The culture and creative industry is one of the most important future sectors. It includes the press, the book market, the art market, independent theatre, the events and music sector, the film and broadcasting industry, design, architecture and the games industry. According to estimates, the approximately 210,000 companies in the field of culture and creative generate a turnover of around 58,000 million Euro. This means that with 2.6 percent of the gross domestic product, it lies only just behind the automotive industry which accounts for 2.9 percent. The Federal Government wishes to open up this potential further, and for this purpose has created the "Federal Government Culture and Creative Industry Initiative”.
One of the projects in the framework of this initiative is the "Deutscher Computerspielepreis” where an award is granted to the developers of the best German computer games. The aim of the prize is to support high quality entertainment media and strengthen media expertise. It is endowed with 600,000 Euro in total, provided half each by the games industry and the Minister of State for Culture and the Media.
The next generation of musicians receives particular support from the forward-looking "Music Initiative” project for the promotion of pop, rock and jazz music. The focus here is on aspects such as integration, and also export promotion.
Cultural education
The Federal Government supports numerous German initiatives and establishments for the promotion of cultural education. Early contact with art and culture makes it easier to approach history and the values of both our own and other people’s cultural environment. Through initiatives such as "Vision Cinema”, "Ein Netz für Kinder” which aims at a safe environment for children to surf the net, as well as workshops, the Minister of State for Culture and the Media supports cultural education as the basis of the cultural development of our society. Grants to the establishments to which the Minister of State provides institutional support are linked to the objective of active cultural educational activities. Target groups which have been underrepresented up to now are given special significance.
In 2008 Minister of State Bernd Neumann created the "Nationale Initiative Printmedien – Zeitungen und Zeitschriften in der Demokratie” (National Print Media Initiative – Newspapers and Magazines in a Democracy). This initiative is aimed at making children and young people aware of the value of newspapers and magazines as a key political medium and underlining how important freedom of the press is for democracy.
The Federal Cultural Foundation funds numerous cultural education projects. Schemes include projects in the field of cultural education such as the "New Music Network”, the project "School and Museum” at the Jewish Museum in Berlin and the initiative "An Instrument for Every Child” as the Federal Cultural Foundation's contribution to the European Capital of Culture 2010 in Essen and the Ruhr region. Under this wide-ranging project, all primary school children in the Ruhr region will be given the opportunity of receiving musical instrument tuition from qualified teachers in order to introduce them to the world of music at an early age. This model project has given rise to a large number of similar initiatives nationally.
