Funding activities
Culture
In culture, our focus is on supporting individual institutions and projects in the areas “classical music” and “spoken language and literature”. Another key concern relates to the process of reappraising the crimes committed during the Nazi dictatorship. Another important thematic group concerns the “relations between different peoples and democracy”, which is why we support various fellowship programs, among other projects.
Classical music
Classical music
Many cultural institutions are pursuing new approaches to expand their target groups. This is happening, for example, through new outreach programs, digitization, or collaboration 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 surrounding region.
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 the music of Johann Sebastian Bach is the trademark 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 Musikfest Stuttgart. In addition, young people are given access to musical summit works through dance and song 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 works of the baroque to contemporary music. A special emphasis is placed on the exploration and artistic use of new technologies to expand the orchestra's spectrum of artistic expression.
Stiftsmusik Stuttgart
In about 100 concerts annually, Stiftsmusik Stuttgart presents the entire spectrum of contemporary church music: the program includes, among other things, the concert series "Stunde der Kirchenmusik" (Hour of Church Music), the "International Organ Summer" and the major cycle "Bach:vokal".
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 questions relating to the funding we provide in the area of culture, 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 us. Moreover, it reflects constant social change. That is why we support projects in the field of spoken language and advocate for the preservation of literary legacies as well as for theater in public spaces.
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 Deutsches Litertaturarchiv Marbach in acquiring important estates and documents by Erich Kästner, Franz Kafka and Siegfried Lenz, among others. In November 2022, the acquisition of the estate of Rainer Maria Rilke took place. This means that one of the most important author archives of the 20th century is now available to international research 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.
Support program Theater in Public Space
With the "Theater in Public Spaces" funding line, we aim to increase the visibility of this genre of performing arts. The presentations often reach new target groups beyond the classical theater audience, as many people feel addressed by the unusual locations and the direct action with the audience.
Seven projects were selected from all the submissions to the call for entries and will be performed in 2023. The plays deal with socially relevant topics in urban and rural areas. These include the persecution of homosexuals in the Third Reich, the integration of Sinti*zze and Rom*nja, water scarcity in the wake of climate change, and coming to terms with German-German history after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The venues range from the Plattenbau to the farm to the mausoleum.
The following institutions were selected with their projects:
THE BEAUTIFUL MINDS (Cologne)
"ROMA_X"
LOKSTOFF! (Stuttgart)
"Outside the city"
International Summer Festival Kampnagel (Hamburg)
Group Nesterval: "THE ANGLE - TRACKED IN HAMBURG".
Freundeskreis Hessisches Landestheater Marburg
in cooperation with Anne Decker, Juliane Hendes and Christian Simon and the Hessisches Landestheater Marburg
"Out of the East Out of Mind"
Theater in the mountains (Häg-Ehrsberg Southern Black Forest)
"Water?!"
Friends of New Music in the Fläming (Dessau)
"HIERGEWESEN"
National Theater Mannheim
in cooperation with the Academy for Performing Arts Baden-Württemberg
"Nomadic Research: Beautiful World, Where Are You?"
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 questions relating to the funding we provide in the area of culture, please contact:
Culture of remembrance
Culture of remembrance
A part of Germany’s cultural heritage is its history, including its dark chapters. We support not-for-profit activities that serve the purpose of commemorating the Holocaust to ensure that antisemitic and fascist acts of violence will never occur here again.
Rahel Straus Prize
in cooperation with the state working group
Baden-Württemberg of Gegen Vergessen -
Für Demokratie e. V.
Since 2019, the Rahel Straus Award has honored projects and activities by individuals and groups in Baden-Württemberg who have volunteered in various forms to support the goals of Gegen Vergessen -
Für Demokratie:
- Remembrance of the history of the two dictatorships on German soil in the 20th century to preserve democracy in the present day
- Engagement in confronting enemy stereotypes, racism, xenophobia, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and other forms of political extremism
- Promotion of democratic values
The award is named after Rahel Straus, who went down in history as a courageous, progressive Jewish woman. She emigrated to Palestine in 1933 and was involved in welfare work in many ways.
Rahel Straus Prize
The Rahel Straus Prize is awarded by the Baden-Württemberg state working group of the association Gegen Vergessen - Für Demokratie e. V. (Against Forgetting - For Democracy) to personalities and associations who are committed in an exemplary manner in Baden-Württemberg to the interests of a sustainable culture of remembrance and thus simultaneously promote a diverse democratic life in society.
The Rahel Straus Prize is endowed with 1,000 euros, the Rahel Straus Youth Prize with 500 euros. Both awards are sponsored by the Berthold Leibinger Stiftung.
Rahel Straus Prize 2023
- Dorothee Roos, Mosbach
- Heinz Högerle, Horb
Rahel Straus Prize 2021
- Johannes Kuhn, Herrenberg/Berlin
Rahel Straus Youth Award 2021
- History workshop of the Lessing secondary school Freiburg
Rahel Straus Prize 2020
- Ideas workshop Waldkirch during the Nazi era
- LOKSTOFF! Theater im öffentlichen Raum e.V., Stuttgart
Rahel Straus Youth Award 2020
- Group of youth guides of the Gäu-Neckar-Alb memorial association
Rahel Straus Prize 2019
- Eva Maria Kraiss, Schwäbisch Hall
- Dr. Wolfgang Proske, Gerstetten
- Harald Stingele and the association Initiative Hotel Silber e.V., Stuttgart
- AGMemorial Day at the Center for Psychiatry South Württemberg, Ravensburg
GEGEN DAS VERGESSEN
The project "AGAINST FORGETTING" by photographer Luigi Toscano shows portraits of survivors of Nazi persecution in order to contribute to an active culture of remembrance. In addition to the traveling exhibitions, an educational program is also part of the project. In schoolyard exhibitions and breakyard discussions, young people are introduced to the topic and have the opportunity to deal intensively with the biographies and stories of the people.
Exilmuseum Berlin
“Railway stations are parables about arrival and departure. I don’t believe that a better place could have been found to house an exile museum than the ruins of the portal of the former Anhalter Bahnhof. Thousands of travelers once passed through the portal each day to enter the enormous concourse of the railway station. In the 1930s, countless people boarded the trains, plagued by fear, yet left with no other choice but to leave Germany – ripped out of their day-to-day lives and declared enemies by the Nazis. Dodged by desperation, they headed into a void and left a void behind in Germany. Often, the war was followed by forgetting.
The Exilmuseum represents a first step towards filling this void. To this day, there is no central place in Germany that makes tangible the expulsion of hundreds of thousands into exile by the Nazis. The dangers of fleeing, the shell-shocked lives in foreign lands, poverty, fear and all-consuming homesickness – in our modern times, people are still experiencing this each and every day, making it all the more pressing for us to truly comprehend the meaning of the word ‘exile’. Learning about the events that occurred during that period of history makes it possible for us to better understand the people who are looking for refuge in Germany today. As a vibrant location of contemporary times, the Exilmuseum will also tell their stories.” Herta Müller, Nobel Prize laureate in literature and patron of the Exilmuseum Berlin
Friends of Yad Vashem
Sixteen Objects.
Seventy years of Yad Vashem
On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the international Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem, 16 objects from the Yad Vashem collections are returning to Germany for the first time. The 16 objects each come from a German state and are representative of countless lives and communities destroyed in the Holocaust. The exhibits will be on display in an exhibition curated by Ruth Ur and Michael Tal at the German Bundestag from January 25 to February 17, 2023. The exhibition will be accompanied by a year-round Germany-wide program around the theme of Cities & Remembrance.
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 005
Your application must include the following information:
Your contact person
If you have questions relating to the funding we provide in the area of culture, please contact:
Relations between different peoples and democracy
Democracy is the cornerstone of our social order and thrives on dialogue between different opinions and value preferences. This can reduce prejudices and defuse impending conflicts. In the globalized world, direct encounters, intercultural learning and scientific exchange help to create a more peaceful world.
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 German 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 transatlantic debate venue where outstanding personalities explore fundamental contemporary and future political, social, and cultural issues in exchange 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, 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 United States.
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
- 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.
Jerusalem Foundation
The bilingual Max Rayne Hand in Hand School in Jerusalem is one of the Jerusalem Foundation's most important initiatives in the field of coexistence and international understanding in Jerusalem. From kindergarten age to high school graduation, Arabic- and Hebrew-speaking children and teenagers learn together in both languages in a pleasant environment. Since the inauguration of the existing campus in 2007, the school grew steadily and soon became too small. The construction of the high school provided the much needed space thanks to the Jerusalem Fpundation and the Jerusalem Municipality. The foundation stone for a new building was laid at the end of 2020. In November 2021, the students moved into the new high school with the Berthold Leibinger science wing. The official inauguration took place in May 2022. Today, the Hand in Hand School is an established institution with approximately 700 young people and exceptional academic achievements.
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 questions relating to the funding we provide in the area of culture, please contact:
