The German Arts Council : Germany

The German Arts Council (GAC) was founded in 1982 as a nongovernmental working commission of organizations and institutions with national significance in the field of cultural and media policy. Today the German Arts Council, which since September 1995 has been a registered non-profit association, is an acknowledged cultural policy forum for associations, institutions and experts active in the arts and media professions, in the arts industry, in aesthetics, in arts education and in the dissemination of culture. It considers its primary function to be that of a vehicle for consultation, information and dissemination. The German Arts Council has eight specialized sections which in turn embrace more than 190 independent associations and institutions: the German Music Council, the Council for the Performing Arts, the Literature Association, the Fine Arts Council, the Architecture Council, the Design Section, the Film and Audiovision Section, and the Sociocultural Council.’

The organizations and specialists working together in the German Arts Council seek to “enhance appreciation” of culture and the arts “and improve the conditions for their development”. To this end they furnish advice to municipal associations, the states, the Federal Government, and institutions and organizations involved in the arts and cultural policy;

5>draft position papers, recommendations and documentation on cultural policy matters;
^participate in fora and working groups at both the national and international level; and
^further European and international cultural relations.