Berlin's creative sector launches rally against arts funding cuts

Berlin's creative sector workers launched a colourful protest on Wednesday against planned cuts to cultural funding they fear will pull the rug from under the city's famed clubs, theatres and orchestras.

Several hundred activists, one wearing a plucked turkey costume, gathered under grey skies outside the German capital's iconic Brandenburg Gate.

They warned against a "radical" 10-percent cut in support for the arts from next year in the city-state of Berlin, where venues are already battling fast-rising rental costs.

Berlin's Club Commission, which represents the city's famed techno party hubs, said almost half of all clubs are considering shutting up shop in the coming 12 months as they face rising rents and falling visitor numbers.

The group urged "an immediate stop to the planned cuts in the cultural budget" to save the scene.

Classical musicians and theatre folk have also leant their support to the movement.

In a letter signed by conductors Daniel Barenboim, Simon Rattle and Joana Mallwitz, among others, the artists called on the city not to "undermine" the cultural sector.

A "minimal investment" in the arts produced a "maximum benefit" for the city's image, they said.

Cuts to project funding would represent "the death of Berlin culture", Muriel Nestler, 56, from Berlin's Costume Collective told AFP at the demonstration.

Nestler — dressed in the turkey costume which is otherwise used on theatre stages — said "infrastructure for the independent cultural scene" could be lost.