Zero

Although art’s impact on the climate is still largely unknown, many cultural professionals in Germany wish to do their part to mitigate the climate crisis. In addition to addressing the crisis through artistic means, cultural institutions, creative producers and artists are searching for instruments and methods to align their working processes with the goals of environmental sustainability in an appropriate and effective manner. But where do we begin? Where are we now? And what are the most urgent issues we should tackle as soon as possible?

In response to these pressing questions, the Federal Cultural Foundation has established the programme “Zero” which invites cultural institutions from a broad range of artistic areas to participate in a nationwide sustainability campaign. The programme is comprised of three different modules: application-based funding through the “Zero Fund”, professional training and qualification measures offered through the “Zero Academy”, and regional network meetings to promote knowledge transfer at locations throughout Germany.

With the application-based “Zero Fund”, the Federal Cultural Foundation helps cultural institutions develop climate-neutral production forms, explore new aesthetics with as minimal an impact on the climate as possible. By promoting the development and implementation of artistically innovative and climate-neutral art and cultural projects in 2023-2024, the Foundation hopes to sensitise cultural institutions and artists to the possibilities of environmentally sustainable production methods, and so doing, advance measures which actively protect our climate. The aim is to develop a model that encourages the German cultural sector to reduce greenhouse gases in the long term.

The “Zero Fund” is targeted at cultural institutions and professionals who are already familiar with practices of environmental sustainability and who are committed to exploring climate-friendly alternatives of cultural production in an inquisitive manner. Further information on application modalities and funding requirements is provided in our funding criteria (in German only). For more details, please read the documentation of our pilot project Carbon Footprinting in Cultural Institutions.

In September of 2022, an independent jury has recommended an 25 projects for funding with a total amount of 3.04 million euros. 

In 2023, there will be a second round of applications funding up to 20 additional climate-neutral artistic and cultural projects. Details on application will be shortly published on this website.

Funding is awarded on the basis of recommendations by an independent jury. The Zero Fund jury members are: Dr Annett Baumast (Hochschule Musik und Theater, Hamburg), Dr Brigitte Franzen (Senckenberg Naturmuseum, Frankfurt am Main) and Matthias von Hartz (Zürcher Theater Spektakel).