Bern’s controversial alternative arts centre, the Reitschule, will not be closed.
This content was published on
1 minute
swissinfo.ch and agencies
Voters on Sunday rejected an initiative by the local section of the rightwing Swiss People’s Party calling for the Reitschule to be sold to the highest bidder.
The initiative was rejected by 68.4 per cent of those who voted. Bern mayor Alexander Tschäppät, a member of the centre-left Social Democratic Party, said he was “more than proud” of the Bernese for the way they had voted.
The city-owned centre has split opinion for decades, with opponents arguing it is a hotbed of leftwing extremism and drug dealing.
Sunday’s local ballot was the fifth in 23 years on the fate of the Reitschule, or Reithalle. Every time voters have chosen to save it.
Popular Stories
More
Culture
Wealth is not all: how gentrification in Zurich has led to housing shortage
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Voters to decide on Bern culture centre
This content was published on
On September 26, voters in the Swiss capital will vote on the future of the city-owned autonomous youth centre for the fifth time in 23 years. As trains pull into Bern station, passengers can’t miss the Reitschule – more commonly known as the Reithalle – just a few metres across the road. Covered in graffiti,…
This content was published on
The public is best placed to decide who should win this struggle between art and commerce, urban planning experts say. But they warn that a decision to close the cultural centre should not be taken lightly. Real cultural spaces that are run by artists themselves are hard to keep and need to be protected, argues…
This content was published on
The number of people employed in fields such as art, fashion, design, entertainment and media recently rose by 10.2 per cent, outstripping the 0.5 per cent total growth in Switzerland. The number of cultural enterprises in the city in the same five-year period from 1997 to 2001 mushroomed by 6.8 per cent to 4,300, employing…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.