German government to reclassify threatened nightclubs as cultural and artistic venues

The German government could make a move to reclassify nightclubs across the country, recognising them as cultural and artistic venues rather than entertainment spaces.

The move would support clubs that are under threat of rising costs and steep overheads, and would allow them to operate in certain residential areas, The Guardian reports.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s cabinet approved plans to reclassify venues in May, though it must still go through the Bundestag and the Bundesrat for final consideration.

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If approved, nightclub building regulations would be changed to make it harder for developers to evict venue operators from their current home.

Nightclubs are currently classified in the same bracket as strip clubs, brothels and betting shops, per The Guardian, with stricter regulations in place than cultural spaces.

"The existing entertainment venue regulations date back to the last century when legislature and the authorities decided to lump together as shady everything that happened in the evenings," says Marc Wohlrabe, a board member of the German federal association of music venues.

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"From red-light districts to strip bars, game halls, and music clubs, considering this incompatible with residential areas and families," he continued.

"The club owners we represent operate more like a theatre – curating artists [and] nurturing emerging talent, and deserve instead to be designated as cultural centres alongside opera, theatre, and high culture."

The move aims to support clubs as many face closure across Germany, with famed Berlin institutions including Renate, Watergate, and the city’s oldest queer club, SchwuZ, all shuttering in the past 18 months.

[Via The Guardian]

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Associate Digital Editor