Three savings models amid a city budget dispute
The AfD's motion, A0211/26, asks the mayor to develop three options that would save the city 3 million, 5 million or 7 million euros a year. Council members are scheduled to consider it on November 5, 2026, and the faction has requested referral to three committees.
The proposed reductions amount to 14%, 23% and 32% of the city's annual subsidy. Under the largest cut, that contribution would drop from about 21.8 million euros to about 14.8 million euros.
The AfD argues that Magdeburg's financial position warrants reviewing whether the theater's existing structure is affordable over the long term. It says closure should not be the goal, but questions whether the city needs to maintain full in-house production structures for every artistic offering. The faction puts the theater's annual cost to taxpayers at 37 million euros and its own revenue at 4 million euros.
Magdeburg has struggled for years to balance its budget, and the current draft has a 47 million-euro shortfall. The council is due to vote on a fiscal consolidation plan on November 5 and on the 2027 budget on December 7.
Theater warns of closures and job losses
Administrative director Bettina Pesch said the proposal would fundamentally alter Theater Magdeburg's operation as a theater with multiple artistic divisions. Structural cuts would inevitably close entire divisions, she warned, and savings of the proposed magnitude could not be achieved without large-scale job losses.
Personnel accounts for more than 80% of the theater's spending, according to Pesch, with employment terms largely governed by collective agreements. She said the cuts would affect audience response and attendance, as well as each division's ability to operate and develop artistically.
The theater's 2026 business plan provides for about 21.8 million euros from the city and 15.2 million euros from Saxony-Anhalt, against total funding needs of 41 million euros. The AfD motion says the municipal contribution has increased by 2 million euros since 2024.
The State Chancellery said the current funding contract remains in force through the end of 2028. A spokeswoman said funding arrangements must comply with Germany's Basic Law, the state constitution and the Culture Funding Act, and must serve the state's interests.
Following the Saxony-Anhalt state election, the theater's general director, Julien Chavaz, warned of political pressure on publicly funded theaters but ruled out changing course preemptively.
Council factions oppose the proposal
Noah Biswanger, leader of the Left faction and a finance policy spokesman, criticized the motion as emblematic of the AfD's destructive approach to cultural policy. The SPD/Tierschutzallianz/Volt faction said the plans threatened the theater's existence. The Gartenpartei said it would reject savings in culture and sports or at the expense of retirees, children or young people.
The SPD/Tierschutzallianz/Volt faction also cited Theater Magdeburg's selection as Theater of the Year for 2025 as evidence of its recognition and standing beyond the city.
That title, awarded through a critics' poll by the magazine Theater heute, passed to the Münchner Kammerspiele for 2026. The result was announced on August 27, 2026, following a poll of 45 critics, according to DIE ZEIT's dpa report. Magdeburg held the distinction for one year.
Earlier attempts to change cultural funding
The proposal follows other unsuccessful AfD efforts to change cultural funding rules. A little over a year ago, its Magdeburg council faction sought to restrict eligibility under a funding guideline to projects submitting a mandatory declaration of party-political neutrality. The council rejected that motion.
During the summer, the AfD's state parliamentary faction proposed making state funding conditional on a commitment to the state, democracy and German culture. That proposal was also rejected.
The party's Saxony-Anhalt state-election platform sets out a cultural policy centered on patriotism. Co-authored by culture-policy spokesman Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, it calls for more German plays in theaters, funding primarily for art that contributes to German identity, and no state support for art it regards as anti-German.
Tillschneider, who has served as a vice president of the state parliament since October 2026, says art must align with national culture. Critics view that position as an intrusion on artistic freedom.
