Berlin's 37 community galleries are facing a severe financial crisis as the city prepares to eliminate a special fund that has allowed them to pay artists exhibition fees since 2016. The Fund for Exhibition Compensation for Visual Artists (Fabik), which provided 650,000 euros annually, has been frozen this year and will be completely abolished starting in 2026 as part of broader budget cuts by the Senate Administration for Culture and Social Cohesion.
The elimination of artist fees represents a major blow to Berlin's visual arts community. "The loss of honoraria is a huge cut to our earning opportunities. Some will fall out of the Artists' Social Security Fund. I myself had to exhibit without pay this year," said Birgit Cauer from the Professional Association of Visual Artists Berlin (BBK). The Artists' Social Security Fund provides health, nursing care, and pension insurance for self-employed artists, but requires them to demonstrate a minimum annual income to maintain coverage.
Berlin's community galleries serve as cultural anchors in their neighborhoods, offering free admission and educational programs including artist talks, workshops, and school group tours. These institutions distinguish themselves from commercial galleries by serving diverse audiences beyond typical art collectors. "It's not the art crowd. It's not the collectors. It's not part of Art Week. You open the doors for regular people, not those with prosecco," explained artist Alex Lebus, describing the unique character of community gallery visitors.
Stéphane Bauer, director of Kunstraum Bethanien in Kreuzberg and spokesperson for the Working Group of Berlin Community Galleries, warns that the funding cuts will significantly impact programming. "We will have to reduce the number of exhibitions and the number of artists we involve, and we'll have to forgo many educational offerings," Bauer told reporters. He emphasized that the lost support from the Fabik fund cannot be compensated from their own budgets.
Under the previous system, artists could receive 2,500 euros for a solo exhibition and 400 to 800 euros per artist for group exhibitions. These standardized, non-negotiable amounts covered artists' material and production costs, and artists were responsible for installing and dismantling their own exhibitions. While Alex Lebus acknowledged that 2,500 euros "sounds like a lot because I've never received so much money for an exhibition before," she noted that when calculated as monthly income over the six months of preparation work, the 400 euros per month is insufficient to live on.
The precarious financial situation forces most artists to maintain side jobs while struggling to find time for their artistic practice. "All the artists I know have a side job. And then they have to worry about their studio, which they can barely visit because they have a side job," Lebus explained. Artists must simultaneously continue fighting for exhibitions and writing concepts while juggling other employment, creating an extremely difficult situation for creative professionals.
Community galleries provide artists with creative freedom often unavailable in commercial spaces. Unlike established galleries where artists are reduced to "always delivering the same thing" to meet collector expectations, community galleries remove this pressure and enable more freedom in artistic creation. "I think community galleries are something very special. They're a bit 'underground,'" Lebus noted, emphasizing their unique position in Berlin's art ecosystem.
In response to criticism, the Senate Administration for Culture and Social Cohesion stated that while the Fabik fund has been cut, they have increased the general budget for district galleries by 300,000 euros. However, unlike the Fabik fund, this new budget is not specifically earmarked for artist fees, allowing galleries to cover other expenses instead. This change provides no guarantee that artists will continue receiving compensation for their work.
Bauer plans to continue trying to pay artists who exhibit at Kunstraum Bethanien, fearing a decline in quality otherwise. "If I pay artists less or nothing at all, they will be more likely to show older works and not necessarily produce something new for the venue. I may not be able to attract some artists to Bethanien at all," he warned.
The elimination of the exhibition fee fund reflects broader challenges facing Berlin's cultural sector. Cauer criticized the contradiction between political rhetoric and reality: "It's often said how important art is for Berlin as a location. But when you see where cuts have been made everywhere and how precarious life is for artists here – that's somehow cynical." She noted that Berlin's cultural budget is smaller than it has been in years.
The funding cuts will make Berlin's art scene doubly impoverished – affecting both the artists who create the work and the programming offered by community galleries. These institutions have long served as cultural treasures in their neighborhoods, functioning as meeting places for residents, public spaces for community interaction, and established institutions within their districts. The loss of guaranteed artist compensation threatens to fundamentally alter the character and quality of these vital cultural spaces.
