Read the statement by Julien Chavaz, General Artistic Director of ETC Member Theater Magdeburg Theatre, following the victory of the German far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the Saxony-Anhalt state election on 6 September, albeit without an absolute majority in parliament.

ETC Member Theater Magdeburg is based in the Saxony-Anhalt region. You can read about the election result here, and about the AfD's vision for culture in the region here.

Responding to the results, Julien Chavaz, General Artistic Director of Theater Magdeburg, commented:

“The outcome of this state election is, for me, a moment of profound disillusionment, but at the same time a call to look very closely at what has happened. The election result shows that a significant proportion of people in Saxony-Anhalt voted for the AfD. We must take this decision seriously as a democratic reality. At the same time, we must not pretend that the AfD’s cultural policy ideas are compatible with the principles and identity of a free theatre.

For me, one thing remains clear: art is not there to put the ideology of a political party on stage. A theatre is not a place where a government dictates which stories may be told or which artists may be engaged. Artistic freedom is the foundation of our work, and it matters precisely when art becomes uncomfortable, asks critical questions or brings different perspectives into confrontation with one another. We will continue to present international works, make space for new perspectives, give young artists a platform and engage with the questions of our time. Our programme will not be shaped by political directives, but by artistic quality and by the question of what we want to communicate to our audiences.

As General Artistic Director, I have a particular responsibility for the 440 people who work at this theatre. I will do everything I can to ensure that they can continue to carry out their work freely and without political interference. Theater Magdeburg stands for openness, diversity and international collaboration. People from different countries and with very different backgrounds work together here. This diversity is not a threat to our cultural identity; it is part of our reality and a great artistic strength.

Theater Magdeburg is, and will remain, a place where people come together. A place where we laugh, cry and debate together. Especially in politically difficult times, we need such places more than ever. We will keep our doors open – to our audiences, to our artists and to social and public dialogue. We will not allow our openness to be taken away from us. And we will continue to make theatre: free, diverse and democratic."

Responding to the events, Executive Director of the European Theatre Convention (ETC), Heidi Wiley, said:

"The results of this regional election in Germany reflect a wider trend we have seen across Europe: growing political pressure to make culture serve a narrow, nationalist agenda. AfD has been explicit that it wants to fund only art that ‘contributes to the formation of German identity’. This is precisely the kind of politicisation of public funding that threatens free, diverse and democratic theatre.

"Artistic freedom cannot depend on the political priorities of the government of the day. That is why we will continue to shape the conditions for binding legal protections for artistic freedom across Europe, including through the European Artistic Freedom Act (EAFA), which we have been championing since 2024 through our RESISTANCE NOW TOGETHER campaign.”

Main image (c) Andreas Lander