012 | Discussion and adoption of a new policy programme |
| 2018 | Election of the new President Dr Tobias J. Knoblich and end of mandate to the previous President Prof Dr Oliver Scheytt |
| 2026 | 50th anniversary of the association |
Funding and funding organisations
The Association for Cultural Policy is financed by membership fees and advertisements as well as funding from the german federal government, the state of Northrhine westfalia and EU funds.