Stadthalle Erding: "Scraped past insolvency"

Created: 12/30/2022, 08:00

By: Gabi Zierz

The Stadthalle is technically state-of-the-art, here the Great Hall viewed from the stage.

© Stadthalle Erding

The culture and event industry has suffered greatly in the corona pandemic.

You can see that at the Stadthalle Erding.

In 2021, the municipal company was only just able to avoid insolvency.

Erding – How much Stadthalle can and does Erding want to afford in the future?

The city is still the shareholder behind its municipal company, making up for a six-digit deficit every year.

2021 was a particularly bad year.

And the prospects are hardly better.

This became clear in the participation report that Stadthallen Managing Director Jutta Kistner presented to the city council.

"We almost completely avoided insolvency," she said with a view to the second Corona year 2021. In order to avoid over-indebtedness, the equity capital was used up completely and the share capital was also attacked.

The deficit was 895,000 euros.

For this year, Kistner expects 1.12 million euros.

The city council has already reacted to this and included a capped amount of a maximum of 1.2 million euros in the supplementary budget.

One million euros are planned for each of the following years up to 2026.

In the first Corona year 2020, the Stadthalle got off with a black eye - thanks to state aid, the canceled cultural program "and because of the rigorous austerity measures, which also came at the expense of the employees," as Kistner emphasized.

In 2021, too, the event industry was banned from playing for a good seven months.

After that, access was only possible under certain conditions and with proof of vaccination, many performances were postponed, and the capacity of the Great Hall fell dramatically due to the distance requirement.

Kistner's example: Friends who drove to the Stadthalle together in the car had to sit 1.50 meters apart because they came from two separate households.

"It was a difficult time that required a lot of flexibility," emphasized Kistner.

Income was only generated between summer and late autumn.

From mid-November, no more events could be held.

The carnival also fell victim to the pandemic again in 2022.

The degree of cost recovery fell to 42 percent, while 57 percent is usual.

And while overall sales fell 20 percent, costs rose a good 17 percent.

That's why the per capita subsidy of just under 65 euros is "beyond good and evil," says Kistner.

Ten euros are usual.

The aftermath of the turbulent times can still be felt across the country, explained Kistner: "I hope that people have not given up on attending events in everyday life."

The only positive effect of the pandemic is the digitization push.

The Stadthalle renovated and technically upgraded a lot during the lockdown and won conferences and congresses "because we are so well positioned," emphasized the managing director.

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The biggest cut in 2021 was the takeover of the gastronomy, because no successor could be found for the long-term tenant Reinhold Dangl.

"Now we're going to do it ourselves," Kistner said.

A lot had to be done in just a few weeks and things got bumpy at the beginning.

She thanked her team and is glad “that most of them stayed with us.

That's remarkable when it comes to challenges like this."

"The city is fully behind the house," emphasized Mayor Max Gotz (CSU) after Kistner's report.

And the citizens obviously do the same, because: "The occupancy figures are good."

Cultural officer Ludwig Kirmair stated with regard to the pandemic: “Health comes first, then culture.

Everything was subordinated to the virus.

Erding would be culturally very poor without this town hall.”

The calendar is well booked for next year, said Kistner.

But with the looming recession, high inflation and energy insecurity, there are already the next crises.

"For a loss-making company, price increases are almost the death knell," said Kistner.

You can't pass this on to customers.