On December 1, 2025, Berlin’s Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion announced the results of the first round of 2026’s Wiederaufnahmeförderung: resumption funding designed to support the re-staging of existing artistic work. Out of the 61 applications submitted, only seven were awarded funding. Developing work from the studio to public presentation is already an uphill task. For artists working in Berlin’s independent dance, theatre and performance scene, research and development periods often stretch across months, mostly underpaid and under strict time constraints. The premiere is rarely the finish line; it’s the first real encounter with an audience.
The Wiederaufnahmeförderung was created precisely to address this gap. Its stated aim is to support the re-staging of productions that have already premiered in Berlin, ensuring that the initial public investment leads to longer-term cultural impact. This would ensure that the laborious process of creation doesn’t end in a handful of performances buried in a festival schedule. A work isn’t finished at a premiere. Meaning emerges through repetition, context and accumulation. Following performances are arguably the most critical phase of a work’s life. Yet within this funding structure, only a fraction will receive support to be shown again.
Funding is allocated through different channels. The Hauptstadtkulturfonds (Capital Cultural Fund) awards individual projects with up to €15,000. The Senate Department’s broader programme for existing work allows grants of up to €30,000 per project. Both invite applications twice a year, theoretically enabling artists to reintroduce work into circulation across different performance periods. Yet the reality is stark. With less than 12% of applications approved, many artists are left wondering whether Berlin actually backs up its promise of support in the independent scene.
The premiere is rarely the finish line; it’s the first real encounter with an audience.
Berlin’s cultural administration has traditionally operated with a sizeable overall budget: around €600 million annually. Yet roughly 95% of that goes toward long-term institutional support, with only 5% available for individual artists and project funding, including resumption support. Independent artists are left to compete for a comparatively small and highly competitive pool. This pressure is compounded by broader structural precarity across the independent scene. Studio and workspace funding has stalled or diminished, threatening the infrastructure that allows artists to develop work at all. Other targeted funding streams, including inclusion-focused programmes, have been scaled back or dismantled. The contradiction is stark. Berlin continues to market itself as a global cultural capital, while the conditions that sustain its independent scene grow increasingly fragile.
Resumption funding matters because visibility fuels sustainability. When works are shown multiple times, they build audiences, generate discourse, strengthen professional networks and create pathways to touring or further commissioning. Without it, projects stall, artists move on prematurely or leave the city altogether. So how might this imbalance be addressed? One step could be to scale resumption funding in line with actual demand, rather than treating it as a marginal programme. Another approach could be tiered resumption pathways, offering varying levels of support depending on a work’s scale, maturity or intended reach. Not every project needs the same kind of second life, but most need more than one showing.
What’s clear is that the current model undercuts its own intention. Berlin’s independent scene thrives on experimentation, risk and refusal of commercial logic. For it to continue doing so, resumption funding must be treated, not as an afterthought, but as an essential part of the artistic ecosystem. Supporting the return of work is not indulgence; it’s how culture takes hold. Art does not live in a single moment; it lives through encounter after encounter.
