Program Description Festival Funding

The “Festivalförderfonds” (Festival Funding) is a nationwide initiative aimed at innovative, especially genre- and sector-crossing music festivals.

Festivals offer an important platform for artists to present their music and engage directly with the audience. They hold both artistic and economic potential, making them an indispensable part of the music scene and industry for promoters and booking agencies. Festivals also fulfill an important socio-cultural function in our society. Especially in rural areas, festivals serve as inspiring places outside of everyday life and as identity-forming cultural anchors of democracy.

Additionally, they represent a significant source of income for artists and play an essential role – particularly for emerging talents – in artistic development. This funding program, therefore, focuses on festivals that, in addition to artistic quality, also emphasize socio-culturally important aspects such as diversity, inclusion, sustainability, talent development, or democracy-promoting themes.

With the second round of the Festival Funding, the structured support for festivals at the national level continues, aiming to uphold and develop the cultural and artistic diversity of festivals while also promoting key socio-cultural aspects. The program allows open funding for festivals based on qualitative and transparent criteria.

This program targets innovative, especially genre- and sector-crossing music festivals in rural or non-urban areas (counties and small towns with up to 100,000 inhabitants). These festivals are often the only cultural offerings in the region, making them of great societal importance, particularly in the fields of cultural education and artistic talent development. Festivals from urban areas may also apply in this round of the funding program, provided they stand out due to particular qualitative focuses. Overall, a minimum quota of 70% of the funded festivals should come from non-urban areas.

The program aims to primarily support small and medium-sized festivals with a maximum of 15,000 attendees.

States and municipalities should be encouraged by the Festival Support Fund to expand their support in this area and to initiate new projects.

a) The funding stems from the budget of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM) based on a decision by the German Bundestag.

b) The funding (grants) is awarded in accordance with these funding principles, based on Sections 23 and 44 of the Federal Budget Code and the administrative regulations issued in connection with them. Funding is subject to the availability of corresponding resources and any budgetary management measures or restrictions imposed by the public grantor. There is no legal entitlement to the grant. For any necessary revocation and reclaiming of the grant, Sections 48 to 49a of the Administrative Procedure Act apply accordingly.

c) The handling of the funding, particularly the review, the conclusion of funding agreements (private law transfer agreements), and the disbursement of the funds, is managed by Initiative Musik gGmbH. The General Ancillary Provisions for Grants for Project Funding by the Federal Government (ANBest-P) become part of the funding agreement.

3.1 Formal Criteria

Festivals eligible to apply must meet the following formal criteria:

a) Eligible applicants are sole proprietors and legal entities with legal capacity based in Germany.

b) Eligible applicants are organizers of music festivals (including free & open-air festivals), particularly genre- and sector-crossing festivals in Germany. The organizer is the one who bears the primary content-related, organizational, and financial responsibility for the festival.

c) Organizers who hold the festival at their own venue are also eligible, provided that their festival clearly stands out from the regular program of the venue and all other eligibility criteria are met (details can be found in the FAQ in German).

d) The festival must have been held at least once under the primary responsibility of the applicant, and another edition must be planned for 2025. The reference year for eligibility is the year of the last edition of the festival, but no earlier than 2019. Newly founded festivals are eligible to apply. In this case, live music event activity (e.g., through a series of events) from the previous year must be proven (details in the FAQ in German).

e) The planned festival must take place within a period of no more than three months.

f) The supported festivals must be publicly accessible.

g) The focus should generally be on innovative, especially genre- and/or sector-crossing music festivals. The musical program may include popular music, jazz, or, if crossing genres, classical music (details in the FAQ in German).

h) The festival must have a cohesive overall program curated under one name, with live music performances that meet the Initiative Musik’s definition (details in the FAQ in German).

i) Only one application per round and applicant or festival can be submitted.

j) The festival must not be primarily publicly funded, meaning that the organizing company must not have received more than 40 percent of its core funding for the festival’s last edition from public funds. Non-profit organizations are excluded from this restriction.

k) Public law entities and legal entities or partnerships in which public law entities hold the majority are not eligible to apply.

l) Organizations and ensembles from the amateur music sector that receive support from the Amateur Music Fund or are eligible to apply there are not eligible for the Festival Funding.

m) Events with or without admission, where the primary focus is on fairs or protests and not live music, are excluded. This means that food and drink stands and general merchandise sales (beyond artists’ merchandise) must be proportionate to what is typical for a live music festival (details in the FAQ in German).

n) Events that promote unconstitutional, illegal, or criminal content, or whose program focuses on content harmful to minors, are excluded from funding.

o) As a funding platform advocating for equality, diversity, and cultural participation in music (see Initiative Musik’s guidelines), Initiative Musik reserves the right to question the eligibility for funding of music festivals that spread hateful content or ideologies of inequality and to withdraw the funding approval.

3.2 Content Criteria

The festival for which funding is requested must have a specific content focus. The main organizer can apply for project funding for the following areas (a maximum of three):

a) special promotion of emerging artists;

b) strong commitment to including underrepresented groups in the music industry in the festival’s program;

c) efforts toward inclusion, participation, and accessibility for people with disabilities;

d) concepts and implementation of strategies for ecological sustainability and climate protection;

e) civic engagement and strengthening of democratic structures;

f) special formats for staff development;

g) support for regional structures;

h) originality in musical program selection, providing a platform for niche and experimental formats.

(See the FAQ in German for examples of specific focus areas.)

a) The funding object is the implementation of the applied content focuses as part of the 2025 festival edition.

b) The funding is one-time and project-specific.

c) The maximum amount of funding is determined based on the eligible project expenses: The funding share is calculated on a sliding scale. As the total expenses increase, the percentage of funding decreases, and the share of self-funding correspondingly increases.

The project expenses must be at least €10,000 – here, the maximum possible funding share is up to 90 percent of the eligible total expenses. The required self-contribution is at least 10 percent in this case.

The project expenses can be a maximum of €100,000. The maximum possible grant is €50,000 – here, the maximum possible funding share is 50 percent of the eligible total expenses. The required self-contribution in this case is at least €50,000 or 50 percent of the eligible total expenses.

Project funding is provided as a fixed-sum financing (details in the FAQ in German). An example budget calculation of the project can be made using the funding calculator on our website.

d) The self-contribution can be covered by purpose-bound third-party funds (e.g., grants, sponsorships, donations), income (e.g., from ticket or merchandise sales), or own resources (e.g., association capital, reserves), as well as in-kind contributions.

Securing additional funding, for example, from states and municipalities, is expressly encouraged.

Funds from institutions that also distribute money from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM) are excluded (e.g., the Federal Cultural Foundation).

Voluntary civic engagement in the form of unpaid work is also considered an in-kind contribution. This can be included as a fictitious expense in the financial plan and the calculation of the funding amount. Each hour of voluntary work is valued at €15. The fictitious expenses for civic engagement must not exceed 20 percent of the total expenses.

e) The project-related overhead costs (general administration) should not exceed 5 percent of the total expenses.

f) It is possible to fund project-related investments, provided there is a clear connection to the project. These are subject to inventory and commitment periods (details in the FAQ in German).

g) Projects funded with a share of 50 percent or more must meet the following requirement:

For services provided by professional freelance artists or creatives on a fee basis, the fees must generally meet at least the relevant and current nationwide minimum fee recommendations of the professional, occupational, or interest groups or associations of artists and creatives (details in the FAQ in German).

h) The funding of alcohol-related expenses is excluded.

i) Institutional funding cannot be provided through this program. Institutional funding is defined as the financing of the infrastructure or ongoing activities of existing or newly planned institutions (e.g., venues, ensembles, associations, organizations). Construction work is also excluded.

a) The funding is granted as a non-repayable subsidy within the framework of project funding. In the event that the funding needs to be revoked or reclaimed, the provisions of §§ 48 to 49a of the Administrative Procedure Act (VwVfG) apply analogously. The relevant regulations will be incorporated in the funding contracts to be concluded.

b) The funding may be revoked if proof of use is not submitted within 3 months after the end of the agreed project duration.

c) Projects that have already started or are already completed cannot be funded; therefore, the project must not have commenced before the funding contract with Initiative Musik is signed. This means that no service or delivery contracts should have been signed. However, necessary preliminary planning is permitted and does not count as the start of the project. In justified exceptional cases, an early project start without prejudice to the funding may be requested (more details in the FAQ in German).

d) The funded projects must take place within the project duration. This usually begins with the signing of the funding contract (but no earlier than the submission of the application, if the early project start without prejudice to funding was requested and approved) and ends for all funded projects in this program on December 31, 2025.

e) Only measures that comply with EU state aid law according to Article 107 TFEU will be funded. This program is considered as aid for culture according to Art. 53 No. 2 lit. d of the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) in accordance with Art. 107(3) TFEU and is exempt from the notification requirement under Article 108(3) TFEU, provided that the applicable regulations of the GBER are observed. A company that has not complied with a recovery order based on a previous decision of the European Commission declaring aid granted by the same Member State unlawful and incompatible with the internal market cannot be granted funding under this directive.

a) The funding is granted upon application.

b) The application for funding is completed and submitted online through the funding portal of Initiative Musik. The documents specified in the application form must be uploaded. Detailed procedural rules for applying are explained in the FAQ in German.

c) The online application process runs from October 1, 2024 (1:00 p.m.) to November 1, 2024 (1:00 p.m.).

d) The application process and the entire procedure take place online and not by post. If this poses a barrier for some applicants, an application may be submitted by post after consultation (more details in the FAQ in German).

e) Only complete and formally correct applications will be considered in the further application process. If documents are missing, applicants will be given a one-time opportunity to correct them. Applications are only considered complete when all necessary documents for the review and evaluation of the project are submitted.

f) Complete and successfully formally pre-checked applications are submitted to a specialist jury for deliberation.

a) The applications are assessed exclusively based on the submitted documents by an independent and diverse specialist jury, which recommends the projects for funding. The jury’s decision is not justified.

b) The final decision on the allocation of funds is made by the supervisory board of Initiative Musik gGmbH based on the jury’s recommendation. The decision of Initiative Musik gGmbH is final. Legal recourse is excluded.

c) The decision will be communicated to the applicants in writing. Subsequently, the approved projects will be adjusted, if necessary, during the review of the financial plan and prepared for contract signing.

a) The promised funding becomes legally binding upon the conclusion of a funding contract with Initiative Musik.

b) From the moment the funding contract is signed, it is possible to request funds for the supported project. The funds may not be requested until they are needed for due payments within 6 weeks after disbursement. It is also possible to make advance payments. Initiative Musik withholds 10 percent of the approved funding amount until the proof of use is successfully reviewed.

c) Proof of use for the project must be submitted to Initiative Musik three months after the end of the project, but no later than March 31, 2026. The funding project is only considered completed after the successful review of the proof of use. If the proof of use is not submitted on time or is incomplete, the funding approval will be revoked, the entire funding will be forfeited, and repayments may become due.

The conditions of the funding program described here come into effect on the day of their publication and are valid until December 31, 2026.