At its last meeting, the Cultural Advisory Board criticized the continuing lack of appreciation for culture in the municipal budget: The share of cultural expenditure falls from 3.6 percent (2023) to 3.19 percent (2024) and 2.99 percent (2025) to around 2.8 percent in the 2026 draft chamber budget - despite the city's rising income.

Particularly serious: the cultural development plan is to receive only 50,000 euros in 2026, while independent project funding will fall from around 240,000 percent (for 2024, including transition) to 80,000 percent for 2026. The lack of dynamization of institutional grants, which was recently agreed in the cultural development plan, will lead to de facto cuts - with price increases of over 20 percent since 2020 - which will have a particularly devastating impact on the existence of independent non-profit organizations.

The Cultural Advisory Board is therefore calling for the implementation of the "further requirements", including full jury recommendations, a dynamization according to the price index, the strengthening of project funding and the continuation of the cultural development plan - at least an additional 1.2 million euros in total.

"The independent scene is not only structurally underfunded, it is now in danger of collapsing without active political intervention," warns Dr. Helmut Müller, Chairman of the committee. "We are not only endangering the independent scene itself, but also the cultural diversity of our city. Especially in these times, Wiesbaden needs a clear commitment to art and culture - otherwise we will lose their power as a space for dialog, cohesion and social change."

On the occasion of the budget deliberations, the committee appeals in a letter to the chairpersons and cultural policy spokespersons of the city hall parliamentary groups. The full letter is published on the website www.kulturbeirat-wiesbaden.de.