Icon: enlarge
Stage technician at work (archive image): People who are indirectly affected can also seek help under certain circumstances
Photo: Michael Kremer / Geisler-Fotopress / picture alliance
In order to compensate for the loss of income in the culture and events industry, those affected are to receive a "fictitious entrepreneur's wage" from the state during the partial lockdown in November.
Government spokesman Steffen Seibert announced on Wednesday in Berlin that cultural companies would receive 75 percent of their turnover as direct help in November.
Solo self-employed persons could choose to use the turnover of November 2019 or their monthly average earnings of the previous year as a basis.
It corresponds to the reality of life for many creative and cultural workers that "there can be a month in which there was no turnover".
Cultural associations had been demanding a "fictitious entrepreneur's wage" for a long time, since many solo self-employed people from the cultural sector could only claim a few business expenses.
However, it was on these that emergency aid from the federal government initially focused.
Government spokesman Seibert emphasized that state aid is also available for those who are indirectly affected by the corona-related closings.
All companies that regularly generate 80 percent of their sales with the facilities that are now closed are eligible.
This is very important for culture because a large number of trades are active behind the stage without the audience seeing it.
Grönemeyer proposes a special solidarity payment
The musician Herbert Grönemeyer brought up another approach to support the corona-related starving cultural scene: He called for more commitment from the wealthy.
In the "Zeit", the 64-year-old spoke out in favor of a "culture of shared responsibility and compassion".
"Wouldn't the time be right for a special solidarity payment for the wealthiest?" Asked Grönemeyer.
You could alleviate the hardship in the creative sector with special payments: "If the wealthiest were willing to make two special payments of, for example, 50,000 to 150,000 euros, this year as well as next year, around 200 billion euros would be available ad hoc per year to secure livelihoods, to deal with bankruptcies and to alleviate fears, "said Grönemeyer.
He was referring to "about 1.8 million millionaires" that exist in Germany.
A society is like a family.
It is time that the richest family members would help the poor.
"Not only the government, also a society, a family must move and act and do what it can."
Icon: The mirror
feb / dpa