STOP BEING POOR: Winner €15,000 Announced
Daniela is the winner of the €15,000 prize in STOP BEING POOR, a project on the precarious economy of hope.
The project took place from 11 to 21 June 2026 at Theater RAMPE in Stuttgart. Over seven days, 84 people shared their stories and spoke about their relationship with money, their needs, hopes and dreams. Each day, one candidate was selected for the Finale on 21 June, where seven finalists competed for the equivalent of one year’s basic income: €15,000. The money is an invitation to move beyond immediate survival and make space for imagining a different future.
But who gets to decide who deserves the money?
For STOP BEING POOR, the decision was entrusted to an alternative expert committee: a jury of people experiencing homelessness in Stuttgart. Reversing established power structures, the jury interviewed the candidates, selected the daily finalists and ultimately chose the winner.
On 21 June, following a week of interviews and public jury discussions, Daniela from Bolivia was announced as the winner. She is currently training to become a child therapist. The money will help her meet the income requirements of the Stuttgart immigration authorities and support children’s projects in Bolivia. The jury’s reasoning was simple: the euro can go further there.
STOP BEING POOR is not a reality show about who is most in need, nor a charitable initiative. It is an artistic action that uses money as material, asking uncomfortable questions about poverty, merit, value and the power to decide whose future is worth investing in.
“You leave with the certainty that ‘Stop Being Poor’ will continue to resonate for a long time.”
— Nachtkritik
“Hetzel wanted to do something more radical with the money: redistribute it. To expose the mechanisms of giving and taking.”
— Kontext: Wochenzeitung
