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According to our Statutes, providing financial assistance for the Bayreuth Festival is the purpose of the Society of Friends of Bayreuth. We are also in the unusual position of being integrated, as the society of patrons, in the financial planning of the cultural facility that we support. It is one of the duties of our Board of Management to discuss and adopt the budget of the Bayreuth Festival together with the public bodies which contribute subsidies.
1953 saw the establishment of the “Festspielkuratorium” (Board of Trustees), the committee of representatives of the public bodies and the Society of Friends of Bayreuth, which supports the Bayreuth Festival every year according to a fixed formula. This lays down that one third of the budget deficit is borne by the Federal Republic of Germany and another third by the Free State of Bavaria. The last third is shared by the town of Bayreuth (4/9 of the last third), the District of Upper Franconia (2/9 of the last third) and the Society of Friends (3/9 of the last third).
In addition to this share in the contribution towards the running costs, the Society of Friends of Bayreuth has also financed all the investments in technology and buildings for the Festival since 1990. In the past 16 years, more than 24 million euros have been transferred to the Festival management for investments of this kind.
Our funds come from our members, their membership subscriptions and their additional donations to us and thus to the Bayreuth Festival.
The membership subscription currently amounts to 205 euros per year. About half our members were able to make further donations of between 50 and 50,000 euros to the Society of Friends in 2006.
The remainder of the Society’s income comes from joining fees and “Other income”.
For some years now, the Society’s annual revenue has totalled more than three million euros a year. In 2006 alone, the Society remitted more than 4.6 million euros to the Festival.
These funds have been used, among other things, to renew the understage machinery, to instal a new system of winches, to improve the lighting facilities and, for the first time, to finance the new production of “Der Ring des Nibelungen” in 2006.
We would be delighted to welcome you or your company as members and sponsors of the Bayreuth Festival. The membership subscriptions and all donations can be set off in full against German tax, and we are happy to issue you with the appropriate donation certificate.
Donations can be remitted to the following accounts:
“Gesellschaft der Freunde von Bayreuth”
Commerzbank Bayreuth: Account No. 151 902 401, Sort code/BLZ 773 400 76,
IBAN DE72773400760151902401BICCOBADEFF
Postbank Nuremberg: Account No. 5 157 859, Sort code/BLZ 760 100 85,
IBAN DE96760100850005157859BICPBNKDEFF
Hauck & Aufhäuser:
Account No. 7 252 505, Sort code/BLZ 502 209 00,
IBAN DE16502209000007252505BICHAUKDEFF
The Festival management offers donors an opportunity to have their names or company logos printed in the annual Festival Programme. For private individuals, this is possible in return for an additional donation of 2,560 euros or more, and for companies for an additional donation of 5,113 euros or more.
At its meeting in January 2007, our Board of Management resolved that these amounts would be increased to 4,000 euros (private individuals) and 8,000 euros (companies) as of 2008.
On behalf of the Festival management, we should like to thank all our donors, named and unnamed!
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