As the public voice of the business community on cultural issues, the Kulturkreis works to establish the relevance of art for society and to defend if need be, as well as to demand necessary framework conditions.

Inspired by impulses from top-class speakers, we encourage our members and the interested public to engage in debates on current social issues and contemporary debates on art. The philosopher Prof. Dr. Markus Gabriel discussed the question of the power of art in a conversation with Shelly Kupferberg. Prof. Dr. Dr. Udo Di Fabio, retired constitutional judge, inspired with a speech on the culture of freedom. And Deniz Yücel and Eva Menasse discussed questions of the resilience of art with Prof. Dr. Peter Raue and the members of the Kulturkreis.

The Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft advocates for the cultural policy interests of its members. It promotes the optimal conditions for corporate cultural sponsorship and, at the political level, stimulates initiatives to improve the interplay between business and culture. The Kulturkreis was, for example, key in revising the so-called "sponsoring decree" as well as foundation law. It also successfully campaigned to maintain the tax deductibility of membership fees for cultural associations. During the reform of Germany’s non-profit law, it served as an official expert for the German Bundestag. It has also worked to amend legislation around cultural property protection in order to benefit its members.