Making sparks fly
Cultural Spark* was launched in 2020 as an straightforward funding programme for independent cultural producers. During the pandemic it became a catalyst for cultural innovation, networking and participation in urban life. Since then, more than 2,800 Cultural Spark events have taken place at around 500 venues in Lübeck. In 2025, the Cultural Spark* will, for the first time, have a clear competitive character, focusing on innovation and experimentation.
New call for applications
Applications open from 12 February to 24 March 2025 at www.kulturfunke.de!
In 2025, the Possehl Foundation will once again honour outstanding artistic projects from the independent cultural scene as part of the Cultural Spark* initiative – this year with the award of up to 24 Cultural Spark* Prizes for Innovation & Experimentation. A jury of seven experts from various cultural fields will select the award recipients. Freelance artists and cultural professionals from all disciplines who are planning an exceptional project in or for Lübeck are invited to apply for the award starting on 12 February. The applicants themselves decide on the focus of their project – whether through innovative content, technologies, spaces, collaborations, target groups, participatory approaches, performance practices, and more.
Only individuals are eligible to apply; institutions are not permitted. A total of up to 24 innovative and experimental Cultural Spark* projects will be awarded, with implementation planned by the end of 2025. Each winning project will receive a prize of up to €6,000. For larger projects involving multiple participants, the prize money may be higher, depending on the scale of the project and the number of contributors.
Applications for the Cultural Spark* Prize for Innovation & Experimentation can now be submitted at www.kulturfunke.de.
A successful format since 2020
Cultural Spark* (Kulturfunke*) was launched in 2020 in cooperation with the Kulturtreibhaus working group as an unbureaucratic funding campaign for the independent cultural scene and created a great cultural vibrancy and a special sense of community in Lübeck and beyond - at a time of hiatus and separation. Four years of Cultural Sparks* have shaped and changed Lübeck's cultural scene: independent artists (from Lübeck and beyond), cultural organisations, social institutions, educational institutions, the Hanseatic City of Lübeck and the private sector are now well networked. More than 2,800 individual events have taken place in Lübeck thanks to the Cultural Spark*, many of them in new locations such as shop windows, vacant premises, backyards, in the forest, in a glass lift, on the rear window of a car, in a kebab shop, on a sailing boat, etc. Innovative forms of interdisciplinary collaboration have emerged, and new audiences, including people who do not usually attend such events, have been won over through chance encounters in public spaces.
Cultural Spark* has received two awards: the "Zukunftspreis Kulturgestalten 2023" from the Kulturpolitische Gesellschaft e. V. and the "Deutscher Kulturförderpreis 2020/2021", awarded by the Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft im BDI e.V. and the Handelsblatt.
Current Cultural Spark events* can be found at www.kulturfunke.de and #kulturfunke (Instagram).
Cultural Spark* in figures
2020-2024:
- Calls for proposals: 8
- Cultural Spark* projects approved to date: 590
- Total funding: € 5.1 million
- Events to date: around 2,800 from 1,650 cultural producers
- Where: at more than 500 locations (analogue & digital), over 300 of them outdoors
