The Saxon Academy of Arts is a community of artists and art scholars. It supports artistic freedom and expectations vis-à-vis the state and society, and publicizes significant artistic achievements, positions and processes of the present day. The Academy brings together artists and art scholars from Germany and abroad in its five classes (categories) architecture, the visual arts, the performing arts and cinema, literature and language cultivation, and music. The fellows of the Academy meet up to address current artistic and cultural policy matters and positions internally and publicly.
Mission
Being an Academy in central Germany, the mission of the Saxon Academy of Arts is to highlight the region’s intellectual and artistic wealth, and also to address questions associated with social and cultural change as well as with cracks in modern society. This also includes responding to new, forward-looking developments in the arts. The Academy critically monitors public cultural debates, draws attention to threats to democratic cohesion, and – within the limits of its resources – advises on cultural policy decisions.
Programme
The Academy organizes public events, symposia, exhibitions and workshops at its headquarters in Dresden, in the neighbouring regions of Germany, and also under the auspices of cultural exchange, especially with neighbouring states in Eastern Europe. In addition to issuing publications, the Academy documents the work of its fellows in its archive.
Organization
The Saxon Academy of Arts is headed by a President and a Vice-President. Its decision-making organs are the General Assembly, the Senate and the President. The Senate consists of the secretaries of the five classes as well as the President and the Vice-President, who perform their duties on an honorary basis. New fellows are nominated in each class by secret ballot and elected by the General Assembly.
The Saxon Academy of Arts was founded in 1996 as a public corporation. Its work is funded by the government of Saxony as well as by means of collaboration with partners and foundations.