The Importance of Cultural Education for Young People and the Threat of Budget Cuts

Wiechell says that young people often deal with topics that are important to them. With questions and challenges, such as climate change. And through cultural offerings, find opportunities to deal with these questions artistically and aesthetically. “It’s all about questioning, being critical and also trying to find solutions so that you can get involved.”

Ultimately, this attitude and the discovery of one’s own creative and expression possibilities would be a decisive factor for fairer social participation and also for whether our society functions well.

Boltes adds: “It’s important to find your own way of expressing yourself. This can be a creative writing workshop. This can be a lyric that I write. This can be a picture or a dance.” However, it is important that young people are accompanied and supported by specialists.

According to an article by the Agency for Educational Journalism, Saxony-Anhalt’s Minister of Culture Rainer Robra (CDU) is also convinced of the importance of cultural education: “Education in cultural institutions is fundamental for cultural participation. Barrier-free participation is possible for everyone through creative approaches. (…) Cultural education is an important part of lifelong learning and can contribute to democratic personality development.”

Despite the great importancewhich is also given to cultural education by politicians, are included in the draft budget for the Federal Children and Youth Plan (KJP) major cuts planned. Accordingly, instead of the current 239 million euros, only just under 200 million euros should be made available in 2024. “That means massive cuts,” says LKJ managing director Wiechell. Voluntary services in particular would be affected, which would result in the loss of young perspectives and important staff. Many offers for young people who were already particularly affected by the pandemic were therefore at risk of being canceled.