Culture professionals network | Guardian Professional: The wailing and gnashing of teeth about the disintegration of cultural institutions – an increasingly difficult and at the same time incomprehensible economic situation – and the vanishing political lobby for so-called 'high culture' is a never-ending phenomenon in Germany. Set against the background of the European and wider economic crisis, the breast-beating is louder than ever.
6 comments:
This article stated that Germany has unparallelled public funding of the arts which is interesting because on the news we always hear about Germany being the source of austerity measures. Usually the arts funding seems to come to the chopping block here in the US and I am amazed that the Germans have not had the same mentality. The Europeans in general seem to have a greater respect and need for art than in a majority of the US. The idea of getting people into the arts earlier seems to be a popular concept around the world and I hope that it works for the Germans. Maybe I need to start learning German so I can work where there is a greater respect and funding for the work we do.
I am not surprised at all to learn that Germany is has this program. It is well known that Europe treasures the arts more, so it only stands to reason that they would have more funding and programs for their youth. I think that this is a wonderful program to get younger people interested in the arts. Having them be a part of general management, marketing, PR and artistic management, and booking an actual act such as Samy Deluxe and the Tsunami Band really gives them great experience and can give an idea of what its really like. I also think that it is brilliant because even if some of these kids don't go into the arts later in life, they will most likely be managers or higher ups of some sort, and hopefully they will have fond memories and keep the arts dear in their hearts. Which in turn would make future generations of Germans more apt to keeping the arts alive. I think that that is one of many things that the US is lacking in arts, younger generations who want to preserve something as 'frivolous' as art.
I think it's really great that there is public funding available to allot leadership and delegate artistic responsibility to kids so young. Between 15-18 is a difficult age to execute confidence, no matter what culture you belong in. This kind of experience will give these kids inherent training in problem solving, and resource management. Like Sonia mentioned, these skills will be priceless whether or not they choose paths in the arts in the long run. I am really impressed by the leadership training that this kind of opportunity provides. Like Luke mentioned, arts funding over here is frequently the first thing to get cut, but the funding we have is often allotted for teaching skills like drawing, painting, photography, singing, dance, or acting, talents that often exist naturally within someone and must be enhanced or developed. Rarely do you see something like this where management skills and leadership strategies are cultivated within this age group.
This program sounds fascinating and should be a model for how "internships" are treated here. It is fairly clear to me that this is modeled after an apprentice program rather than internship, because of the clear respect offered to the involved students. The article states they are treated as equals among the permanent staff, something that I do believe the Germans are more capable at doing than we are, especially given a selection pool as large as they have.
As Luke mentions, I am also very surprised that Germany supports the arts as well as they do. Maybe we have a lesson to take from them.
This is a smart model. I am personally very thankful that I got the opportunity to Stage Manage at my performing arts high school...I wouldn't be where I am now without that experience. The opportunities that the Beethovenfest Student Managers are given through the program are going to help them understand what it takes to manage in the arts, and if they are interested in pursuing any arts management position as a career. Many students are not exposed to all of the possible careers in the arts until they are in college- at which point they will probably need to go to graduate school in order to truly specialize. Judging by how the arts are thriving in Germany right now, I am not surprised that this program exists there. I hope that other countries and companies can learn by example.
As someone who initially began studying music/arts business and management in my undergrad I find this particularly interesting. From what I can deduce they are fully immersing the students into this structure and environment, allowing to learn first hand how the business works. This is something that I find vastly more rewarding than putting a bunch of kids in a room and lecturing to them about theoretical situations and what they might encounter because ultimately that's never enough.
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