The Federal Ministry of Economics aims to save the prize money of €60,000 annually, but the German Music Council believes abolishing the prize would be a blow to the country’s cultural heritage and economy
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The German Music Council has created a petition to save the German Musical Instrument Prize from being discontinued by the Federal Ministry of Economics, which wishes to make a saving of the €60,000 prize money annually.
The German Musical Instrument Prize has been awarded annually since 1991 to a maker that presents a German-made instrument of high quality and special innovative properties. Recent stringed instrument winners include a Pöllmann-Krahmer Double Bass, Mittenwald in 2020, and a viola by Steffen Friedel, Dresden in 2018.
’If the Federal Ministry of Economics were to quietly abandon the prestigious competition after more than three decades, it would be a fatal signal: German musical instrument making, with its high-quality combination of craftsmanship and art, is not only an important economic factor in the German economy, but also a unique cultural heritage,’ reads the petition description.
’The low savings potential of €60,000 annually is therefore disproportionate to the potential damage to Germany as a cultural location and the German music industry.’
The German Music Council is calling on Federal Minister of Economics Dr. Robert Habeck to continue the German Musical Instrument Prize and acknowledge the importance of the long-standing traditional craft of instrument making.
As of Tuesday 30 January 2024, the petition had garnered almost 1300 signatures of its current goal of 1500.
View and sign the petition here
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