Few topics have stirred up the cultural landscape in recent months as much as the announced budget cuts in cities such as Berlin, where around 130 million euros are to be saved in the cultural sector in 2025 alone.1 The protest is loud, the uncertainty great - how can cultural institutions remain economically stable without jeopardizing their artistic identity and cultural mission?
In the face of financial challenges, cultural institutions must find new ways to increase their profitability. There is often a perceived contradiction between artistic identity and economic strategy - but this need not exist. The cultural mission remains unchanged, but it can be better communicated, more widely accessible and more sustainably financed using business methods. In “Run it Like a Business”, Aubrey Bergauer shows that economic thinking is not only a necessity, but also an opportunity for cultural institutions.
Those who strategically develop their creative offerings, actively involve their audience and make use of digital opportunities can tap into new sources of income - and thus remain viable in the long term. An orientation towards the needs of the audience should be taken into account in all offers - this is often not about changing the product, because that is usually not the problem. Rather, it is about target group-oriented marketing communication and low thresholds. Examples show this: Economic thinking and the preservation of cultural values need not be a contradiction in terms.