{"id":1812,"date":"2025-05-25T12:34:46","date_gmt":"2025-05-25T10:34:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kulturlandretten.at\/?p=1812"},"modified":"2025-05-26T12:02:47","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T10:02:47","slug":"dringender-appell-der-kulturellen-institutionen-mit-mehrjaehrigen-foerdervertraegen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kulturlandretten.at\/en\/dringender-appell-der-kulturellen-institutionen-mit-mehrjaehrigen-foerdervertraegen\/","title":{"rendered":"Urgent appeal from cultural institutions with multi-year funding contracts"},"content":{"rendered":"

23.5.: More than 100 associations address this urgent appeal to the Graz City Government and the Styrian Provincial Government:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear City Government of Graz,
Dear Styrian Provincial Government,
As cultural institutions with multi-year funding contracts, we are addressing this urgent appeal to you as those responsible on the part of the City of Graz and the Province of Styria. The future of the Styrian and Graz cultural landscape is at stake!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few months ago, we made you an offer with our three-year programs. With our ideas and productions, we are very happy to continue to provide the Styrian population with a diverse and high-quality cultural offering in the coming years. We are highly motivated to continue to make Styria an internationally esteemed cultural region, characterized by regional and international festivals, art projects, exhibitions, literary events, theater and concert seasons. We serve an audience from all walks of life and social backgrounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We form the backbone of the Styrian and Graz art and culture scene. Our work creates the diversity and vitality of cultural life beyond the big institutions. With our venues and production spaces, we create structures for young cultural talent and the mediation of cultural work. We offer low-threshold meeting places and develop our program in direct exchange with the audience. We stand for entertainment as well as for critical social discourse. In this way, we contribute to the innovative, cultural climate in Styria and its capital city for which our province is nationally and internationally renowned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With our work, we create hundreds of jobs, commission individual artists from all disciplines, are networked in the most diverse social scenes and industries and, according to studies, are a key driver of economic development in Graz and Styria. What would technology rental companies, music studios, print shops, event spaces, graphic designers, hotels, etc. be without our work? What would happen to all the freelance tradespeople who depend on our scene?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have only just recovered from the devastating cultural standstill caused by the pandemic and we are already threatened with another round of cuts or a lack of valorization. The \u201ccultural ecosystem\u201d is in danger of collapsing. Our sector is already one of the most precarious in our society. The budgets we work with are small. It is almost impossible to run a cultural initiative without idealism. We are no strangers to poverty – especially the prospect of poverty in old age. Further cuts to our budgets will therefore have fatal consequences. Even a temporary cut in cultural funding will cause irreversible damage. Initiatives will close, artists will end their careers, many will become unemployed, others will emigrate, a brain drain is to be feared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We see the danger of a two-tier, if not three-tier culture emerging. The gap between the participations and the independent sector is widening. At the same time, artists and initiatives that are dependent on project and annual funding are falling behind those with three-year contracts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We demand:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n