Marion Ackermann is the first woman to take over the leadership of the most powerful cultural institution in Germany. The 59-year-old is to take over as president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK) next year. The former general director of the Dresden State Art Collections was appointed by the SPK Board of Trustees in Berlin as the successor to Hermann Parzinger (65), as announced by Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth, chair of the Board of Trustees. The president, who has been in office since 2008, is retiring next year due to age.
Ackermann has been managing the art collections since 2016 as a network of 15 museums and four institutes. The art historian was previously director of the Stuttgart Art Museum from 2003 and head of the North Rhine-Westphalia Art Collection from 2009. She has also worked in the Bizot Group, an international association for large exhibition projects, and on the board of the Goethe Institute. She is also already active on the SPK Foundation Advisory Board.
Award-winning museum manager
Roth spoke of an excellent choice. Ackermann has shown how successfully she can manage institutions. “She is an excellent museum manager, art practitioner, strategist and what was also very important for us in our considerations: she has excellent international networks,” said the Green politician. Ackermann will lead the foundation into a successful and sustainable future with great creativity, new ideas and a lot of energy. The contract, which is signed for five years on June 1 next year, includes an option for re-election.
For the states, Saxony-Anhalt’s Minister of Culture Rainer Robra (CDU) sees in Ackermann “a refreshing external perspective and understanding of federal work”. “This combination of outstanding leadership qualities and a deep understanding of art and culture makes her the ideal successor.”
Largest cultural institution in Germany
Ackermann announced that she wanted to further increase the foundation’s international appeal and to do so by networking and exchanging ideas with colleagues in other countries. With regard to the situation in Germany, Ackermann said that she wanted to help overcome polarization using art as a means.
The SPK is the largest and most important cultural institution in Germany. The foundation, which is supported by the federal government and all states and has around 2,000 employees, includes the Berlin State Library and several institutes as well as the Berlin State Museums with 15 collections and 4.7 million objects at 19 locations. These include internationally well-known and renowned institutions such as the Gemäldegalerie, the Pergamon Museum and the Alte Nationalgalerie, Neue Nationalgalerie and Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, which belong to the Nationalgalerie.
Foundation in transition
The foundation has so far been considered too cumbersome and not internationally competitive. That is why it is getting a new structure that will, among other things, give the individual institutions more autonomy.
The reform also depends on additional finances. Together, all states contribute around 15 percent of the budget, with Berlin contributing around 8 percent as the host state. The federal government pays around 85 percent. The current annual budget is 400 million euros, 106 million of which is borne by the federal government alone as the construction budget.
Meeting on the future with Chancellor Scholz
The reform is expected to result in an additional financial requirement of around 31 million euros. The states have so far promised to increase their share by around three million euros. There are no concrete figures from the federal government yet.
According to Roth and Robra, the federal and state governments intend to discuss reform and financing in a meeting with Chancellor Olaf Scholz on December 12.