TANZPAKT Stadt-Land-Bund supports multi-year projects that combine funding from the federal government with co-financing of at least the same amount from municipalities, federal states or other funders.

The funding programme TANZPAKT Stadt-Land-Bund has three priorities, T1, T2 and T3. Projects should ideally address a combination of all three:

• T1 Expanding excellence by supporting outstanding ensembles, artist collectives and individual artists with an international reach
• T2 Expanding excellence by supporting production houses and venues with a national and / or international reach
• T3 Expanding excellence by developing and implementing collaborative dance development concepts

Applicants must be resident and organisations or institutions must be based in Germany. Depending on which priorities have been chosen, the following persons or institutions are able to apply: independent dance ensembles, artist collectives and artistic teams, individual artists, ensembles of state or municipal theatres, alliances between different sectors of the dance scene, alliances between dance sector professionals and public funding bodies (i.e. local authorities), production houses, choreographic centres, venues, theatres, festivals that produce their own work, production platforms and offices, as well as initiatives calling for the development of new infrastructure and production structures for dance.

Yes. As well as supporting new projects, the programme will also be open to projects that have previously received TANZPAKT funding, enabling them to continue and expand their activities.

The earliest possible start date for projects in the 2025 funding round is 15 November 2025. Please note, however, that funding is not confirmed until the funding agreement has been signed.

All activities for projects in both funding rounds must be completed by 30 June 2030.

As a rule, projects should run for 36 months.

The minimum grant amount that new projects can apply for is generally 90,000 euros, and the maximum amount is 600,000 euros.

The maximum grant amount for projects that have previously received TANZPAKT funding is 300,000 euros.

Funding from TANZPAKT Stadt-Land-Bund is dependent on securing an equal co-financing share from local authorities, federal states and / or other funders. The total amount of co-financing secured must be at least as high as the requested TANZPAKT grant amount. While we advise that the co-financing should be awarded specifically for the funded project, it is also permissible to declare existing multi-year funding as co-financing. One-off project funding, however, does not count as co-financing.

Unsecured funds such as income from ticket sales or private assets also do not count towards the co-financing share.

No funding from TANZPAKT Stadt-Land-Bund is possible if:

• Sufficient co-financing has not been secured for the project.
• The project or applicants do not meet the eligibility requirements or assessment criteria.
• The application has not been submitted in time for the deadline.
• The application is incomplete or was not submitted via the application portal.
• The applicant or organisation are not resident / based in Germany.
• The project has already begun, expenses have been accrued or contracts concluded before the selection panel has completed its session.
• The project is financed by other funding from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.

An independent jury of dance sector experts will deliberate in a closed session and decide on the funded projects.

Applicants will be informed about the jury’s decision by email directly after the jury meeting probably at the beginning of November 2025. The jury reserves the right to make its offer of funding subject to certain conditions.

No, there is no legal entitlement to receiving funding from Bureau Ritter gUG as part of TANZPAKT Stadt-Land-Bund.

In principle, applications that were rejected can be resubmitted.

Due to the complexity of the funding programme, we strongly recommended that you make an appointment for a consultation before submitting your application.

The TANZPAKT team at Bureau Ritter will be happy to answer any questions about the design of your project, the application process and the budget requirements. Consultations can take place in person, on the phone or as a video call.

Contact

Directors Funding Programme

Riccarda Herre
T. +49 (0)30 40 20 33 22 1
r.herre(at)bureau-ritter.de

Isabel Niederhagen
T. +49 (0)30 40 20 33 22 2
i.niederhagen(at)bureau-ritter.de

Project and Finance Manager

Mara Martínez
T. +49 (0)30 40 20 33 22 8
m.martinez(at)bureau-ritter.de

General requests

The TANZPAKT team at Dachverband Tanz Deutschland offers advice on a cultural policy level, for example by helping to identify possible deficits or potentials of dance in a particular location, and by suggesting measures to invest in the sector (e.g. infrastructure projects, new spaces for dance, innovative funding models, audience development, management structures etc.).

Contact

Project Coordinator Cultural Policy

Nicola von Stillfried
T. +49 (0)30 37 44 33 92
M. +49 (0)176 71 20 04 99
Fax +49 (0)30 68 07 50 36
n.stillfried(at)dachverband-tanz.de

There will be two funding rounds in the period from 2025 to 2030. The deadline for applications for the first funding round is 22 September 2025, 6 pm. We recommend subscribing to our newsletter, where we will send out important dates as soon as they are confirmed.

Applications can be submitted from 01 April 2025 via the online portal of Bureau Ritter – the organisers of the funding programme TANZPAKT Stadt-Land-Bund. Applicants need to register and create an account in the portal in order to start the application.

Yes, we are working to make the application process more accessible and inclusive. Applicants with physical, sensory or cognitive disabilities can contact the Bureau Ritter team for assistance and support with their application.

For collaborative projects or networks, only one individual or partner organisation should apply on behalf of the entire project. If funding is approved, this individual or organisation will become the Bureau Ritter contractual partner. The funding programme does not specify how a network should choose its main applicant. A professional organisational structure must be in place or be established to implement the project.

Applications must be submitted using the online form provided in the portal, which includes a detailed project description that should take the following points into account:

• If you are applying to TANZPAKT for the first time: Describe the initial situation on which the motivation and idea for your project are based.
• If you are applying for funding for the further development of a measure that has already received funding: Based on the status quo described above, reflect on and evaluate your previous work and explain what else you want to achieve with renewed funding.
• Outline the concrete implementation of your project, describe the planned activities that you want to implement together with your partner institutions and outline the rough timeline.
• To what extent will your project open up new fields of work or improve the quality of existing activities?
• Which target groups will benefit from your planned activities and why?
• Describe the mediation measures you are planning.
• In addition, briefly describe the hoped-for impact of the successful implementation of your project.
• If applicable, describe your planned measures for removing barriers for project participants and spectators.
• Explain to what extent the project aims to achieve results that go beyond the interest of the partners and direct participants and that have a potential long-term impact, e.g. with regard to the development of the dance scene in your municipality and/or in your federal state or with regard to the visibility of dance in the (local) public.

The following must also be submitted as mandatory attachments:

• Scan (as PDF) of the self-declaration of the applicant(s) with data protection declaration and the signature of the authorized representative
• Detailed financing plan as an open Excel file
• Letters of intent from the co-financing partners
• informal declarations of intent from institutional partners (collaborations), if applicable
• Dossier with brief profiles of the partner institutions and relevant project participants, if applicable

To help you prepare your application, we will provide you with the mandatory templates for the applicant’s self-declaration, the financing plan, the confirmation of your co-financing and the document “Guidelines for the preparation of the financing plan” at www.tanzpakt.de at the start of the application procedure.

A maximum of three additional attachments can be added informally to the application, e.g. press reviews, accompanying letters and/ or letters of recommendation from the co-financing institutions. Projects that have already received funding can, for example, enclose existing evaluations.

Yes, applications can be submitted in English. The application form, however, is only available in German.

TANZPAKT funding is based on the concept of deficit funding. This means that project-related expenses that have been approved as part of the submitted budget are covered up to the contractually agreed maximum grant amount, provided that the project organiser is unable to cover these costs from their own or other funds. All grants are based on actual costs, which means that any reduction of costs or increase in match funding or other income will result in a reduction of the grant.

As a rule, projects that are already receiving funding from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media – or an institution directly funded by the latter – are excluded from applying for funding through TANZPAKT Stadt-Land-Bund. This includes the following funding bodies: Kulturstiftung des Bundes (Federal Cultural Foundation), Hauptstadtkulturfonds, Fonds Darstellende Künste e.V.

Each co-financing partner must separately complete a letter of intent, which must be signed by an authorised legal representative for the organisation. The letters must be submitted as part of the application. With the start of the application process the template that must be used for the letter is available for download here. It can also be downloaded directly from the application portal.

In principle and under certain circumstances, co-financing from international sources is possible.