3. Civil society keyholders and the private sector?
When answering this question, please be aware of different levels (national, regional, local). Please use 1-3 pages (500-1500
words)
Are there relevant youth organisations in your country? Yes_X__ No___
If yes, what extent do these organisations have and do they carry out culture-related activities (for
example youth passes of discount to entities, youth culture festivals, training courses etc.)?
There are different forms for youth participation and youth self-organization in Germany. Some give
young people the chance to represent their own interests, such as youth parliaments or school
representative committees, which can advise local or regional authorities and be consulted. More
open forms such as youth forums or youth district meetings can fulfil a similar function. A more
sectorally specific form is the youth organization/association (Jugendverband), which brings young
people together in certain areas of interest. They have a democratic structure with board and
committee positions filled by young people, unless their size requires a full-time managing position.
Further to representing their interests, these organizations have also educational and intermediary
functions, offering informal and non-formal education and providing space for leisure activities. They
thus have a role to play in the youth work and welfare system by cooperating with and participating in
the provision of youth work services. Jugendverbände can be generally represented at county and
Land level in sector-specific associations, and particularly through the 16 Landesjugendringe, which
also pertain to the Bundesjugendring, thus organizing, according to the organization, ca. 5.5m young
people.
According to the National Education Report 2008, 36% of 16 to 21 year olds held organizing
positions in associations or clubs; another 32% took part weekly in activities. Participation in leisureoriented clubs was even higher: 56% of young people are said to take part regularly in such offers or
take up posts there. The data does not however distinguish between organizations run mainly by
adults and youth organizations proper. Similarly, the latest Shell Youth Study from 2006 had 33% of
respondents say that they are often, 42% that they are sometimes active for social or civil society
objectives. The educational background of the respondent is often determinant here, with young
people with higher educational qualifications more involved. The Freiwilligen-Survey 2007 has similar
general figures, and provides data for voluntary activity in the area of culture and music. It found that
culture and music is the third most regularly exercised form of youth activity (22% of young people are
active this way), after sports and leisure activities. However, it also found that young people are less
likely to engage in voluntary organizational work in this sector (only 5% do so), placing culture and
music after voluntary engagement in the sports, school and church sector.
This seems to translate into the number of self-organized youth associations at local, county,
Land or Bund level, which is lower than the cultural interest of young people as participants in
activities would suggest. Of these, the majority has not cultural but confessional, environmental,
socio-political, or sports aims; they are often related to parties, unions, or relief organizations. Of the
associations with an explicit cultural remit, most stem from the music sector, particularly orchestral
and choral, which are often linked as independent youth units to self-organized representations of the
sector. The cultural youth organizations are also often organized in the Landesvereinigungen
Kulturelle Jugendbildung. Some youth organizations, whose principal aim may not necessarily be
access to culture, have become direct interlocutors for the government in the cultural field; e.g. the
Deutsche Jugend aus Russland e.V. is cited several times in the cultural chapter of the National
Integration Plan in its aim to improve access of young people with migration background to culture.
Are there any alternative or independent cultural youth movements (for example reclaim the streets or
others)?
Yes____ No_X__ Are these active movements?
Historically, the German youth movement (Jugendbewegung) dates back to the 1890s. It is at least in
its beginnings mainly critical of industrial urban society and organizes young people in excursions to
nature often in combination with musical activity. It is dissolved under National Socialism. There is no
evidence of contemporary organized youth movements with a wide remit and impact. As we will see
below, by contrast, there is a whole host of different small-scale and often short-lived affiliations and
engagements, which can have to do with particular local cultural claims, without transforming these
into an organized youth movement.
Please describe briefly the impact that civil society organisations and movements have in your opinion
in fostering access to culture for young people.
Civil society organizations and voluntary civil society engagement provide the core infrastructure for
youth access to culture. 80% of publicly funded measures in youth work are delivered by nongovernmental associations, organizations, and initiatives – so-called “independent providers” (freie
Träger). These include music schools, youth arts museums, media workshops, music associations,
museum pedagogical services, amateur theatre groups, etc. Many of these cannot be entirely selffinancing; they thus receive support in form of allocations (Zuwendungen) from public authorities.1 As
we showed earlier, the Bund supports supra-regional non-governmental actors, and makes it
mandatory for the Länder to support the activities of both public and independent providers of youth
work; the latter have here priority. Furthermore, public broadcasters are charged to provide cultural
and educational programmes. The churches also traditionally play a significant role, not only in the
provision of cultural youth work but also through libraries, musical offers and press. NGOs, not-forprofit organizations, associations and cultural institutions are thus key to facilitating youth access to
culture.
Through their self-organization and the drive of individuals, they also often trigger change and
innovation in the field. We have already mentioned the organized representation of interests of
cultural associations and institutions, such as the Bundesvereinigung Kulturelle Jugendbildung or the
Deutscher Kulturrat, which are very present in public and policy debates. But change is also driven
through particularly engaged individuals. In this sense, for instance, the film Rhythm Is It! (2004),
which documented the education programme Zukunft@BPhil of the Berlin Philharmonics under its
British director Sir Simon Rattle, represented something of a turning point in the public perception of
youth cultural work. Due to its high profile, exceptional infrastructure, and private backers, but above
all personal clout, it brought cultural education work – of which a rich landscape already existed – to
public awareness. But also outside such flagship projects, it is key figures in every city and Land,
often from not-for-profit bodies, associations, grassroots initiatives or dedicated personnel in the
culture offices of local administrations, who have give the vital impulses in the development of
framework concepts, policies and programmes.
Much of this work is voluntary, unpaid civil society engagement. The parliamentary
Commission of Inquiry Kultur in Deutschland, also taking recourse to another Commission Inquiry on
“The Future of Civil Society Engagement” (2002), highlighted the fact that over 3 million people in
Germany volunteer in the cultural sector, across a wide spectrum of activities, responsibilities and
structures. The engagement is such, it suggests, that if the voluntary posts had to be replaced by fulltime staff, between 370.000 and 610.000 posts would need to be filled – worth between €9.6 and
€16bn. The Freiwilligen-Survey 2007 (with data from 2004) provides further data. It registers a
general rise in engagement rates among the population, across old and new Länder, and also in
migrant communities, which translate to the cultural sector. There, 18% of the population are active,
and 5.5% engaged voluntarily. Over half of voluntary engagement is in the music sector, with the
visual arts, theatre, and tradition/custom other emphases; it is particularly older generations who are
increasingly engaged. Overall, there is still a difference between East and West Germany, with the
former showing less voluntary engagement in the cultural sector. Men are still more active than
women, although the gap is closing. Particularly in the arts and cultural sector, volunteers tend to
have a good or very good education background.
This survey, the Commission of Inquiry report, and many other publications highlight the
obstacles that hinder civil society activity in culture and particularly cultural education. These range
from financial instability due to project-based rather than structural funding, a high amount of
bureaucratization, funding regulations, fiscal law, and highly complex fiscal, insurance and similar
legislation. They also show that particular formation and qualification offers are still less prevalent in
this than in other sectors. In this field, the Voluntary Social Year Culture, and a similar
transgenerational offer, have become particularly pertinent to perpetuate and qualify voluntary work,
while it remains of course subject to the same structural constraints.
Is the private sector active in your country in activities related to promoting access to culture? Yes_X_
No____
1
For the legal details and implications of this form of support, see the Commission of Inquiry report (2007), p.
166 and 501.
If yes, what would be the main forms of fostering access (festivals, cultural services, training, private
media, shows, etc.). Please mention some relevant agents/entities of the private sector that foster
access to culture of young people?
While now stagnating, private donations have become an important part of cultural funding in
Germany. As the Commission of Inquiry found, an estimated €200-500m reach the cultural sector a
year in private donations. Another, important form of private investment are the private foundations,
often set up by banks or corporations, which participate actively in many of the significant projects to
promote youth access to culture. The PwC-Foundation Jugend-Bildung-Kultur has funded the
influential conferences Kinder zum Olymp! and its main publication. The Foundation of the Deutsche
Bank also supports Kinder zum Olymp!, as well as many other projects facilitating young people’s
access to culture, such as for example Walraff der Museumsbus. The Sparkassen-Kulturfonds has
funded key research, such as the first empirical study on youth access to culture, but has also other
projects including educational services surrounding the international contemporary arts exhibition
documenta12. The Allianz-Kulturstiftung has also supported many different projects, from workshops
over pilot projects to youth orchestras. From the non-banking sector, private entrepreneurs or
business groups have set up foundations with charitable ends. The Bertelsmann-Foundation has
supported mainly musical education and young opera singers. The Robert Bosch Stiftung, funding for
example the voluntary engagement of young people in museums, the Stiftung Mercator or the KörberStiftung are other examples of foundations active in the field.