Renewed cultural partnership in Basel

According to the government announcement, the unbundling of responsibilities ensures that the existence of all institutions concerned can be guaranteed. The newly defined parameters form the basis for a "future-oriented and sustainable cultural partnership between the two cantons".

As in the previous cultural contract, the funds are earmarked for cultural center services and support for private or public museums is excluded. In future, the Canton of Basel-Landschaft will pay the compensation to the Canton of Basel-Stadt and no longer to individual institutions. The distribution of funds to the institutions will be carried out by the Canton of Basel-Stadt on the basis of objective criteria that will be set out in a contract.

Unbundling of responsibilities in institutional funding and strengthening of project-related partnership funding In terms of unbundling responsibilities, the Canton of Basel-Landschaft will assume significantly more responsibility for the Haus der elektronischen Künste (HeK), which is domiciled in Basel-Landschaft, from 2022 and will transfer its share of the operating contribution to the RFV Basel (pop promotion and music network of the Basel region), which provides funding on behalf of both cantons, to the regular cantonal budget. The promotion of the Basel Paper Mill, which has been supported by the cultural contract lump sum since 2017 as a transitional solution, will in future fall entirely under the responsibility of the Canton of Basel-Stadt.

In the area of partnership-based project and production funding, the two governments are sending "a visible signal for a strong funding partnership" by ensuring full parity in the funding of the bi-cantonal expert committees BS/BL from 2022. To this end, the canton of Basel-Landschaft is unilaterally increasing its contributions to full parity.

With these key figures for the future cultural partnership, the two governments are presenting a solution that ensures the continued existence of the 17 institutions supported by the current cultural contract (cultural contract lump sum). They are implementing a system change in the sense of unbundling responsibilities in institutional funding and strengthening project-oriented funding. The governments are convinced that the newly defined parameters form the basis for a future-oriented and sustainable cultural partnership.

The Government Council of the Canton of Basel-Landschaft is also striving to increase its commitment to cultural infrastructure and to strengthen project and production funding in the Canton of Basel-Landschaft. In particular, it intends to work with the Association of Basel-Landschaft Municipalities (VBLG) to develop structures that enable better coordination between the canton and the municipalities in the area of cultural promotion.

The current cultural treaty (cultural treaty lump sum) will remain unchanged until the end of 2021 and will be replaced by the new cultural treaty in January 2022. The two governments will submit the new treaty, the joint report and the two parliamentary bills for consultation at the beginning of 2019.