Klaus Siebenhaar (born 1952) is a German university lecturer, publisher and cultural manager. In addition to his academic career at the

FU Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...

, where he was director of an institute of Communication Science and Applied Cultural Studies from 1988, Siebenhaar worked for several publishing houses and theatres as an editor and publisher. He then founded his own publishing house, , as well as the Institute for Culture and Media Management (IKMW) at the university.

Career

Siebenhaar was born in

Siegen Siegen () is a city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly sho ...

, and grew up in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

. He completed his

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

at the . From 1972, Siebenhaar studied

German studies German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German hi ...

theatre studies Theatre studies (sometimes referred to as theatrology or dramatics) is the study of theatrical performance in relation to its literary, physical, psychobiological, sociological, and historical contexts. It is an interdisciplinary field which also e ...

and

history of art The history of art focuses on objects made by humans for any number of spiritual, narrative, philosophical, symbolic, conceptual, documentary, decorative, and even functional and other purposes, but with a primary emphasis on its aesthetic vis ...

at the

. He was promoted to the

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

in 1979 and

habilitated Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

in 1993 in modern German literature. From 1988, he was director of the Institute for Communication Science and Applied Cultural Studies of the FU. Since 1994, Siebenhaar was professor for cultural and media management at the

. In 2017, he was awarded emeritus status and left the FU Berlin. In 2009, Siebenhaar founded the competence centre "Cultural Management in China" (KUMA) to bundle and expand academic-artistic and continuing education projects with China, while at the same time promoting the development of university and cultural cooperation with Turkey. Since 2011, he has held a visiting professorship at the Central Academy for Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing, and also organises training programmes for museum and theatre managers in China as well as an annual Summer Academy.

Criticism

During his professorship at the FU Berlin, he was criticised for being "humiliating, disrespectful and choleric" towards students and for threatening to expel them. Siebenhaar denied this. Siebenhaar came under criticism because it was suspected that a person who had received professorship had donated to the institute, citing the case of Bernhard Lorentz, whose foundation paid 160,000 euros between 2009 and 2011.

Other activities

From 1973 to 1975, Siebenhaar worked at the

Staatstheater Kassel The Staatstheater Kassel is a state-owned and operated theater in Kassel, Germany. History A permanent theatre house existed in Kassel during the first decade of the 17th century. It stood immediately next to the Ottoneum near the State Theatre ...

as an assistant stage director, and from 1977 to 1983 at Berlin as an editor. From 1981 to 1983, he directed the research project and exhibition "Das war ein Vorspiel nur... 50 Jahre Bücherverbrennung" (with Walter Huber and Hermann Haarmann) at the

Akademie der Künste The Academy of Arts (german: Akademie der Künste) is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The Academy's predecessor organization was fo ...

in Berlin. From 1990 to 2001, Siebenhaar worked at Deutsches Theater in Berlin in the artistic management and headed public relations and marketing. From 1994 to 1999 he was publishing director of the Fannei & Walz Verlag and the FAB Verlag. In 1999 he co-founded the Bostelmann & Siebenhaar Verlag (also B&S Siebenhaar), as managing partner. From 2001 to 2006 he was also head of marketing and development of the

Jewish Museum Berlin The Jewish Museum Berlin (''Jüdisches Museum Berlin'') was opened in 2001 and is the largest Jewish museum in Europe. On of floor space, the museum presents the history of Jews in Germany from the Middle Ages to the present day, with new focuses ...

. Since 2001, Siebenhaar has been deputy chairman of the board of trustees of the Starke Art Foundation in Berlin. From 2009 to 2011, he was on the advisory board of the

Goethe-Institut The Goethe-Institut (, GI, en, Goethe Institute) is a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and ...

in Munich and advised the European Investment Bank Luxembourg on cultural project development. Since 2014, Siebenhaar has been a member of the supervisory board of the

Staatstheater Hannover Hanover State Opera (german: Staatsoper Hannover) is an opera company in Hanover, the state capital of Lower Saxony, Germany. The company is resident in the Hanover Opera House (), and is part of a publicly-funded umbrella performing arts organ ...

. After his retirement from the FU Berlin in 2017, he founded the Institute for Culture and Media Economy (IKMW) together with the music publisher Rolf Budde. Siebenhaar has also organised numerous exhibitions in Berlin, including at the Kunstforum der Grundkreditbank, the National Arts Museum of China (NAMOC), the CAFA Art Museum in Beijing and the Jewish Museum Berlin. He has also realised numerous staged readings for Deutsches Theater, the Jewish Museum, and art projects in public spaces in Berlin, Kassel and China. He has produced festivals for and Berlin Partner. Siebenhaar has also published widely on German literature from the 18th to the 20th century, drama and theatre, cultural policy and communication studies as well as questions of cultural and media management.

Publications

* ''documenta. A Brief History of an Exhibition and Its Contexts'', B&S Siebenhaar Verlag, Berlin 2017, * ''European Theatre and the Public. Development, Orientations and Evidence''''European Theatre and the Public. Development, Orientations and Evidence''
on WorldCat (with Achim Müller), B&S Siebenhaar Verlag, Berlin 2017, * ''Auftrag Publikum''. ''Der Hochkulturbetrieb zwischen Audience Development und Ereignisästhetik,'' B&S Siebenhaar Verlag, Berlin 2016, * ''Das kuratierte ich. Jugendkulturen als Medienkulturen im 21. Jahrhundert'' (with Steffen Damm, Sirkka Jendis, Moritz Müller-Wirth), B&S Siebenhaar Verlag, Berlin 2012, * (ed.) ''Culture First! Culture Management in China – Second Edition'' (with Uwe Nitschke), B&S Siebenhaar Verlag, Berlin 2011 * (publ.) ''Leadership – Vom Führen in modernen Zeiten'', B&S Siebenhaar Verlag, Berlin 2010 * (publ.) ''Audience Development oder Die Kunst, neues Publikum zu gewinnen'', B&S Siebenhaar Verlag, Berlin 2009 * ''Lichtenbergs Schaubühne. Imaginarium und kleines Welttheater'' (Habilitationsschrift), VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Opladen 1994, * (publ.) ''Kulturmanagement. Wirkungsvolle Strukturen im kommunalen Kulturbereich'', Gütersloh 1993 * (publ.) ''Das poetische Berlin. Metropolenkultur zwischen Gründerzeit und Nationalsozialismus'', Wiesbaden 1992 * ''Kultur & Management'', Berlin 1992 * (ed.) Carl Einstein. ''Werke'', ''Berliner Ausgabe'' (with Hermann Haarmann), 5 vol., Berlin 1992–1996 * (ed.) Alfred Kerr, ''Werke in Einzelbänden, vol. III: Essays. Theater, Film'' (with Hermann Haarmann), Berlin 1991 * (ed.) ''Einakter und kleine Dramen der zwanziger Jahre'', Stuttgart 1988 * (ed.) ''"Das war ein Vorspiel nur ..." Bücherverbrennung Deutschland 1933: Voraussetzungen und Folgen'' (with Hermann Haarmann and Walter Huder), Berlin 1983 * ''Klänge aus Utopia. Zeitkritik, Wandlung und Utopie im expressionistischen Drama'' (Dissertation), Agora Verlag, Berlin/Darmstadt 1982,

Career

Criticism

Other activities

Publications

References

External links