In view of the cultural policy autonomy of the Länder – and also of the municipalities – the scope and focus of cultural support can vary greatly from Land to Land and from municipality to municipality. Although there are numerous committees at the various levels of cultural policy, binding agreements in the form of committee resolutions or binding recommendations are extremely rare in the cultural sector. The exchange of experience – and to a certain extent voluntary self-coordination – is ensured at the level of the Länder by the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany (KMK) and, under its umbrella, specifically by the Conference of Ministers of Culture.
A similar structure exists at the municipal level. Here, it is the umbrella organisations (German Association of Cities, German Association of Towns and Municipalities, German Association of Counties) that advise on special topics of supra-regional importance at state and federal level in their specialist departments and cultural committees and pass them on as recommendations to the local authorities.
Coordination between the Länder and their municipalities on cultural policy issues is handled differently. In addition to bilateral contacts between the respective Ministry of Culture and individual municipalities, discussions are sought between the municipal umbrella organisations and the Ministry on issues of nationwide significance. In some Länder (e.g. North Rhine-Westphalia), cultural secretariats have been set up by the municipalities to facilitate cooperation at supraregional level. In other Länder, this goal is pursued by means of regional cultural conferences.
The coordinated integration of cultural policy into other policy fields and overarching development planning is also pursued very differently at the various levels of cultural policy action. However, it can be observed that with the increasingly scarce funds at all levels resources, the willingness to coordinate goals and the use of resources is growing.
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