Petition Launched After Germany Threatens its €60,000 Musical Instrument Prize

Germany's Federal Ministry of Economics announced it would discontinue the prize in order to save money

The German Music Council has launched a petition to save Germany's Musical Instrument Prize. The prize, which is worth €60,000 and has been running for the last 33 years, is under threat after the German Federal Ministry of Economics announced they would discontinue it.

The petition is addressed to Dr Robert Habeck, the Federal Minister for Economics.

Established in 1990, the prize celebrates German lutherie by supporting a German maker who has produced an instrument of "the highest quality and with special innovative properties." Among the recent prizewinners are a Pöllmann-Krahmer double bass (Mittenwald, 2020), and a viola by Steffen Friedel (Dresden, 2018).

If you feel strongly about this issue, you can sign the petition here. Prof. Christian Höppner's letter to Robert Habeck is also available here.

"If the Federal Ministry of Economics were to quietly abandon the prestigious competition after more than three decades, it would be a fatal signal: German musical instrument making, with its high-quality combination of craftsmanship and art, is not only an important economic factor in the German economy, but also a unique cultural heritage," the German Music Council writes.

"The low savings potential of €60,000 annually is therefore disproportionate to the potential damage to Germany as a cultural location and the German music industry."