Rejection of Ida Müller and Vegard Vinge: Berlin Senator Joe Chialo has lost the trust of the cultural scene – culture

How times are changing: Just a month and a half ago, when asked by SZ, the Berlin cultural administration assured that it assumed that the directing and performance duo Ida Müller and Vegard Vinge would sign their contract as interim directors of the Volksbühne by the end of October. It has now been announced that the two artists have broken off contract negotiations with Berlin's Senator for Culture Joe Chialo (CDU) and will not take over the theater. The decisive factor for their decision was apparently “the current budget cuts, which are creating an uncertain situation for the period until the summer of 2027,” as the Volksbühne's operations director, Celina Nicolay, told the theater's staff in a letter that was available to the SZ.