In general, there are no legal provisions governing cultural financing in Germany, which would indicate the specific amount and / or means to distribute public funds. Exceptions are the Act on the Cultural Areas in Saxony (Sächsisches Kulturraumgesetz), which provides for joint funding of cultural endeavours of regional or supra-regional importance by the Land, the counties and the municipalities. As well as a cultural treaty for the federal capital, which defines the funds to be allocated by the Federal Government to cultural institutions and activities in Berlin. With the amendment to Saxony Law in the summer of 2008, the cultural areas were, arranged differently and, most importantly, the time limit on the Act was lifted and endowed with a minimum annual budget of EUR 86,7 million.
Additional commitments can be found in the laws establishing public foundations, such as the Federal Culture Foundation or the Foundation for Prussian Heritage and the Foundation “Classic Weimar”, with the latter being governed jointly by federal (Bund) and federal state (Länder) authorities. There are special laws or regulations governing the respective cultural foundations in many of the federal states (Länder). Beyond these exceptions, the funding for cultural institutions and general cultural activities supported by the federal (Bund) and federal state (Länder) authorities is regulated via the annual parliamentary budget appropriations. The same procedures apply for most of the federal states’ (Länder) allocations to local cultural institutions and for the cultural budgets of cities and counties.
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