Published
Thu, May 6, 2021, 11:30
- A vote was held in the Berlin Building, Housing and Urban Development committee yesterday.
Over a year of campaigning has led to a milestone moment for German clubs.
According to the Live Musik Kommission, an almost unanimous vote yesterday was in favour of a recommendation to change clubs and live venues from entertainment sites to cultural sites. Tomorrow, Friday May 7th, it will be presented to the federal government for final consent.
The vote follows over a year of work from the multi-party Parliamentary Forum For Club Culture & Nightlife. They proposed that the law is changed so that building regulations deem clubs and live venues, with demonstrable value, as cultural sites. They also propose a clause about noise limits.
Aside from cultural recognition, the selected venues will benefit from tax breaks, be protected from displacement and be permitted to operate in more parts of the city. Theatres, museums and concert halls are among the venues considered cultural, while betting shops, brothels, arcades and cinemas are considered to be entertainment. Berghain alone was awarded the status of a cultural institution in 2016.
"We would like to thank the members of the Parliamentary Forum in particular for their commitment and perseverance in this matter," said Pamela Schobeß of the Berlin Club Commission. "With today's decision, the Bundestag is sending a strong and long overdue signal to the republic. Music clubs are cultural institutions that shape the identity of city districts as an integral part of cultural and economic life. Now, an outdated law is to be adapted to reality. This helps to keep cities and neighborhoods alive and liveable and to protect cultural places from displacement."
Thore Debor, spokesman for stakeholder LiveKomm, added: "We are counting on the federal government taking up this parliamentary mandate quickly and implementing the amendment of the building use ordinance in this legislature. Especially now in times of Corona, we need this overdue step more than ever."
Read an Instagram post from Die Linke politician Caren Lay.