The year 2024 marks a special milestone in every respect. Thanks to increased funding from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM), more than twice as much funding was available. With a funding rate of 15 percent, a wide range of socio-cultural projects, organisational development and digital innovation were supported in five different funding programmes with a total of seven calls for proposals.

This is the result of continuous development of the funding programme. In addition to traditional project funding – with the General Project Funding programme, the U25 programme for young talent – Focus: Young Culture Initiatives, and the international programmes Cultural Bridge with the United Kingdom and, until 2022, Jonge Kunst with the Netherlands – the new process funding programme Profile: Socioculture now complements the funding portfolio. The programme supports institutions engaged in participatory cultural work in stabilising and raising their profile and was first announced as a regular programme in 2024 after proving its worth during the pandemic. 

Profile: Socioculture and the Techlab: Socioculture innovation programme were designed on the basis of comprehensive evaluations of previous years. Techlab: Socioculture focuses on the development of offerings that reconnect technology, business, culture and the common good. Within this framework, an international mentoring programme provided a special impetus for the innovation potential of cultural ideas with social impact. With Cultural Bridge, British and German cultural professionals are jointly developing new approaches to participation, artistic practice and community work. The Socioculture Fund provides support for this programme in the form of a matching fund, with the British side contributing approximately the same amount. The core programmes General Project Funding and U25 – Direction: Young Culture Initiatives support cultural ideas from society and reach thousands of active participants and an enthusiastic cultural audience between Rostock and Lörrach.

The statistics clearly show one thing: the need for funding remains significantly higher than the available resources.

Partners of the 2024 funding programmes:

Techlab: Soziokultur: European Space Agency (ESA), German Space Agency at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), Digital Identities and international mentors 
Cultural Bridge: Arts Council England, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, British Council, Creative Scotland, Fonds Soziokultur, Goethe-Institut London and Wales Arts International / Arts Council of Wales