– City wants to increase subsidies by 1 million francs
The city council has announced which cultural institutions it wants to support financially over the next four years. Three new ones are added to the previous ones.
Published today at 9:00 p.m
The dance group “Le Patin libre” at the Winterthur dance festival. The organizers will receive 30,000 francs annually from 2025.
Photo: PD (Thomas Koller)
It is a suprise. The city council wants to make one million francs more money available to cultural institutions – in the form of temporary subsidies. The city of Winterthur is currently supporting twenty cultural institutions with fixed-term contracts. Now three new ones are to be added: the Tanzfest Winterthur association, the Theater Ariane and the Lauschig cultural mediation association.
“For us, this is a sign that even small cultural venues are taken seriously and noticed,” says Jordi Vilardaga, director of the Ariane Theater. Since it was founded thirteen years ago, the theater has operated without fixed subsidies – which has often pushed it to the limits of its existence. The city’s money now provides some planning security.
The theater is expected to receive around 60,000 francs annually from 2025 to 2028. “Since we were promised subsidies from the canton at the same time, we now have a perspective. This is vitally important for us.”
Fees and sustainability taken into account
The contracts are valid for four years and can be extended once until 2032. The old ones will expire at the end of December 2024. When awarding the award starting in 2025, the Winterthur city council took into account criteria such as fair salaries and wages and consideration of ecological and social sustainability. “The process was thorough, but took a long time,” says Mayor Michael Künzle (center). “Too long.”
Now many cultural workers can breathe a sigh of relief. For example, Astrid Künzler, general manager of the Tanzfest Winterthur association. This is to receive subsidies for the first time, probably 30,000 francs annually. “We don’t know how long we could have continued without the money.”
In its instructions to parliament, the city council estimates the volume of the temporary subsidy contributions to be 4.24 million francs annually. That is an increase of a total of one million francs. This significant increase in contributions despite difficult financial conditions is “a commitment to the cultural city of Winterthur,” says Künzle.
The city parliament is responsible for approving 11 of the 23 contracts. As soon as this has granted the loans for the subsidy contributions, the city council approves the loans for the remaining 12 that fall within its responsibility.
The city parliament decides on the loans for the following institutions: Photomuseum Foundation, OnThur Association (Salzhaus, Albani, Kraftfeld, Gasworks), Historical Association (Museum Creating), Theater am Gleis Association, Winterthur Music Festival Weeks Association, Association for Arranging Theater Performances for Children and Young People ( “Theater Spring”/“eyes up!”), the Association for the Cellar Theater, the International Short Film Festival Winterthur Association, the Swiss Foundation for Photography (Photo Foundation), the Puppet Theater Association and the Music Association.
The city council decides on the loans for the following institutions: Tanzinwinterthur Association, Afro-Pfingsten Association, Kunsthalle Winterthur Association, Theater Cooperative for the Canton of Zurich, Theater Ariane Cooperative, Kulturhaus Villa Sträuli Association, Oxyd – Kunsträume Association, Ensemble Theater am Gleis Association, Lauschig – Association for Cultural Education, Esse Jazz Association, Winterthur Dance Festival Association and the Cinema Cameo Association.
The city council had originally only planned an increase of 300,000 francs for the temporary subsidies. The cultural lobby, which brings together over a hundred institutions, organizations and cultural workers, then launched a campaign and demanded more money.
Surprise at the culture lobby
“We actually didn’t expect that,” says Nicole Mayer from the culture lobby. “We are positively surprised, things are going in the right direction.” The culture lobby also sees the news as a partial success of its campaign. This probably contributed to the city council reconsidering and reassessing the importance of culture for the city.
Künzle puts it into perspective: “The city council set the 300,000 francs as a ‘placeholder’ as part of the budget discussion. “This is in the knowledge that the discussions about the contributions are not yet complete.”
Parliament still has to vote on part of the money. Künzle looks forward to the debate in parliament – the “cultural city of Winterthur” is also important to the city parliament. Mayer from the culture lobby is more skeptical. “We are only at the beginning of the political process,” she points out. The project-related contributions were recently reduced. And that’s why the culture lobby will stick with it. “There is still a lot to do.”
Culture in WinterthurAnnette Saloma is an editor in the City of Winterthur department. She originally completed a commercial apprenticeship with a vocational qualification and has been working as a journalist for over 20 years. She has two children and is active in various clubs. More info
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2024-01-08 20:05:37
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