Introduction to www.theaterportal.de

Germany has a rich heritage of theatres and opera houses. Going back for centuries the government (back then the kings and other nobles) usually took great interest in the arts and began sponsoring "their" theatres. This heritage still lives on in Germany: more then 150 city and state governments call a theatre their "own" and finance it to a large extend out of the tax payers money (every public theatre receives on the average 85% of their yearly budget from taxes). In addition to those theatres financed by local or state government, there are more than a thousand privately owned theatres ranging from large commercial enterprises (Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals) to amateur theatre groups staging their yearly production in the local sports centre. Some of those private theatres are being subsidized by the taxpayers’ money, others are not. All in all Germany spends more the 2 billion euros on their theatres – a meagre percentage of the total German government spending.

In times like these, where out of economic necessity everybody tightens their belts – including and especially the government, a new discussion has started in Germany: do we need to subsidize all these theatres or should we stop this and let the market decide? Many of the theatres would cease to exist if the subsidies stopped, others would probably find ways and means to survive – maybe in an entirely different format.

However, the unique landscape of German theatre needs to be promoted. And this is where Theaterportal sets in.

The people here at Theaterportal do believe in the arts, in artists and theatres – they are part of our rich cultural heritage.

We would like to help to keep this heritage alive. Therefore in April 2003 we began our marketing initiative for all German speaking theatres.

Theaterportal is doing what no one has done before: to use the Internet to collect and present all data about all performances in Germany, Austria and Switzerland of drama, opera, musical, children's plays, ballet and others.

In addition to that we will offer all theatres a brand new and fully secure online ticketing service: every ticket can be bought online in an instant and printed at home (or to be received by regular post if time permits).

This will offer an unprecedented overview of German stage art, invaluable for every lover of the theatre in his own city or region. International travelers will find it easy to inform themselves about cultural events at their holiday destination. And: the online ticketing service will make it easier then ever to order tickets for that beloved ballet performance just before Christmas.

The creators behind Theaterportal have a rich background in the arts, computing and management. This unique blend assures the success of this newly found company with offices in Berlin, Frankfurt and Darmstadt.

If you would like to find out more about Theaterportal please contact the company at info@theaterportal.de or call one of our offices (see the Impressum page).

If you would like to read up on German or international theatre please consider the following link, where you will find a list of international literature including encyclopaedias in many foreign languages.