Arts Union (Germany)
# Arts Union (Germany)

The Arts Union (German: Gewerkschaft Kunst) was a trade union representing cultural workers in West Germany.

The union was founded on 26 August 1949, at a conference in Frankfurt. It was initially based in Hamburg, but relocated to Düsseldorf in 1955.

The union initially had five sections:

* Association of Visual Artists
* German Musicians' Union
* Guild of the German Stage
* International Artists' Lodge
* Professional Association of Journalists and Writers (transferred to Printing and Paper Union in 1951)

Other sections were created later, including the Broadcast Television Film Union, the Union of Music Educators and Concert Artists, and the Jazz/rock/pop/improvised music group.

By 1988, the union had a membership of 29,613. The following year, it merged with the Printing and Paper Union, to form the Media Union.

## Presidents

    1949: Willi Feldmann
    1954: Heinrich Wüllner
    1962: Viktor de Kowa
    1966: Wolfgang Windgassen
    1973: Otto Sprenger
    1980: Alfred Horné
