Independent artists and cultural producers of all kinds who are planning an unusual project in or for Lübeck are invited to apply for an award from 12 February. The artists themselves decide on the direction of travel, whether it involves innovative contents, technologies, venues, cooperation, target groups, types of audience participation or performance concepts.

Applications are only accepted from individuals, not organisations. A total of 24 innovative and experimental Cultural Sparks* projects will be selected, which are intended to be realised by the end of 2025. Every project chosen gets prize money of up to €6,000. If the project is bigger and involves more people, the prize money can go up accordingly. The amount of prize money depends on the scope of the project and the number of people involved.

Applications for the Cultural Sparks* Prize for Innovation & Experimentation can be submitted now at www.kulturfunke.de.

A successful format since 2020

It was in early summer 2020, right at the beginning of the covid pandemic, that the Possehl Foundation and Kulturtreibhaus (“Cultural Greenhouse”) launched a broad-based initiative to support culture in Lübeck and entitled Cultural Sparks*. Its flexible structure gave independent artists and performers a wide range of opportunities to be creative and innovative. The first round was followed by seven more calls for proposals, inviting artists and cultural producers to apply for funding of up to €6,000 each for their project. The programme won the German Cultural Sponsorship Prize awarded by the Cultural Committee of German Business in 2021 and the Cultural Creation prize for far-sighted cultural policy initiatives from the Cultural Policy Society (KuPoGe) in 2023. Cultural Sparks* has continued to evolve since the end of the pandemic and has now become more compact. As of 2025 the project is managed directly by the Possehl Foundation, and now for the first time the Cultural Spark* is organised explicitly as a competition, with a focus on innovation and experimentation.

Current Cultural Sparks* events are listed at www.kulturfunke.de and on Instagram (@kulturfunke)