Prussian Cultural Heritage Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees of the SPK brings together companies committed to culture to support selected projects of the foundation within the framework of a strategic partnership.

Logo of the Kuratorium Preußischer Kulturbesitz

Prussian Cultural Heritage Board
© SPK / Polyform

Founded in 2014, the Kuratorium Preussischer Kulturbesitz (Board of Trustees) is an association of business enterprises committed to culture. The aim of the Board of Trustees is to support the foundation in the implementation of selected projects as part of a strategic sponsoring partnership. The main focus here is on cultural education and mediation as well as digital transformation. The Board of Trustees also supports exhibitions, research projects and event series. The Board of Trustees also supports the SPK in expanding its networking activities and provides its expertise on the strategic development of various topics.

The following internationally active companies are currently members of the Board of Trustees: Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA, Google Germany GmbH, Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Siemens AG, Würth Group and ZDF. The Chair of the Board of Trustees is Dr. Helen Müller, Head of Cultural Affairs and Corporate History Corporate Communications at Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA. Deputy Chairman is Prof. Dr. Stephan Frucht, Head of Cultural and Sponsoring Programs and Artistic Director of the Siemens Arts Program at Siemens AG.

Strategic Support of Sustainable Projects

As a universal cultural institution, the SPK bears responsibility for its excellent collections, their preservation, research and, above all, communication. This is where the Board of Trustees comes in with its support.

The Board of Trustees as a supportive companion of the SPK in transition

The Foundation sees the Board of Trustees above all as a partner that accompanies change and supports the SPK with content expertise from a business perspective.

Access and Participation for Everyone

The core objective of the commitment is to support public access and participation. The promotion of educational and outreach programs is particularly important to the Board of Trustees. For example, the program work in Haus Bastian with the project "Welcome to Museum Island! Welcome to Haus Bastian!" and the successful summer program "Connections" were implemented with the help of the Board of Trustees.

The innovative "Design Lab" series of events at the Kunstgewerbemuseum (Museum of Decorative Arts) invited selected design studios, students and activists to work on current socially relevant topics and enter into a discourse with the collection of the Kunstgewerbemuseum thanks to the support of the Board of Trustees.

The Board of Trustees is particularly keen to support the Foundation's digital transformation. The large-scale, foundation-wide data portal "SPK Lab", which went online at the beginning of 2023, could only be implemented with the help of the Board of Trustees. The new web magazine was also made possible by the Board of Trustees.

Selected research projects are also funded by the Board of Trustees, for example on the topic of provenance research. The Board of Trustees is also involved in the Dahlem Research Campus and supports the "DenkRaum" sub-project in particular.

In addition, the members of the Board of Trustees support the "Forum Hamburger Bahnhof". This area of the Hamburger Bahnhof, which has been redesigned since June 2023, will be permanently open to the public free of charge. The "Forum Hamburger Bahnhof" not only takes up the history of the building, but is above all intended to be a place of debate that invites visitors to help shape new concepts for the museum.

The innovative event series "Making Spaces: A Programming Series in Solidarity with Ukraine" can currently be experienced thanks to the support of the curatorship. The focus here is on art and culture in Ukraine in talks, performances and films. "Making Spaces" takes place in various institutions of the SPK (Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation).

Exhibition projects are also part of the companies' funding portfolio: Without the Board of Trustees, it would not have been possible to have the room on the third floor of the Humboldt Forum dedicated to Chinese court art designed as a permanent installation by architect and Pritzker Prize winner Wang Shu. Most recently, the Board of Trustees supported the successful special exhibition "Archaeological Treasures from Uzbekistan". From summer 2024, the exhibition "Frans Hals. Master of the Moment" will be on display in the Gemäldegalerie (Picture gallery) at the Berlin Kulturforum, which is also being realized with the help of the Board of Trustees.