Germany

Focus on youth education

In Germany the amateur arts are an important field of action in which all disciplines are practised. The practising of music by amateur artists is popular: choirs and orchestras flourish. Especially the brass orchestras and accordion orchestras are famous, also internationally.

Good examples of thesecan be heard at the annual international accordion festival in Trossingen which is organised by the Deutscher Harmonika Verband. During this festival all kinds of competitions are held: for both adults and young people; for professionals and amateurs.
Other popular disciplines in the sector of amateur arts are theatre, film and video.

Organisation

Many of the amateur cultural clubs are associated in federal organisations, which function at the level of the ‘Bund’. They are called Bundesverband or Bund. The federal organisations have membership numbers. If you are interested in more information on amateur arts, the policy level you should turn to is that of the 16 federal states, the ‘Länder’.

The governmental grants or other kinds of financial support are mainly directed to the ‘Länder’. Often this is done by facilitating and supporting the networks.

Cultural youth education

Germany has a long tradition of art education. The definition is usualy broader than ‘learning to participate in arts’. The development of other aspects of human behaviour and other kinds of intelligence are also an important goal. The Germans have a specific term for this: Bildung. The most important target group for art education in Germany is the youth. There are a couple of institutions that are specialised in the fulfilment of these art educational tasks.

The main organisation in this field is the Bundesvereinigung Kulturelle Jugendbildung (BKJ, German Union of Federal Associations for Cultural Youth Education). The BKJ is an umbrella organisation and the government’s key partner in the field of cultural youth education in the Federal Republic of Germany. The BKJ consists of forty-eight specialised organisations and federal associations that are active in cultural education of young people in Germany. They work towards a common goal: the promotion and advancement of in-school and out-of-school cultural education of children and young people.

Each year more than ten million young people participate in the seminars, projects, competitions and events which are organised by BKJ members. These activities cover all disciplines: visual art, music, drama, theatre, dance, literature, photography, film, computer art and video.

In co-operation with the Remscheid Academy, the BKJ supports an interdisciplinary documentation and information service for young people: the Dokumentationsstelle Kulturelle Bildung (Documentation Centre for Cultural Education).

The BKJ is also member of the art and education network, the European Forum for the Arts and Heritage (EFAH), and Culturelink, the network for research and co-operation in cultural development.