Success for cultural leadership

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15 scholarship holders from Hamburg cultural organizations have successfully completed the first Cultural Leadership Scholarship Programme in Hamburg. At the certificate presentation ceremony, Senator for Culture Dr. Carsten Brosda praised the program as an important building block for the future viability of Hamburg's cultural landscape. The next call for applications will start shortly.

For ten months, people with management responsibility in cultural organizations such as the Hamburg State Opera, Kampnagel, Bücherhallen Hamburg, MARKK, FUNDUS THEATER, Kulturschloss Wandsbek and Hajusom have intensively dealt with questions of contemporary leadership in cultural organizations. In four face-to-face workshops lasting several days, six compact online and face-to-face sessions and self-organized learning groups, they reflected on their personal attitude in the context of their leadership role and developed skills for actively shaping change processes.

The program is run by the Institute for Culture and Media Management at the Hamburg University of Music and Drama (HfMT) and is funded by the Hamburg Ministry of Culture and Media and the Alfred Toepfer Foundation F.V.S.. It is the first publicly funded qualification program for cultural leadership in Germany. In 2023/24, the programme was successfully implemented for the first time as a pilot project in North Rhine-Westphalia; a total of 30 managers and their organizations have already been supported.

The "Cultural Leadership" concept on which the programme is based combines two perspectives: the question of coherent leadership in cultural organizations with the question of the social responsibility of cultural organizations. "The Cultural Leadership scholarship program does not provide a recipe book for good leadership. We work with the fellows on how they can remain capable of acting and shaping change even in unpredictable situations with a high degree of uncertainty," explains program director Prof. Dr. Martin Zierold.

Outlook: Next call for applications will start shortly

Building on the experience of the first two years, the Cultural Leadership Scholarship Program in Hamburg will continue in 2026/27. The call for applications for the next year will be published on March 30 and is open for applications until May 3. The programme is still aimed at people with initial management responsibility in Hamburg cultural organizations from all areas of the publicly funded cultural sector.

All information about the program and the application process can be found at www.leading-culture.de

A digital information event will be held to kick off the application phase:

Monday, March 30, 2026, 1-4 p.m.
Registration via online form
With information on the program and the application process as well as a Q&A with the program director

Voices at the end of the program

Marlene Troidl, Program Management and Development, Institute for Culture and Media Management at the HfMT Hamburg:

"What makes the program special, apart from the content, is the power of learning together: at the beginning, we provide structure and orientation, but as the program progresses, the scholarship holders take on increasing co-responsibility for shaping their learning spaces. Experiencing how 15 individuals become a group that challenges and supports each other was also an impressive experience for us as a program team."

Dr. Andrea WenigerFellow and Head of Education & Outreach at the Hamburger Kunsthalle:

"What appealed to me most about the Cultural Leadership Scholarship Program were the impulses and approaches to solutions from theory and practice as well as the collegial exchange in a protected environment. It was an absolute enrichment for me to take part and to have developed a collective and personal vision of cultural leadership together with the program management and my colleagues. As a cultural professional, I feel strengthened, inspired and motivated to meet current and future challenges."

Dr. Carsten BrosdaSenator for Culture and Media of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg:

"Good leadership helps determine whether cultural institutions become places where the values of an open society are not only negotiated, but also lived. The fact that Hamburg is making this program possible is also an investment in the future viability of the cultural sector. Because this is also where those who will shape our cultural landscape in the coming years are trained."

Prof. Dr. Jan Philipp SprickPresident of the Hamburg University of Music and Drama:

"The Cultural Leadership Scholarship Program shows how we as a university also take responsibility for professional development in the cultural sector beyond academic training. The fact that this program was developed at the KMM Institute of the HfMT and will be continued in the future fits in very well with our claim to combine artistic excellence and social responsibility."

Ansgar WimmerChairman of the Board of the Alfred Toepfer Foundation F.V.S.:

"As a foundation, we have been designing or accompanying programs at Gut Siggen for many years to develop leaders in culture, science and civil society. Seeing how the participants have grown over the course of the program and the cohesion that has developed within the group confirms to us that targeted personnel development in the cultural sector makes a real difference. We look forward to the continuation."

The 15 scholarship holders of the 2025/26 cohort

Melike Bilir (Hajusom e.V.), Mohammed Ghunaim (former Thalia Theater, currently Tanztriennale), Mareike Lappat (Bücherhallen Hamburg), Carolin Löffler (Kampnagel), Ainhoa Montoya Arteabaro (Kulturschloss Wandsbek), Insa Müller (former The Young ClassX e.V.), Connie Nell (A.G.D.A.Z. Steilshoop), Nina Reiprich (fluxus² / Studio Marshmallow), Moritz Reissenberger (Hamburg State Opera), Daniel Stolte (einhornkollektiv), Sophie Wackerbauer (feel.jazz Festival / TONALi), Janne Weirup (Hamburger Puppentheater), Andrea Weniger (Hamburger Kunsthalle), Christopher Weymann (FUNDUS THEATER), Johanna Wild (MARKK)