Goethe-Institut

Goethe-Institut

Headquarters in Munich
Founded	1951; 73 years ago (1951)
Founder	Government of Germany
Type	Cultural institution
Location	Munich, Bavaria, Germany
Area served	Worldwide
Product	German cultural and language education
Key people	Dr. Carola Lentz (President) Johannes Ebert (Secretary General) Rainer Pollack (Business Director)
Website	goethe.de

The Goethe-Institut (German: [ˈɡøːtə ʔɪnstiˌtuːt]; GI, 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 relations. Around 246,000 people take part in these German courses per year.

The Goethe-Institut fosters knowledge about Germany by providing information on German culture, society and politics. This includes the exchange of films, music, theatre, and literature. Goethe cultural societies, reading rooms, and examination and language centres have played a role in the cultural and educational policies of Germany for more than 60 years.^[1]

It is named after German poet and statesman Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The Goethe-Institut e.V. is autonomous and politically independent.^[2]

Partners of the institute and its centres are public and private cultural institutions, the German federal states, local authorities and the world of commerce. Much of the Goethe-Institut's overall budget consists of annual grants from the German Foreign Office and the German Press Office. The relationship with the Foreign Office is governed by general agreement. Self-generated income and contributions from sponsors and patrons, partners and friends broaden the scope of the work of the Goethe-Institut.