Hauptstadtkulturfonds

The Hauptstadtkulturfonds was established in 1999 within the framework of the capital financing agreement between the federal government and the state of Berlin. It provides €15 million annually for project funding across almost all artistic disciplines as well as inter- and transdisciplinary initiatives. The HKF office is located within the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion and manages calls for proposals, jury meetings, and funding administration. The fund supports individual projects, revivals of previously funded initiatives, as well as selected culturally and politically significant festivals and special exhibitions.

The Hauptstadtkulturfonds supports significant cultural and artistic individual projects in Berlin that have national and international impact. It promotes innovative and tradition-conscious initiatives in the fields of visual arts, performing arts, film, literature, media art, music, contemporary history, and beyond, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary projects. The aim is to strengthen the federal capital as a vibrant cultural location within both the national and international context.

Primarily funded are natural and legal persons, individual artists, project groups, and organizers who wish to realize cultural projects in Berlin. The funded projects must be developed and presented in Berlin and have national or international relevance. Exclusion criteria include, among others, institutional long-term funding, purely commercially viable projects, student projects, purely publication or digitization projects, as well as applications from political parties and trade union-affiliated organizations.