Funding activities
Culture
In the cultural environment, we focus on selected institutions and projects in the fields of classical music, spoken language and literature.
Another focus is on the culture of remembrance in coming to terms with the crimes of the Nazi dictatorship. International understanding and democracy are also important to us. This is why we are also involved in various fellowship programs.
Classical music
Classical music
Many cultural institutions are pursuing new approaches to expand their target groups. This is done, for example, through new educational programmes, digitalization or cooperation with other institutions. We support our cooperation partners on this path into the future. Our funding projects have a regional focus on Stuttgart and the region. Below we present selected projects that we have supported over several years.
Podium Esslingen
Having the courage to try out new things, to experiment and to tell pertinent stories through music – this is what matters most to the young PODIUM musicians. PODIUM Esslingen was established by young people in 2009 as an alternative chamber music festival. In just a few years, it has developed into a versatile, multiple award-winning platform for innovations in the area of classical and contemporary music.
Internationale Bachakademie
A lively presentation of Johann Sebastian Bach's music is the hallmark of the International Bach Academy Stuttgart. The program includes subscription series, the Bach Week for professional young musicians from all over the world and the Stuttgart Music Festival. In addition, young people are given access to musical masterpieces through dance and singing in the "BachBewegt!" project.
Internationale Hugo-Wolf-Akademie
The Internationale Hugo-Wolf-Akademie für Gesang, Dichtung und Liedkunst (International Hugo Wolf Academy for Singing, Poetry and Art Song, IHWA) looks back on a rich and varied history as one of the world’s oldest institutions dedicated to the promotion and preservation of the art song.
Stuttgarter Kammerorchester
The Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra is one of the oldest chamber orchestras in the world. Its repertoire ranges from baroque works to contemporary music. A particular focus is on the research and artistic use of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), in order to expand the orchestra's artistic spectrum of expression.
Leibinger Professorship of the Barenboim-Said-Academy (BSA)
The state-recognized Barenboim-Said Academy has been teaching talented young musicians, primarily from the Middle East and North Africa, in the pedagogical spirit of Edward Said and Daniel Barenboim since 2016. The aim is to train musically excellent, curious and reflective people. The Israeli professor Yael Kareth teaches Transcultural Music Education and Mediation at the Academy, a unique and innovative project in the German-speaking university area. You can find more information here.
Submit a funding request
We are open to new projects, especially if their content affects several of our funding areas at the same time or if they open up topics for new target groups.
Before submitting your funding request, please contact us at
+49 7042 2607 004
Your application must contain the following information:
Contact
If you have any questions about funding in the field of classical music within our cultural funding activities, please contact:
Spoken language and literature
Spoken language and literature
Human language is fundamentally different from the communication of other living beings: It not only puts our thoughts and feelings into words, but also influences them. It also reflects constant social change.
We therefore promote projects in the field of spoken language and support this genre in particular with our "Theater in Public Space" funding line. In the field of literature, we are committed to the preservation of literary legacies. We also award the annual Comic Book Prize.
Below are some of the projects and institutions supported by the Berthold Leibiger Stiftung over several years.
Berthold Leibinger Professorship for Applied Rhetoric
Prof. Dr. Kerstin Kipp has held the endowed professorship at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart since 2021. In the Applied Rhetoric and Speech Studies program, students learn to expand their own rhetorical skills, but also to teach people - from politics and business to radio and television.
Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach
The Berthold Leibinger Stiftung supported the German Literature Archive Marbach in acquiring important estates and documents from Erich Kästner, Franz Kafka and Siegfried Lenz, among others. In November 2022, the estate of Rainer Maria Rilke was purchased. This means that one of the most important author archives of the 20th century is now available to international researchers and the public.
LOKSTOFF!
LOKSTOFF! makes theater visible, brings it to the people and arouses their curiosity. The open and committed collective not only plays in public space, but also thematizes it and involves its audience. This also addresses target groups that are less inferior to theater art.
Submit a funding request
We are open to new projects, especially if their content affects several of our funding areas at the same time or if they open up topics for new target groups.
Please contact us by phone before submitting an application at
+49 7042 2607 004
Your application must include the following information:
Contact
If you have any questions about funding in the area of spoken language / literature within our cultural funding activities, please contact:
Culture of remembrance
Culture of remembrance
Germany's cultural heritage includes its history, including its darker facets. We support charitable activities that are dedicated to remembering the Holocaust so that these anti-Semitic and fascist acts of violence never happen again in our country. As part of our activities in the field of remembrance culture, we are a cooperation partner of the Rahel-Straus (Youth) Prize, which we award annually together with the Baden-Württemberg state working group of the "Against Forgetting - For Democracy" association.
The following is a selection of projects supported by the Berthold Leibinger Stiftung.
Jewish Museum Berlin (JMB)
The Jewish Museum Berlin (JMB) has set itself the goal of making its archives and collection objects accessible online to all interested parties worldwide. A bequest from the Adler-Salomon family has enabled the JMB to lay the foundations for the digital cataloging of its collections. Thanks to this legacy, the digitization of around 370 of the approximately 1,800 family estates archived at the JMB is now underway, providing insights into over 250 years of life experience of often widely ramified Jewish families from Germany to the present day.
You can find more information here.
Jewish Culture Weeks Stuttgart
The annual Jewish Culture Weeks bring interested people closer to Jewish life and contribute to cultural exchange in urban society with a rich program of lectures, music, readings and guided tours.
I said, 'Goodbye'. Kindertransport to Great Britain 1938/39
In 1938/39, over 10,000 mostly Jewish children had to say goodbye to their families. It was a farewell that enabled the children to escape Nazi persecution. They came to Great Britain on the so-called Kindertransport and were placed in foster families or shared accommodation. Parents and children hoped to see them again soon.
The exhibition, which was initially shown in the Paul Löbe House of the German Bundestag, presents selected documents from five Jewish families. These provide an insight into the ambivalent emotions of the parents left behind in the Nazi state, who wavered between the hope of a reunion and the fear of permanent separation. You can find more information about the exhibition here.
The exhibition will be on display at the Württemberg State Library from 25.10.2024.
A catalog was created for the exhibition, which is also available digitally.
Submit a funding request
We are open to ideas for new projects, particularly if the outcome is relevant to more than one of our funding areas or if the project makes content accessible to new target groups.
Please contact us by telephone before submitting an application.
Your application must contain the following information:
Your contact person
If you have any questions about funding in the area of remembrance culture within our cultural funding activities, please contact:
Relations between different peoples and democracy
Democracy is the cornerstone of our social order and thrives on dialog between different opinions and value preferences. This can reduce prejudices and defuse impending conflicts. In a globalized world, direct encounters, intercultural learning and scientific exchange help to create a more peaceful world.
The following is a list of some of the partners that the Berthold Leibinger Stiftung supports.
Thomas Mann House
During his California exile in 1942, Thomas Mann built a house in Pacific Palisades / Los Angeles that was to become a place of artistic creation and intellectual exchange on the great questions of his time for ten years.
In November 2016, the Federal Foreign Office acquired the property and converted it into a residence of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The Thomas Mann House aims to create a lively place for transatlantic debate where outstanding personalities can discuss fundamental political, social and cultural issues of the present and future with each other and with the host country.
The Berthold Leibinger Stiftung supported the furnishing of the house and annually sponsors the fellowship program.
The Thomas Mann Fellowships enable scholars as well as thought leaders and intellectuals who live or have lived in Germany to address the pressing challenges of our time and to foster intellectual and cultural exchange between Germany and the USA.
On the occasion of the announcement of the first Fellows, Berthold Leibinger emphasized his close ties with the U.S., which, like his love of Thomas Mann as a writer and critical homo politicus, was a major reason for the Berthold Leibinger Stiftung's strong commitment.
Thomas Mann House Fellows
- Margaryta Surzhenko|Autorin
- Dr. Nils Christian Kumkar|Soziologe
- Dr. Ronen Steinke|Journalist und Jurist
- Dr. Hila Amit|Autorin
- Oliver Polak|Comedian und Autor
- Johannes Müller|Regisseur und Dramaturg
- Steven Walter|Kurator und Konzertgestalter
- Prof. Dr. Robert Riener|Professor für Gesundheitswissenschaften und Technologie
- Dr. Uwe Jean Heuser|Journalist
- Dr. Rana Deep Islam|Unternehmensberater
- Prof. Dr. Susan Neimann|Philosophin
- Sandra Kegel|Journalistin
- Dr. Sonja Hesgasy|Islamwissenschaftlerin
- Susanne Beyer|Journalistin
- Igor Levit|Pianist und Aktivist
- Prof. h.c. mult. H.c. Susanne Baer | jurist
- Aida Baghernejad | Journalist
- Georg Diez | Author, Journalist
- Theresia Enzensberger | Author
- Julia Franck | Writer
- Dr. Johannes Gerschewski | Social scientist, political scientist
- Prof. Dr. Dieter Gosewinkel | Historian, lawyer
- Prof. Dr. Sabine_Hark | Sociologist
- Ciani-Sophia Hoeder | Journalist, Author
- Prof. Dr. Rahel Jaeggi | Philosopher
- Friedemann Karig | Journalist, author, presenter
- Prof. Dr. Ulrike Klinger | Communication Scientist
- Dr. Pola Lehmann | Social scientist
- Igor Levit | Pianist, activist
- Dr. Kai Hinrich Müller | Musicologist
- Prof. Dr. Andrea Römmele | Communication and political scientist
- Dr. Kai Hinrich Müller | Musicologist
- Dr. Sophie-Charlotte Opitz | Curator and Media Scientist
- René Aguigah | Journalist
- Prof. Dr. María do Mar Castro Varela | Political Scientist, Professor of General Education and Social Work
- Prof. Dr. Nikita Dhawan | Political Scientist
- Dr. Carolin Görgen | Americanist
- Ghayath Almadhoun | Writer
- Maria Exner | Journalist
- Marlene Grunert | Journalist
- Alice Hasters | Author
- Felix Rohrbeck | Business Journalist
- Prof. Dr. Andreas Reckwitz | Sociologist
- Rosario Talevi | Architect, Curator, Editor
- Swenja Zaremba | Literature and Cultural Studies, Research Associate Interculturality and Globalization
- Dr. Rubina Zern-Breuer | Historian and Innovation Researcher
- Prof. Dr. Ulrich Johannes Schneider | Librarian and Historian of Knowledge
- Prof. Dr. Christoph Bieber | Political Scientist
- Dipl.-Ing. Doris Kleilein | Architect, Author
- Dipl.-Ing. Friederike Meyer | Architectural Journalist, Editor and Author
- Prof. Dr. Christine Landfried | Political Scientist
- Dipl.-Ing. Andreas Nitsche | Computer Scientist
- Prof. Dr. Claus Pias | Media Scientist
- Prof. Dr. Bernhard Schölkopf | Computer Scientist
- Prof. Sunhild Kleingärtner | Archaeologist
- Mohamed Amjahid | Journalist
- Magdalena Kröner | art journalist
- Birte Meier | Journalist
- Prof. Dr. Claus Leggewie | Sociologist
- Prof. Dr. Heike Paul | Americanist
- Prof. Dr. Rainer Forst | Professor of Political Theory and Philosophy
- Prof. Dr. Christoph Möllers | Lawyer
- Prof. Dr. Michael Zürn | Political Scientist
- Prof. Dr. Bernhard Pörksen | Media Scientist
- Prof. Dr. Friedhelm Marx | Literary scholar
- Mohamed Amjahid, author and journalist
- Prof. Dr. Rainer Forst, Political Scientist
- Doris Kleilein, architectural journalist
- Friederike Meyer, architectural journalist
- Prof. Dr. Friedhelm Marx, literary scholar
- Birte Meier, television journalist
- Prof. Dr. Christoph Möllers, Lawyer
- Prof. Dr. Heike Paul, Americanist
- Prof. Dr. Claus Pias, media scientist and historian
- Prof. Dr. Bernhard Pörksen, media scientist
- Prof. Dr. Katharina Sykora, art historian
- Prof. Dr. Michael Zürn, Political Scientist
- Prof. Dr. Katharina Sykora | Art Historian
- Dr. Armen Avanessian, Philosopher
- Dr. Damian Borth, Director of the Competence Center Deep Learning, German Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI)
- Prof. Dr. Ilse Helbrecht, Geographer, Director of the Georg Simmel Center for Metropolitan Research (GSZ)
- Prof. Dr. Stefan Keppler-Tasaki, literary scholar
- Burghart Klaußner, actor and author
- Andreas Platthaus, journalist and author
- Prof. Dr. Andreas Reckwitz, Sociologist
- Dr. Lisa Riedner, Social Scientist
Honorary Fellow
- Prof. Dr. Frido Mann, psychologist and author
Frido Mann reports on his website about his time as Honorary Fellow at the Thomas Mann House, where he lived with his grandparents for a long time: fridomann.de
- Prof. Dr. h.c. Ph.D. Jutta Allmendinger, President of the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB)
- Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Heinrich Detering, Professor of Modern German Literature and Comparative Literature
- Burghart Klaußner, actor and author (postponed to 2019)
- Prof. Dr.-Ing. Yiannos Manoli, holder of the Fritz Hüttinger Professorship for Microelectronics and Director of the Hahn-Schickard Institute for Micro- and Information Technology
- Dr. phil. Sylke Tempel (†), journalist and book author
American Academy
Founded in 1994 on the initiative of then U.S. Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke and Henry Kissinger and Richard von Weizsäcker, the American Academy has set itself the goal of creating knowledge and challenging existing views through exchange. The Fellowship Program, funded by the Berthold Leibinger Stiftung since 2006, is at the heart of the Academy's work. Since 1998, it has made possible approximately 20 to 25 semester-long residencies each year for fellows from the fields of science, art and politics who work on academic and artistic projects in Berlin.
Goals of the Berthold Leibinger Fellowship Program
Since its inception, the Berthold Leibinger Fellowship has already enabled 18 scientists to spend four months as Fellows. The fellows each pursue a scientific project with which they have applied in advance and on the basis of which they were selected by the independent selection committee. They present their work as part of the so-called "Leibinger Lecture".
The main aim of the fellowship program is to create opportunities for exchange with experts in Berlin and Germany, thereby making an important contribution to the expansion of transatlantic networks that will continue beyond the immediate stay.
American Academy Fellows
- Peter H. Christensen, Arthur Satz Professor of Humanities at the University of Rochester, Associate Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences and Director of the Humanities Center
Learn more
- Mabel O. Wilson, Nancy and George Rupp Professor of Architecture, Planning, and Historic Preservation; Professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies, Columbia University.
- Alma Steingart, assistant professor of history, Columbia University
- Bertrall Ross, Justice Thurgood Marshall Professor of Law at the University of Virginia Law School.
- Nathalie Peutz, Associate Professor of Anthropology, New York University Abu Dhabi
Global Ethic Foundation
The Tübingen Global Ethic Foundation was founded in 1995 by the Swiss theologian Hans Küng to further develop and practically implement the Global Ethic project he conceived. The goals of the foundation are the teaching of ethical and intercultural competence as well as dialogue and cooperation between religions. To this end, it carries out a wide variety of projects - also internationally - in the areas of schools and education, religion, politics, culture and society. Since 2012, it has been running a Global Ethic Institute at the University of Tübingen with a focus on business, corporate and globalization ethics.
Submit a funding request
We are open to ideas for new projects, particularly if the outcome is relevant to more than one of our funding areas or if the project makes content accessible to new target groups.
Please contact us by phone before submitting an application at +49 7042 2607 004
Your application must include the following information:
Contact
If you have any questions about funding in the area of international understanding and democracy within our culture funding activities, please contact:
