Dance Film Institute in Distress

Völlig unerwartet vor dem Aus.

DANCE FILM INSTITUTE IN DISTRESS

Ten weeks before the end of the year,
the German Dance Film Institute Bremen is
suddenly facing its own finishing line.

Open letter by Heide-Marie Härtel to the friends, supporters and users
of the German Dance Film Institute Bremen.

The Cultural Administration of Bremen, reformed after the elections in May, informed us on Friday, October 19th, that the sum of 30.000 Euro, which had been promised several times for the year 2007, has been cut completely under severe saving measures. The administration also denied any further financial promotion in similar proportions for the coming years.

We alone do not have the strength to turn the steering wheel of this cultural-political decision around. We are dependent on the support of the national and international world of dance. We want to ask you to please send us an account of how you value the Dance Film Institute’s work and of the experiences you have made with our contributions. With this pressure from the public, we might be able to convince the Cultural Administration to draw back on their decision and prevent the closing-down of our institute.

For seven years now, the Bremen Senate and the federal Ministry for Culture and Media have split the provision of the annual sum of 160,000 Euro among themselves, thus guaranteeing the basic infra-structure of our institute. This sum covers the rent of our new premises, the running costs, insurance for our equipment and one position of employment. Based on this financial foundation, we have managed to raise about the equal sum through our work with theatres, cultural institutions and broadcasting stations, thus filling the institute with life.

Due to Bremen’s ever tight budget, a possible cut by 30,000 Euro in Bremen’s financial contribution to the institute had already been discussed at the beginning of the year. However, negotiations both with our institute and with the director of DancePlan Germany (Madeline Ritter) resulted in an amicable solution which would allow the institute to continue its work. Those responsible for DancePlan Germany joined into the negotiations, because they have to make sure that all the institutions working on projects of the DancePlan are able to provide a stable infrastructure. Since May 2007, it has been established – both here at the institute as well as at the Federal Cultural Foundation in Berlin – that the Dance Film Institute could be counting on the usual financial support from Bremen for the year 2007 and the next two years to come.

The bone of contention seems to be the choice of our perfect location in the city centre, which was promoted by cultural politics in 2004. In close proximity to the dance theatre Bremen and to the city’s museum, the former police building, which was sold by the city, does of course not offer the cheapest rent. Yet the administration informed us that the municipal library, which is situated in the same building, is paying the same rent per square metre, so we are once more dealing with the fact that dance is deemed less valuable than other cultural media. The architectural planning and layout of the rooms, which we have partly financed by our own means, allows for a perfect combination of archive, dance museum, conference rooms, production and research. Those responsible for the latest decision have not even visited the institute, and yet decided against it.

Beginning November 5th 2007, our institute will host the 2nd Meeting of German Dance Archives under the heading “Audio-visual media and dance”. The meeting is initiated, directed and managed by Dr. Franz Anton Cramer and Madeline Ritter (DancePlan Germany). This meeting gains special importance through the visits of the director of the world’s largest dance archive in New York, Dr. Michelle Potter, and of Prof. Dr. Claudia Jeschke from the University of Salzburg.

Even though this is on very short notice, it would really be of great help to us if you could send us an evaluation of our institute by Friday, the 2nd of November, so that we could use your accounts at the beginning of the congress to present not only to the participants, but especially to the representatives of the press and the administration.

Heide-Marie Härtel, Bremen Oct. 25th 2007