The organisers of Rhinekultur, Germany's biggest admission-free festival, have said that they have cancelled the 2012 30th anniversary edition and will now stop the festival permanently. Giving reasons, organisers Sabine Funk and Holger Schmidt. said that the admission free concept required a lot of idealism and volunteer work from the organisers that doesn't now fit with the responsibility and risk involved. They also said that the financial base of the festival was always fragile and the organisers felt that there was a lack of support from the city of Bonn and that the Festival's influence, image and benefit for the city always has been underestimated by politicians and city government. The differences in support and subsidisation of entertainment and established culture were one of the main frustrations for the organising team who pointed to the fact that Rhinkultur, attended in 2011 by 160,000 visitors, was just 80,000€ , whereas the 2011 Beethoven Festival with a capacity of approx 60,000 visitors was awarded 1,6 Million€. But organisers also said that reasons also included the fact that they had recently had deal with a small but significant anti social element who were often aggressive and drunk. RhEINKULTUR closes with a "balanced financial state" having reduced debts from 2010 meaning that organisers can stop the festival "without doing any harm to anybody"
www.rheinkultur.com
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