Bern has a special status: As a federal city and as the seat of numerous diplomatic missions. Thus, it provides many special services. The federal government supports these services with the so-called Federal Million.

Who gets the money today?

Around two thirds of this “million fund” currently goes to larger institutions in Bern, such as the city theater or the historical museum. The rest of the money goes to a fund that finances cultural projects.

According to the city of Bern, a cultural event was organized for the “Corps diplomatique” every second year. In addition, there have always been and still are individual projects that have benefited from the Federal Million. In 2020, for example, the “Quartieroper” and “Homage to Democracy” projects were each funded with a quarter of that one million.

The federal million makes up only a single-digit percentage of the entire cultural budget of the city of Bern. Nevertheless, the decision to cancel the million has consequences in Federal Bern.

What now?

"The loss of the corresponding contributions from the federal million can not be compensated by the city," says Mayor Alec von Graffenried. However, it comes as no surprise that the money will soon no longer flow from the federal government into the city of Bern's treasury. The million has been on the brink since 2017. First there was talk of a reduction, now of deletion.

Florian Scholz has not been the artistic director of Konzert Theater Bern for a long time: "This is now my welcome present," he says somewhat sarcastically. He would have to forego 400,000 francs, that is one percent of the budget. "Simply painting a piece is not expedient, then we also lack the income." It is not yet clear where Konzert Theater Bern can save the amount.

Starting in November, an exhibition on 50 years of women's suffrage will be running in the Bernisches Historisches Museum, financed primarily by federal contributions. "In the future, there will be no more exhibitions with us that deal with national political issues," says Thomas Pauli from the Bernisches Historisches Museum. In addition, one must cut jobs if the amount is omitted. Corona caused far fewer visitors to be received. The income collapsed by around half.

"Cultural life will not die," said Mayor Alec von Graffenried, "but the city of Bern will lose something in the cultural field." The lack of recognition from federal politics hurts.

Little support in the National Council

In the National Council, the Federal Million for Bern had found far too little support. Bern benefited from its status as a federal city, the center-right argued, and it didn't need money. The center-right also argued that the place Bern wished to promote has no place in the federal culture budget. The subsidy even found no support from the City of Bern National Councilor Christian Wasserfallen (FDP).

(translated from German by Xiaoyan Hu)

Read the original story here.