Consultation on the Basel Cultural Treaty

The documents submitted to the Basel-Stadt Grand Council and the Basel-Landschaft Cantonal Council, which were published at the same time, explain further results of the negotiations and the planned implementation of the new cultural contract as well as further measures in the area of cultural promotion in the Canton of Basel-Landschaft.

As in the previous cultural contract, the funds from the Canton of Basel-Landschaft are earmarked for cultural center services in the area of professional contemporary cultural creation. The institutions benefiting from the payments must demonstrably have a regional impact, receive a regular operating contribution from the Canton of Basel-Stadt and employ their own ensemble or orchestra or be a co-production partner and venue for regional ensembles and companies under a performance mandate from the Canton of Basel-Stadt.

The regional impact is documented by surveying the number of visitors. In future, the three institutions with the most visitors from the canton of Basel-Landschaft will be taken into account. The total operating contribution that these three institutions receive will not increase. Rather, the Basel-Stadt share of the operating contribution of these three institutions will be reduced in line with the increase in the contributions from the compensation of the Canton of Basel-Landschaft.

The funds thus released will be reallocated within the cultural budget of the Canton of Basel-Stadt in such a way that all institutions that currently benefit from the cultural contract lump sum (existing cultural contract) will receive the same level of support as before. This shift will result in neither additional costs nor savings for the Canton of Basel-Stadt. The alignment with existing models of compensation for cultural center services enables a transparent distribution of funds on the basis of objective criteria and comparability.

According to the press release, the cantonal government of Basel-Landschaft is also aiming to "increase its commitment to cultural infrastructure and strengthen project and production funding in the canton of Basel-Landschaft". It is presenting a concept for the promotion of contemporary art and culture in the cantonal council bill. This includes financial and structural measures in various areas of support. Among other things, it provides for an increase in funding for institutions in the canton of Basel-Landschaft and a strengthening of funding credits in several areas of cultural promotion in Basel-Landschaft.