No federal funding for explore dance for 2026

The nationwide network explore dance – dance for young audiences will not receive any financial support from the federal government in 2026. The withdrawal of federal funding stands in stark contrast to the impressive track record of this award-winning initiative, which for over eight years has been promoting active cultural participation and access to dance as an art form for children and young people, thereby fulfilling a fundamental and nationwide cultural policy task.

The cancellation of federal funding comes at a time when the network is facing steadily increasing demand from schools and educational institutions. Just this year, explore dance had expanded to a total of six partners from six cities in the federal states of Bavaria, Brandenburg, Hamburg, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony, joining forces with the Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm in Frankfurt (Main) and Perform[d]ance in Stralsund in order to expand its offerings, bring performances to a wider audience and reach even more children and young people throughout Germany, regardless of their place of residence or social background.

“We are very disappointed because, based on the positive response, including in the political arena, we were very optimistic that the successful work of explore dance would continue to be supported by federal policy. The unbroken high and growing interest in collaborations and dance productions for young audiences clearly shows how important access to art and culture is, especially for young people and their empowerment as today’s audience, both in cities and in rural areas. This is now a step backwards and in the wrong direction. The promotion of artistic experiences for children and young people needs continuity. The existing gap in cultural offerings for children and young people must not be allowed to grow any wider,” said the representatives of the explore dance board, Dr Kerstin Evert (K3 | Tanzplan Hamburg) and Sven Till (fabrik Potsdam).

The network’s nationwide work and numerous planned guest performances and new productions for 2026 are now in acute danger. Although the network receives ongoing support from state and local governments as well as foundations in the six partner cities – Hamburg, Munich, Potsdam, Frankfurt (Main), Stralsund and Dresden – additional federal funding is essential in order to produce new dance pieces, tour sustainably and give children and young people throughout Germany – in both rural and urban areas – the opportunity to participate in artistic experiences and access the art form of dance.

“Dance art with and for young audiences is too important to us, especially at this time, to give up now. We would like to express our gratitude above all to our co-sponsoring cities and states, which have closely accompanied explore dance since 2018 and continue to support us, as well as to all federal politicians who continue to advocate for our continued existence. We would also like to thank the Beisheim Foundation and the Art Mentor Foundation for their support of our activities to date,” emphasise Evert and Till.

‘Together with the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland, NPN Nationales Performance Netz and TANZPAKT Stadt-Land-Bund/Bureau Ritter, explore dance is part of INITIATIVE TANZ, which promotes cooperative dance funding, and continues to rely on the federal government as a reliable partner for preserving Germany’s internationally renowned dance landscape.’

Over the past eight years, explore dance has presented 35 dance productions for young audiences nationwide and internationally in cities and rural areas, with over 650 performances for young audiences on stages, in schools, cultural institutions and public spaces, accompanied by comprehensive educational programmes such as workshops and rehearsal visits. Awards for outstanding development as part of the German Dance Prize 2024 and with the theatre prize Der FAUST (2019), Invitations from productions and choreographers to the Tanzplattform Deutschland and international festivals, inclusion in the UNESCO State Report as an innovative example of promoting cultural diversity, and international collaborations to establish similar network structures show that explore dance has now proven itself to be a highly successful model for cooperative cultural federalism.

explore dance – Network Dance for Young Audiences is an association of fabrik Potsdam, Fokus Tanz Munich, HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts Dresden, K3 – Centre for Choreography | Tanzplan Hamburg, Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt/Main and Perform[d]ance Stralsund.