Amateurmusikfonds 4

This fund backs organised amateur music in Germany — choirs, orchestras, bands, brass groups, music associations — and pays for projects that take an ensemble somewhere new, not for its normal running. Think cross-genre collaborations with dance, theatre, art or sport, inclusion and intercultural work, recruiting younger players or founding a new pop choir or jazz band, image and social-media campaigns, volunteer training, or external coaching and a facilitated future-planning workshop. Regular rehearsals, the usual annual and Christmas concerts, building work and pure equipment purchases are excluded.

You must be a non-profit legal entity — a registered association or comparable body. Bands with no legal form and unregistered groups cannot apply directly, though a non-profit partner can apply on their behalf and becomes the contract holder. Anyone funded in the third round is barred from this one.

Coaching and future-workshop measures go up to €3,000, local ensemble projects up to €7,000, and up to €40,000 for genuinely supra-regional applicants such as district, state or national federations and church district bodies. You contribute 5% in real cash, the project must take place in Germany during 2027, and total costs may not exceed 200% of the sum requested. Federal money here is subsidiary: available only if you cannot fund the work another way.

Applications close on 30 September 2026 through an online form, in German, with a financial-plan spreadsheet; formal errors are returned for up to two revisions. The jury weighs artistic ambition, whether the plan holds together, visibility for amateur music, reaching a new audience, a real partnership strategy, and lasting benefit to the organisation. All else equal, first-time applicants are preferred.