Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has been speaking to a group of 14 representatives from the culture industry in an in-depth discussion about their experiences of living through the pandemic and their struggles to survive.
In the meeting, broadcast live online, bookshop owners, cinema operators, musicians, curators, choreographers and event managers were among those to share their woes.
The conversation covered everything from furlough payments to subsidies, VAT to insurance, as well as what support might be available even years after the pandemic is over as the industry attempts to recover.
Hearing their often emotional pleas, Merkel said she recognised that the cultural industry had been particularly badly hit by the pandemic. ”I hear just how full your hearts are,” she said. One performer, close to tears, said she was living from hand to mouth, whilst another said he had been locked in a bureaucratic nightmare trying to access government aid and was considering leaving acting to work in a supermarket “just to ensure my daily needs are met”.
Fiona Stevens, a violinist at the Hofkapelle in Munich, urged Merkel to also think of the time after the pandemic. “We will need at least two years to get back on our feet,” she said. Spotting her violin in the background, Merkel told her: “I hope it’ll be heard again soon.”
Merkel said she could understand the artists’ frustration. “Those who can’t sing right now, or speak, who are losing the opportunity to develop their abilities, it’s a very sad time,” she said.
“We did not imagine what we would end up going through,” she said. She stressed that with the coming of summer, and progress in Germany’s vaccination campaign the situation would soon start to improve.
Thomas Siffling, a jazz club owner and trumpeter, told the chancellor he had little understanding for the time spent talking about football matches, whilst events like concerts, appeared not to be given the same importance. “When there’s talk about the European Championships in Munich, yet the cultural institutes have to remain closed, nobody really gets it,” he said.
Merkel replied that no decision had yet been made as to whether any spectators would be allowed into the football stadium for the Euros. She admitted it would be unfair to treat football and concerts differently: “We can’t give football its audience but not you,” she said.
Marion Closman, a cinema operator in Marburg, said what the cultural field was missing was any sense of perspective for the future. “For the cinemas it would be immensely important, to have a perspective as to when we can permanently open up again,” she said. She stressed that opening up for two weeks and having to shut down again due to rising virus rates, was not sustainable. Streaming services had been “hoovering up” all the films and cinemas had been left in the cold.
Merkel said only when incidence levels fell below 100 – currently they are around 168 per 100,000 – would it be possible to talk about openings. The discussion took place in reaction to an online campaign by leading actors #AllesDichtMachen – close everything down – in which in a series of satirical videos they vented their anger and frustration at the government’s policies towards cultural institutes and organisations.
Merkel said she took all the points made over the 90 minute duration “extremely seriously”. “I can’t paint anything in a rosy light,” Merkel said. “Neither do I want to. We can only hope that things will soon be better,” she said.
