During the COVID-19 pandemic, the cultural sector was facing new challenges due to the Lockdown restrictions that led to closed doors for museums and educational, and heritage institutions. A direct and heavy impact related to this shutdown was a global decrease in tourism. Tourism activities decreased by up to 50-70%. Issues associated with these circumstances are that exhibitions, productions, and events have been cancelled. Accompanied by a dramatic decrease in income through museum tickets, shops and cafes was expected and lasted until the end of 2021. This directly led to freelancers being let go or having to deal with the constant postponement of their project-related work. Many cultural organisations and cultural workers were facing a loss of income of 75-80%, as some museums were minimally impacted. The source of income for museums is, in part, from private and governmental sources. Substantial institutions only partially rely on ticket sales and such.

But the spillover effects of these institutions impacted several cultural workers and freelancers working in the cultural sector, who had to respond to this sudden loss of income as they were let go. Many had to give up their businesses and were forced to be innovative in creating a new source of income.

The coronavirus pandemic is hitting the cultural and creative industries particularly hard. The federal German government has extended a new culture rescue package. In addition, there are economic aid programs worth billions and other support services from which cultural workers also benefit. (Bundesregierung, 2023)

On an institutional level, substantial galleries and art dealers could count on subsidies from the German government. According to the Bundesverband Deutscher Galerien und Kunsthändler (federal association of German galleries and art dealers e.v.), they speak of a pandemic-related income backlog of 40%. (bvdg, 2022)

According to their study, this income backlog was used as an argument to gain access to subsidies worth 2 billion euros. But can we speak of a backlog when art galleries such König Galerie were experiencing one of their most successful years and were able to expand their business to MISA.ART?

Some concerns arose with unequal opportunities for cultural organisations of different scopes. The public speaks of an unfair distribution of Corona aid. There are serious allegations against gallery owners: Around 30 million euros from the Neustart Kultur aid program are said to have flowed unjustly to galleries, without it being checked whether the payments were necessary. This was the result of research by Deutschlandfunk Kultur. (SWR2, 2022) The gallery owners defend themselves against the allegations that the money flowed primarily to the artists. As businesses were forced to shut down, funds were needed for innovation in the creative industries. To keep artisans, cultural workers, and freelancers in production, these funds were relocated toward print, photography, and digital projects. This opened new opportunities for cultural workers to expand their services with specific access to their audience.

The Berlin gallery owner and art mediator, Johan König is one of the four children of Kasper König, the influential exhibition curator and director of the Museum Ludwig in Cologne. In the case of MISA.ART, we can see art history in the making. König opened an art market in a virtual presence and created a platform for digital creators to showcase and distribute their digital artworks in an NFT crypto world. The disadvantages of crypto art have been shed into a critical light as Europe today, due to the war with Putin, is facing a scarcity of gas. König relies on renewable energy to create a sustainable future for digital artworks.

Previously to this digital era, customer access was only possible via the gallery, and almost still is, and that is changing rapidly. Artists can only access their customers through an art dealer or institution. Therefore, the success of an artist solely relies on their network.

According to König, so far art access has been taking place only in the showrooms; thus, König is expanding this market to the virtual space. His digital strategy included a wide range of methods to engage with their audience, such as outputs on social media, live streams on Instagram, direct art talks with artists and publishers on the Clubhouse app, podcasts on several streaming platforms, print publications, and virtual events in the metaverse with partners such as Decentraland. These unprecedented virtual exhibitions set a new playing field for cultural workers all over the globe.

On an urban region level, the city government had to respond to numerous small businesses shut down and a die-out of the downtown. With the “Ladenliebe” initiative, the historical city of Aachen, which is known for its UNESCO-listed cathedral, is making it possible to rent vacant premises for new ideas, business start-ups, and the realization of one’s own vision in the city center of Aachen (Germany) at a greatly reduced price via a funding program from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The aim is that new concept offers, and business ideas can be tested and established risk-free for a period of up to two years for a sustainable and colorful Aachen city center. From concept stores to creating economic and cultural uses, retail and gastronomy offers to your own specialist shop for sheet wool art design, everything is basically possible for the time being. In response to the up to 80% decrease in tourism, the aim is to make Aachen's city center more attractive by reviving the vacancy rate and thus also to support the existing trade. (Stadt Aachen, 2023)

Cultural workers can access spaces throughout the city at a small price of 20% of the former rent price, the other 80% has been substituted by the city of Aachen. Initiatives such as Meffis, which is a culturally free space were able to arise. In my opinion, this sounds great, but does this not also directly support the real estate industry, that in the past 10 years pushed housing prices so high that local residents had to leave the inner city? It was a success for cultural workers as many workspaces, showrooms, and craft shops were able to appear.

To understand what rescue packages and aids were available for the creative sector, we need to understand what kind of employment is categorised under the umbrella of the creative sector in Germany.

Since 2008 there has been the following uniform definition for the cultural and creative industries in Germany: According to the wording of the Arbeitskreis Kultur- und Kreativwirtschaft in der Wirtschaftsministerkonferenz (Conference of Economics Ministers) from 2008, the creative industries consist of those "cultural and creative companies, which are predominantly commercially oriented and deal with the creation, production, distribution and/or media dissemination of cultural/creative goods and services". A second part of the definition reads: "The economically connecting core of every cultural and creative economic activity is the creative act of artistic, literary, cultural, musical, architectural or creative content, works, products, productions, and services."

This German definition is compatible both with the delimitation of the European Commission and with the British concept of "creative industries", which is used worldwide as a reference model. The industry comprises eleven submarkets: architecture, fine arts, design, film, literature, music, press, radio, software/games, theatre/dance, and advertising. (Wirtschaftsministerkonferenz, 2016)

According to the Grundgesetz (constitution) in Germany, everyone must pay into the four pillars of social insurance, which include: health insurance, nursing care insurance, accident insurance, pension insurance, and unemployment insurance.

For Freelancers or self-employed cultural workers, this is, if you are lucky, supported by the Künstlersozialkasse (artist social fund). The KSK is a division of the Unfallversicherung Bund und Bahn (federal and railway accident insurance). Implementing the Künstlersozialversicherungsgesetz KSVG (Artists' Social Insurance Act) ensures that self-employed artists and journalists enjoy similar protection in statutory social insurance as employees. The KSVG was included as a legal basis for the first time on January 1, 1983, for self-employed artists and publicists in the statutory health and pension insurance. The introduction of the KSK goes back to Dieter Lattmann and Herbert Ehrenberg.

To receive the support of the KSK, cultural workers need to meet the following requirements: According to Section 1 of the KSVG, the prerequisite for compulsory insurance is that artistic or journalistic activity is carried out for profit and not only temporarily. An artist is anyone who creates, practices, or teaches music, performing arts, or visual arts. A publicist is anyone who works as a writer, journalist, or in a similar way to a writer or journalist. Anyone who teaches journalism also falls under the protection of the KSVG. The artistic or journalistic activity must be carried out independently and profitably. Any sustainable, long-term activity designed to generate income is gainful. The artistic or journalistic activity is only self-employed if it does not represent dependent employment within the framework of an employment relationship.

Anyone who employs more than one employee who is subject to social security contributions in connection with their artistic/journalistic activity is not insured under the KSVG, unless the employment is for vocational training or is marginal within the meaning of § 8 Viertes Buch Sozialgesetzbuch SGB IV (Fourth Book of the Social Code). Employment is marginal if the monthly fee does not exceed EUR 520.00. (Künstlersozialkasse, 2023)

The KSK has a set list of job titles and categories to decide whether a creative is eligible for this insurance. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, insured persons and companies liable to pay contributions to the artists' social security system are experiencing a loss of income. Therefore, the artists' social security fund has taken various measures to facilitate payment. (Künstlersozialkasse, 2023)

The German federal government responded with new measures for cultural workers, such as various tax reliefs available to support those affected by the crisis. These include, for example, liquidity support, deferral of tax payments, adjustment, and reimbursement of advance payments, and the suspension of enforcement measures. To support substantial and one-person businesses, several bailout programs such as Neustart Kultur, Sonderfonds für Kulturveranstaltungen, Überbrückungshilfe I, II, and III artist grants, and simplified access to basic security benefits. (Bundesregierung, 2023)

Many creative workers had to be innovative with their approach and practice to stay in touch with their network. Information asymmetry has become less as entrepreneurs such as Johan König and young professionals are pushing for transparency in their market prices. As in the case of MISA.ART we learn that creators gain decentralised access to their network in case they are willing to step into the virtual world. Many autodidact creatives have been showcasing their work online prior to the pandemic. Social media changed the art market so much that an artist does not have to solely rely on an art mediator to sell their product. The pandemic has pushed this change rapidly. But what does this mean for small businesses and cultural workers who depend on physical showcase rooms? The above-mentioned financial aid programs were one solution for the cultural sector. Artists such as I were able to access government grants to expand their practice and create engaging decentralised projects that do not need to rely on an uncertain and not accessible physical space. Projects such as #LetterAR were able to exist as the momentum created a space to reach out to digital specialists that changed the way my artists practice to an interdisciplinary exchange of knowledge. In this case, maintaining a safe economic system for the cultural sector was necessary for an innovative project to arise. 

But does the German system offer space for all creative workers to grow? For many cultural workers, this did not apply. Relying on Credit from the KFW or programs such as Überbrückungshilfe I, II, and III was forcing an artist to become an autodidactic accountant and tax consultant. In many cases, cultural workers lived in a hand-to-mouth circumstance, income broke down within a short time, prosperity was uncertain, and the decision to take on liability was too risky. The simplified access to security benefits has not always resulted in a change of perspective toward a successful future career. Aside from that, a change from a self-employed business model to a digital approach was not possible, as that long-term decision-making would have included a systematic restructuring in training and education in digital approaches and services of established cultural workers, for the entire sector to be able to compete in this transformed market. 

Arbeitskreis Kultur- und Kreativwirtschaft in der Wirtschaftsministerkonferenz. (2016, June). Bericht des Arbeitskreises Kultur- und Kreativwirtschaft der Wirtschaftsministerkonferenz. Leitfaden zur Erfassung von statistischen Daten für die Kultur- und Kreativwirtschaft. https://www.wirtschaftsministerkonferenz.de/WMK/DE/termine/Sitzungen/16-06-08-09-WMK/16-06-08-09-bericht-leitfaden-ak-kultur-kreativwirtschaft-10.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=2

Die Bundesregierung. (2023, January). Hilfen für Künstler und Kreative. https://www.bundesregierung.de/bregde/themen/coronavirus/corona-kultur-1735378

Bundesverband Deutscher Galerien und Kunsthändler e.V.. (2022, December). Klarstellung |Pandemiebedingtes Investitionsförderprogramm Klarstellung | Pandemiebedingtes Investitionsförderprogramm. https://www.bvdg.de/Klarstellung_Investitionsfoerderprogramm

Künstlersozialkasse. (2023, January). Aufgaben. https://www.kuenstlersozialkasse.de/die-ksk/aufgaben            

Künstlersozialkasse. (2023, January). Voraussetzungen. https://www.kuenstlersozialkasse.de/die-ksk/voraussetzungen

Künstlersozialversicherungsgesetz - KSVG. (2021). Gesetz über die Sozialversicherung der selbständigen Künstler und Publizisten (BGBl. I S. 705) https://www.kuenstlersozialkasse.de/fileadmin/Dokumente/Gesetze/KSVG.pdf 

Interessenverein freie Kulturberufe-ifk. (2023, January). Alle vertretenen Berufe auf einen Blick. http://www.freie-kulturberufe.de/branchen/branchen_start.html

Stadt Aachen. (2023, January). City management Aachen. Ladenliebe. https://citymanagement- aachen.de/hausgemacht/ladenliebe/

SWR2. (2022, November). DLF-Recherche: Privater Kunstmarkt profitiert von ungerechter Verteilung von Corona-Hilfsgeldern für Kultur. https://www.swr.de/swr2/leben-und-gesellschaft/kulturmeldung-corona-hilfsgelder-im-kunstsektor-ungerecht-verteilt-100.html