Prussian Cultural Heritage Board of Trustees - Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz

The Prussian Cultural Heritage Board of Trustees, which was established in 2014, is an association of leading German businesses. The board understands itself as being in a strategic partnership, supporting the Foundation in implementing selected projects. Along with activities connected to the Humboldt Forum, the focus is on communication, cultural education and transfer and digital transformation. Further, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Board of Trustees supports the Foundation’s effort to extend its network and also makes its thematic expertise available.

The following internationally active business organizations are currently members of the board: Bayer AG, Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA, Deutsche Bank AG, Google Germany GmbH, Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Siemens AG, Würth-Gruppe and ZDF. The chairman of the board is Helen Müller, Head of Cultural Affairs and Corporate History of Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA; her deputy is Stephan Frucht, Senior Vice President Culture and Sponsoring and Artistic Director Siemens Arts Program of Siemens AG.

The Prussian Cultural Heritage Board has replaced the Museum Island board of trustees, which supported the projects of Museum Island from 2001 to 2013. 

Strategic Support of Sustainable Projects

As a universal cultural institution, the SPK is responsible for its excellent collections, including their maintenance and research activities. This is the Board’s point of departure for its support.

Access and Participation for Everyone

Whether the subject is communication media or digital transformation, in projects involving education and knowledge transfer, in outstanding special exhibits or activities around the Humboldt Forum, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Board has always been a valuable, stimulating partner for the SPK. One key focus of the support is the area of public access and participation.

The Board as the SPK’s supportive companion in change

The Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz sees the Board above all as a partner who accompanies change. Projects such as improving the way the Gipsformerei (Replica Workshop) is marketed by creating an online shop, producing and selling the SPK magazine, or conducting provenance research via the “Tanzania–Germany. Shared Object Histories?” project have been implemented thanks to the Board’s support.

Without the Board it would not have been possible to have the architect and Pritzker Award winner Wang Shu design the fourth floor of the Humboldt Forum on Chinese court art. Another topic that is important to the Board is knowledge transfer and the use of media. 

For this reason, the Board sponsored the development of an app that is available to the public for the exhibition “Beyond Compare. Art from Africa in the Bode Museum” as a multimedia guide. The knowledge transfer project “Connections” was also financed by Board funds; it will encourage visitors to explore the diverse connections between the collections on Museum Island. 

The large-scale summer program "Rauf auf die Insel!" (Get Away to the (Museum) Island!) showed with new formats and offers how to creatively deal with the corona-related restrictions. Thanks to the support of the Board of Trustees, the exhibition series "Design Lab" has been inviting selected design studios, students and activists to present current projects and enter into a discourse with the collection of the Kunstgewerbemuseum (Museum of Decorative Arts) since 2019. Since the end of August 2021, the event series "Porcelain and Music" can also be experienced as a new cooperation between the Kunstgewerbemuseum and the Musikinstrumenten-Museum (Museum of Musical Instruments).

Thanks to the support of the Board of Trustees, the special exhibition "The Worlds of Schliemann" has been on display in the James-Simon-Galerie and the Neues Museum since May 2022. On June 23, 2022, the exhibition "Fragments of Life. A Ukrainian Diary" opened at the Museum of European Cultures, which was also realized with the help of the Board of Trustees.