Deadline: 01-Nov-2025
The Festival Funding Programme supports Berlin pop music festivals with the aim to generate perspectives for action and planning.
Particular focus is on festivals involving up-and-coming talents in music and the music industry. With the term pop music Musicboard refers to all genres of popular music as well as cross-genre or experimental pop music that cannot be clearly assigned to the categories of jazz or classical and new music. The Festival Funding Programme funds exclusively: projects that will generate an overall benefit for the Berlin pop music scene and music industry, and that principally involve artists whose lives or creative work is centred in Berlin persons involved in pop music that are located in Berlin, who live in or have a company based in Berlin.
The legal status of the applicant (for example, natural person, society, or company) is not relevant to the funding decision. Projects with a total scope of at least 5,000 euros projects that would not take place, at least not at the required scale, without the funding projects planned for 2026 that are not yet being implemented projects that will be concluded within the year 2026 projects that reflect the diversity of Berlin’s pop music scene and music industry and ensure the participation of at least 50 percent female, non-binary, and queer artists projects that are sensitive to accessibility and inclusivity objectives, and that are conceived as at least 50 percent barrier-free.
Excluded from the funding programme are projects for children and youth or projects intended for cultural education projects aimed at organising a stage for the Fête de la Musique projects which are already being implemented at the time of the funding request projects already funded by the state of Berlin members of the jury or employees of the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion of Berlin or Musicboard Berlin GmbH and their dependents. Projects for which the proper use of the funding does not appear to be ensured and which are not able to provide the proof of use of the funds as intended. This is particularly the case if applicants who have already received funding from the Musicboard in the past have repeatedly failed to comply with their reporting obligations, have not submitted proof of use within the set deadline or have not provided proper accounting.
Applicants are required to submit all information and documents in German or English exclusively through the application tool. A completed application form, detailed project description with programme planning, project team, and short bios of participating artists, as well as information on the line-up with links to music samples must be included. Venue confirmations, if available, should be provided along with a clear specification of costs towards which the funding will be applied.
Only fully completed applications will be considered. All submissions will be treated confidentially and used strictly for decision-making and funding purposes. Applicants agree to the publication of certain relevant details as part of the application process. The application deadline for Pop im Kiez is November 1, with projects planned for implementation and completion within 2026.
For more information, visit Musicboard Berlin GmbH.