Source: GoetheAs part of its transformation, the Goethe-Institut is consolidating its work in the South Caucasus and opening an institute in Yerevan (Armenia). The year 2024 will also see the establishment of Franco-German Cultural Institutes in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) and Glasgow (Scotland); this represents an intensification of Franco-German cooperation in international cultural policymaking. In the Institute’s linguistic work, the focus will be on supporting German teachers and their work around the world as a key factor in encouraging a positive view of Germany and the successful integration of immigrants.
At the annual press conference, the president of the Goethe-Institut, Carola Lentz, had this to say: “Intensifying international crises – not least the current escalation in the Middle East conflict, the ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine and military conflict in Sudan – but also the continuing critical shortage of specialists in Germany show just how urgent the need is for dialogue, common understanding across cultural and linguistic frontiers and a more nuanced view of Germany. A great deal of appreciation has come our way over recent weeks and months for this core aspect of our work. It moves me to see people committing to the preservation of the Goethe-Institut collectively and to hear them share their personal stories and positive experiences.” The Goethe-Institut is now in urgent need of transformation to secure its future, she went on. “We continue to engage with the changed geopolitical and financial framework conditions with all the energy at our disposal. I’m proud of the outstanding work of our many colleagues around the world who are so committed to this intercultural dialogue. In these times, their work is of the utmost importance. Mediating organisations have an essential role to play in international cultural and educational dialogue. Their work is also an important part of a sustainable and integrated security policy. Given the current situation, it’s all the more critical for more attention to be paid to cultural and educational foreign policy.” The president highlighted the significance of the Institute’s commitment to the South Caucasus and Eastern Europe, stressing how crucial it will be to use networking and cultural dialogue to reinforce an awareness of shared European citizenship in the countries of that region. She also touched on the Goethe-Institut’s commitment to stabilising Ukraine’s cultural landscape and civil society through activities on the ground. There were, she continued, constant reminders of the importance of these programmes in the cultural and education sector: “They are helping to secure the self-confident and resilient civil society that will form the basis of the strong Ukraine of tomorrow.”General Secretary of the Goethe-Institut, Johannes Ebert, said: “The portentous changes going on in the world and their impact on German foreign policy, coupled with ever tightening financial constraints, are compelling the Goethe-Institut to approach its work anew.” The current ruling of Germany’s Constitutional Court on the budget for 2023 serves to underscore the challenge posed by the financial situation in which the country finds itself, he continued. “In view of the virulent geopolitical changes of recent years, a key aim of our transformation must be to grasp the nettle of modernising our network of institutes and the way we work. We are planning to open a Goethe-Institut in Yerevan, Armenia, in 2024. Preparations are also ongoing for the opening of a Goethe-Institut in Baku, Azerbaijan. We are expanding our activities in the South Caucasus and in Eastern Europe. In the face of Russia’s aggression and its unprovoked attack on Ukraine, this part of Europe needs more of our attention than has hitherto been the case. Next year, we will also be opening a new Franco-German Cultural Institute, a Kultur Ensemble, in Bishkek, where the Goethe-Institut is not currently represented with a structure of its own. The year 2024 will also see the official opening of a Kultur Ensemble in Glasgow. The Franco-German friendship is important to us. In this respect we are consciously taking a new path of European cooperation. In the medium term, as of 2025, we are also planning to expand our presence in the Republic of Moldova, Poland, the South Pacific and the heartlands of the US. Stable and secure financing will be fundamental to our efforts to do this.”Concerning the budget for 2024, Johannes Ebert explained that the federal budget is yet to be approved. The government’s draft budget sets out a reduction in institutional funding to 232 million euros, he said. This would bring the institutional funding of the Goethe-Institut back down to the level of 2018. As was the case in 2023, according to the draft budget, the disbursal of 14 million euros will be subject to the implementation by the Institute of measures determined by the Bundestag.The commercial director of the Goethe-Institut, Rainer Pollack, detailed the positive trend in revenues from language work in 2023. With a total of approximately 132 million euros at home and abroad, revenues have almost recovered to their record pre-COVID level. The demand for certified examinations, in particular, had grown globally by a figure estimated at 900,000 examinations taken, he added. “We’re also seeing, however, that the squeeze in public funding is forcing us to put on fewer cultural events and thereby negatively impacting on our reach. This makes it all the more important for us to use restructuring measures to underpin the Institutes’ scope for action for programme work. We’re also especially happy that we’ve managed to significantly increase our share of funding from the European Union this year.In conclusion, General Secretary Johannes Ebert addressed the importance of safeguarding the high quality of German teaching around the world to strengthen the German language: “For young people in particular, the availability of German lessons around the world lowers the bar for access to our country and is fundamental to the cause of attracting skilled professionals from abroad. And yet, the Goethe-Institut estimates there to be a global shortage of nearly 4,000 in the number of teachers, and that figure is increasing.” The Goethe-Institut is motivating its German teachers around the world by offering training and bursaries, he went on. With Deutsch Lehren Lernen, it is offering the world’s biggest vocational training programme for German teachers. On the new “Deutschstunde” online portal, German teachers around the world can make use of high quality teaching material free of charge and network with one another. Cooperations with the education sector in partner countries also have a particularly crucial role to play: “This year, we have successfully sealed deals for a number of important cooperations,” Ebert said. “In Ukraine alone, we are now working with 18 universities. In response to invitations from the Egyptian education ministry and the Indonesian health ministry, we’ll be working in the next few years on firmly establishing German as a subject in the curriculum of the nationwide vocational schools in these countries.” A sound knowledge of German has a key role to play in successful integration, not least when it comes to encouraging skilled workers to come to Germany. This is going to be one of the issues discussed at the “Zukunftskonferenz” (“Future Conference”) to be held in Berlin by the Goethe-Institut on 10 and 11 June 2024.In the coming year, the Goethe-Institut In Exile will once again provide a platform for the cultural scene of countries in which the Goethe-Institut is no longer permitted to operate. As part of the focus on Belarus, contemporary art from Belarus will be on display in Berlin from February 2, 2024, in cooperation with the Galerie im Körnerpark and the Prater Galerie. From 22 to 25 March, a festival in the ACUD arts centre will present the Belarusian cultural scene in all its diversity. The connection between the Belarusian cultural diaspora in Berlin and those in Georgia, Lithuania and Poland will be particularly highlighted by simultaneous events in Berlin, Tbilisi, Vilnius and Warsaw.The press folder is available for download at: www.goethe.de/pressemappeDr. Jessica Kraatz MagriPressesprecherin undBereichsleiterin KommunikationGoethe-Institut ZentraleTel.: +49 89 15921 249Jessica.kraatzmagri@goethe.deAnnika GoretzkiStv. PressesprecherinGoethe-InstitutHauptstadtbüroTel.: +49 160 96990995annika.goretzki@goethe.de
Dezember 2023