Theater Community Berlin

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The TheaterGemeinde Berlin was founded in 1963 as a non-profit association . It is their concern to awaken understanding for all areas of culture, to strengthen general interest in culture and to encourage participation in cultural life.

The TheaterGemeinde Berlin sees itself as a mediator between the approx. 150 theaters of the federal capital, the artists and the audience. With currently 12,500 members, it is one of the largest visitor organizations in Germany. Nationwide, it is networked with 23 other local theater communities in the Bund der Theatergemeinden.

history

In 1889 Otto Brahm , Samuel Fischer u. a. the Free Stage in Berlin, in order as a private theater association to circumvent the strict censorship regulations of the German Reich and to be able to play plays with social content in “private performances”. A year later, the Freie Volksbühne Berlin emerged from it. As a cultural-political educational organization of the German labor movement , it also pursued the goal of enabling workers and low-wage earners to regularly go to the theater at socially acceptable prices. In 1919, the Bühnenvolksbund was constituted as a bourgeois counter-foundation in Frankfurt am Main, and its headquarters soon moved to Berlin. In addition to the social (sale of discounted theater tickets) and folk education components (conveying a deeper understanding of theater through regular theater visits and own publications), his principles included the idea of ​​an income-independent allocation of theater seats according to the rotation system.

The new model of visitor organizations paid off for those interested in culture such as the theater, because the reduction of large ticket contingents and the opening up of new audiences made it possible to obtain discounts that the organizations passed on to their members. That is why they experienced a renewed upswing under the difficult economic conditions after the First World War . In the 1930s the visitor organizations, like all independent clubs and associations, were brought into line and finally liquidated.

After the end of the war, the visitor organizations were re-established. In 1947, the theater community in Cologne followed the principles of the Bühnenvolksbund. This was followed by Düsseldorf, Wuppertal, Frankfurt a. M., Munich, Karlsruhe, Augsburg and other cities. When the TheaterGemeinde Berlin was founded in June 1963, the Freie Volksbühne, which had been in existence again since 1947, lost its monopoly in the western part of the city. In addition to the reduced ticket price, the TheaterGemeinde Berlin offered its members the following new features:

  • free choice of pieces and dates
  • Allocation of places according to a rotation system instead of a lottery system, d. H. With the distribution of the cards at flat subscription prices, a fairer distribution of seats - alternating in different price categories - is achieved.
  • no annual advance payments. Instead, payment for the tickets ordered upon receipt
  • The cards will be sent by post

This structure made the TheaterGemeinde Berlin the largest community of subscribers in the city with 30,000 members at the end of the 1970s. When it was founded, the TheaterGemeinde Berlin applied to the Berlin Senate to grant the same space allowances for theater visits as the members of the Freie Volksbühne enjoyed. The application was rejected in 1964 due to a lack of budget. A lawsuit at the administrative court also yielded a negative result, which was only overturned by the higher administrative court during the appeal proceedings. In 1994 the State of Berlin abolished direct space grants for visitor organizations in general. Since then, the subsidized theaters have been obliged to give their tickets to the visitor organizations at special conditions.

The TheaterGemeinde Berlin has been a partner in the Neue Theater-Betriebs GmbH, which operates the Renaissance theater , since 1973 . In 1984 the TheaterGemeinde Berlin founded the Hamburg visitor organization, which developed into an important factor in Hamburg's cultural life. In spring 2008, she was released into self-employment. The TheaterGemeinde Hamburg e. V. is now run as an independent association.

present

As a cultural service provider, the TheaterGemeinde Berlin today offers information and guidance in the city's ever-changing cultural offerings with over 150 stages and event locations. It is not tied to a house, but rather “non-partisan”. Members select their individual cultural program from around 900 events and dates from almost all of Berlin's theaters and cultural organizers (opera, ballet, dance theater, musical, drama, children's and youth theater and independent scene to cabaret, from classical to rock concerts) every month and will receive the tickets by post. In addition, the theater community offers exhibition and city tours and cooperates with 50 well-known museums, art theaters and restaurants. Members of the TheaterGemeinde Berlin receive discounts here too. In addition, the members of the TheaterGemeinde Berlin can also obtain discounted theater tickets from the local theater communities in 23 German cities.

media

The TheaterGemeinde Berlin publishes the monthly magazine schedule as an information medium , which is sent to members free of charge. In addition to the range of events, you will find editorial articles on theater-specific exhibitions, books, CDs and DVDs every month. All information as well as remaining ticket offers can be found on the website of the TheaterGemeinde Berlin. All cultural offers can be booked with the help of a search and order mask.

Award ceremonies

With two prizes awarded annually, the TheaterGemeinde Berlin sets highly regarded standards with regard to the public perception of outstanding directorial achievements and particularly talented young actors. These prizes are designed as audience prizes, i. In other words, the members of the theater community themselves elect the winners directly. The prizes were donated in order to give the audience as the third power in the concert of opinions a clear and audible voice in addition to the juries of critics and experts. The prizes are awarded at festive events. There, visitors have the opportunity to talk to the actors, the director and representatives of the respective theater.

Daphne Prize

With the Daphne Prize, the TheaterGemeinde Berlin draws attention to outstanding young actors on the Berlin cultural scene. The prize has been awarded since 1976. In 2004 the former jury award (the jury was the director of the TheaterGemeinde Berlin) was rededicated as an audience award. Each year, the members of the TheaterGemeinde Berlin determine the winner from three nominations by the board. The prize consists of a bronze sculpture by the sculptor Karl-Heinz Krause . It represents the nymph Daphne from Ovid's Metamorphoses , coveted by Apollo , the god of the muses . Previous Daphne Prize winners were:

Performance of the year

Since 1982, the members of the TheaterGemeinde Berlin have chosen a new Berlin production for the performance of the year. You can choose from the nominations of the board of directors as well as submit your own comments. The following productions have received the award so far:

Events

In cooperation with Berliner Bühnen, the TheaterGemeinde Berlin has developed special series of events that bring visitors closer to artistic developments and work processes. Each of the series follows its own concept. As part of a rehearsal visit to the Deutsche Oper , the OPERNWERKSTATT shows how a production is created and how it can be "read". The BACKSTAGE series in cooperation with the Komische Oper Berlin enables (a) glimpse behind the scenes of a new production and offers exciting encounters and workshop discussions with members of the production team. The events of the respective series take place three to four times a year at irregular intervals and show the theater makers in action.

Working groups

The TheaterGemeinde Berlin offers its members in its working groups ballet (since 1983), music theater (since 1983) and drama (since 1987) various forums on the respective subject. During joint visits to introductions followed by discussions with the production teams, visits to rehearsals or meetings to exchange views, the members receive background information on their respective areas of interest beyond the visit.

Cultural policy

In the interests of its members, the TheaterGemeinde Berlin constantly takes a stand on current cultural-political issues. Examples are:

  • In 2008, in the discussion about the general renovation of the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden , she pleaded for the modern auditorium design by the architect Klaus Roth, which was supposed to remove the visual and hearing impairments that currently exist in many places.
  • In September 2008, on the occasion of a hearing in the Berlin House of Representatives (Committee for Cultural Affairs) , the TheaterGemeinde Berlin pointed out the indispensable intermediary function of the visitor organizations for Berlin culture and received the support of the Governing Mayor of Berlin and Senator for Culture, Klaus Wowereit . She showed that visitor organizations encourage their members to go to the theater, enable them to go to the theater regularly through low ticket prices and thus attract an additional audience to the stages
  • In 2006, the TheaterGemeinde Berlin campaigned for the preservation of the comedy and the theater on Kurfürstendamm, the existence of which was endangered by the termination of the lease.
  • In 2003 the TheaterGemeinde Berlin appealed to the Senator for Culture to refrain from further dismantling culture after the Schiller, Metropol and Schlosspark Theaters had been closed and the Theater des Westens had been privatized.
  • In 2000, the TheaterGemeinde objected to the narrowing of the three Berlin opera houses to certain repertoire segments, as stated in the structure paper of the then Senator for Culture, Prof. Dr. Christoph Stölzl , suggested and referred to her experience with regard to the loyalty of the audience to certain houses and ensembles.
  • In 1998 she countered Peter Stoltzenberg's Senate report with a counter-opinion , which had made untenable recommendations as part of an evaluation of the Berlin private theater scene for the purpose of reorganizing the grants due to research errors.

Sponsorship

The TheaterGemeinde Berlin also helps shape the city's cultural life through its sponsoring activities.

  • In 2015, the TheaterGemeinde Berlin made it possible to build two new theater figures for the Puppet Theater Museum Berlin through a financial grant.
  • In 2014 the TheaterGemeinde Berlin sponsored the restoration of Georg Kolbe's dancer fountain (Georg Kolbe Museum).
  • In 2009, 2010 and 2011 the TheaterGemeinde Berlin supported the “Long Night of Opera and Theater” in Berlin as one of the main sponsors.
  • In 2006, 2008 and 2010 she supported the International Dance Summit of the Staatsballett Berlin with financial donations.
  • In 2005 she financed the restoration and public hanging of a contemporary portrait of the great Berlin theater reformer August Wilhelm Iffland (1759–1814), as the General Directorate of Prussian Cultural Heritage could not make funds available for it. The important portrait was made accessible to the public again in May 2005 at its old location in the box office of the former theater on Gendarmenmarkt (today's concert hall) - the place where Iffland worked. The painting is currently under restoration due to recent damage.

literature

  • Bund der Theatergemeinden (Ed.): 1951–2001 - 50 years of the Bund der Theatergemeinden. Unity in diversity. Programs, awards, presidents, forecasts . Theaterrundschau Verlagsgesellschaft, Bonn undated (2001)
  • Dieter Grau: Bund der Theatergemeinden . Droste, Düsseldorf 1996 (offices and organizations of the Federal Republic of Germany, Volume 54) - with extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources
  • TheaterGemeinde Berlin e. V. (Ed.): 25 years TheaterGemeinde Berlin 1963–1988 . extent Verlag, Berlin / Theater-Rundschau Verlag, Bonn 1988
  • TheaterGemeinde Berlin e. V. (Ed.): Theater pictures. 20 years theater in Berlin 1963–1983 . Photos by Ilse Buhs and Jürgen Remmler, texts by Friedrich Luft and Hellmut Kotschenreuther. Nicolaische Verlagsbuchhandlung, Berlin 1983 (for the 20th anniversary of the TheaterGemeinde Berlin e.V.)

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