Plan to cut Berlin arts budget will ‘destroy’ city’s culture, directors warn

Thomas Ostermeier, whose Schaubühne production of Richard III (pictured) transferred to the Barbican in London, is a vocal critic of the cuts. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian

Plans to slash Berlin’s culture budget by tens of millions of Euros have led to a huge backlash, with leading venues saying they have been forced to cut performances and others warning they will be pushed into bankruptcy.

About 450 institutes that are reliant at least in part on state subsidies, from theatres and opera houses to nightclubs and galleries, have formed an alliance in an attempt to force a rethink over the €130m (£108.6m) cuts. At around 12 to 13% of the current annual budget, they have been described even by those proposing them as “brutal”.