THE GERMAN MUSIC COUNCIL

The German Music Council (DMR) is committed to the interests of 15 million people who make music in Germany and is the world's largest national umbrella organization for music culture. It represents more than 100 organizations and umbrella associations of professional and amateur musicians, including the 16 state music councils.
The German Music Council works to strengthen, preserve, and further develop musical life in Ger-many on the basis of close and productive cooperation between its e. V. and gGmbH divisions as well as the active participation of the members of its advisory bodies. Seven federal expert committees, twelve project advisory boards, and two working groups advise the Secretary General and Managing Director as well as the Executive Committee with their decision recommendations. The German Music Council acts on the basis of its statutes, the Federal Republic of Germany’s Basic Law, the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and is under the patronage of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
 

On June 13, 1953, the "German Section of the International Music Council" was constituted in Bonn on the initiative of the German UNESCO Commission and the Working Group for Music Education and Music Preservation. Shortly thereafter, the General Assembly of the International Music Council recognized the German Section as a "National Committee". Based on this, the scope of the council’s activities was conceived from the beginning to be equally weighted internationally and nationally. This intention was strengthened in 1956 with the expansion of the name to "German Music Council - German Section of the International Music Council”. Since the 1960s, the German Music Council has continuously expanded its support program. The Jugend musiziert project was founded in 1963 to promote young musical talent in Germany. Six years later, the "Bundesjugendorchester" (German Youth Orchestra) was established to open the way for young musicians to enter professional careers.
In 1962, the "Music Council of the German Democratic Republic" was founded. This council was mainly dedicated to the development of international relations. The "Association of German Composers and Musicologists" took over the inwardly directed "national tasks".
In 1990, the executive committees of the two German music councils met together for the first time and discussed the conditions for a merger. All existing funding projects of the German Music Council were immediately extended to the new federal states.
In 2003, all funding measures were bundled in a non-profit project company (gGmbH) based in Bonn, a subsidiary of the DMR e. V. in Berlin. Since then, the General Secretariat in Berlin has taken over the association's political work.