Magdeburg: AfD seeks deep cut to funding for 'Theater of the Year'
The AfD group on Magdeburg's city council is questioning funding for the city's theater. Management warns entire divisions could close; the Left Party calls it a cultural 'sledgehammer' policy.
Symbolic image · Photo: AndreasDrabe / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped and resized)
The AfD group on Magdeburg's city council wants to significantly cut the annual subsidy for Theater Magdeburg. By its calculation, the theater costs taxpayers 37 million euros a year while generating around 4 million euros itself. The aim, it says, is not closure but to examine whether the city must produce all its offerings with complete in-house structures. The motion is due to be debated at a council session in early November.
The theater's administrative director, Bettina Pesch, warned: "Structural cuts would inevitably mean the closure of entire divisions." Savings on that scale would not be possible without massive job cuts, she said. The theater was named "Theater of the Year" in 2025; according to the state chancellery, its current contract with the state runs until the end of 2028.
Left Party council group leader Noah Biswanger called the motion "emblematic of their cultural sledgehammer policy." The SPD/Animal Protection Alliance/Volt group sees the theater's existence at risk, and the Garden Party rejects cuts to culture and sport. The backdrop is a 47-million-euro gap in the city's draft budget: the council decides on a consolidation plan on Nov. 5 and on the 2027 budget on Dec. 7. Earlier AfD initiatives on cultural funding in the city council and the state parliament were rejected.