Specific federal regulations or Acts in the culture field include:
- Actors’ Act (1922), Theatre Employment Law Act since 2011;
- Artists’ Social-Security Fund Act (2001), Artists’ Social-Security Structure Act (KSVSG) since 2011;
- Arts Restitution Act (1998; 2009);
- Arts support Act (1981);
- Collection Societies’ Act (1936);
- Copyright Act (1996);
- Federal Arts Promotion Act (1988);
- Federal Law on Retail Price Maintenance for Books (2000);
- Federal Museums Act (2002; 2013);
- Federal Theatre Organisation Act (1998; 2015);
- Film Promotion Act (1980);
- Film-Television Agreement (1981; 2006);
- General Framework Regulations for Granting Supports from Government Funds (1977);
- Monument Protection Act (1923; 2013);
- Museums regulations (2009) for the Kunsthistorische Museum (with the Ethnology Museum and the Austrian Theatre Museum), Albertina, MAK, Natural History Museum, Belvedere, MUMOK, Austrian National Library and the Technical Museum;
- Public Broadcasting Act (1984);
- Public Utility Act (Gemeinnützigkeitsgesetz 2015);
- Salzburg Festival Fund Act (1950)
Generally, the Federal Arts Promotion Act stipulates that promotion has to be directed mainly at “contemporary art, its spiritual changes and its variety” in the fields of literature, performing arts, music, visual arts, photography, film, video and experimental art forms (para. 2 (1)). All sub-departments within the Arts and Culture Division of the BMKOES have published detailed summaries of their grant programmes according to the Federal Arts Promotion Act. In addition, there are general guidelines for awarding federal financial resources by the Federal Ministry of Finance and special guidelines with a view to public grants in the arts sphere.
Laws on the Promotion of Culture have also been adopted by the federal Bundesländer, with the exception of Vienna.
Table 2: International legal instruments implemented by Austria in the cultural field
| Title of the act | Year of adoption |
|---|---|
| European Cultural Convention (Council of Europe 1954) | 1955 |
| Agreement on the Importation of Educational, Scientific and Cultural Materials (UNESCO 1950) | 1958 |
| Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (UNESCO 1954) | 1964 |
| International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations (UNESCO 1961) | 1973 |
| Universal Copyright Convention (1952 / revision 1971) | 1957 / 1982 |
| Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Work (1886 / Paris Act 1971) | 1920 / 1982 |
| UNESCO World Heritage Convention (1972) | 1992 |
| European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (Council of Europe 1992) | 2001 |
| UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005) | 2006 |
| UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003) | 2009 |
| Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society (Faro-Convention, Council of Europe 2005) | 2015 |
| European Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage (La Valetta/Malta-Convention, Council of Europe 1969) | 2015 |
| UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownershipof Cultural Property (1970) | 2015 |
Austria ratified the UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1992) and has ten sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List:
- Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg (1996);
- Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn (1996);
- Hallstatt-Dachstein / Salzkammergut Cultural Landscape (1997);
- Semmering Railway (1998);
- City of Graz – Historic Centre and Palace Eggenberg (1999, 2010);
- Wachau Cultural Landscape (2000);
- The Viennese Old Town (2001);
- Fertö / Neusiedlersee Cultural Landscape (2001, together with Hungary);
- Prehistoric dwellings on stilts around the Alps (2011, together with Germany, France, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland); and
- Ancient Beech Forests of the National Park Limestone Alps (Kalkalpen, 2017).
In accordance with the intention of Austria to ratify the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, the national agency for Intangible Cultural Heritage was established at the Austrian Commission for UNESCO in 2006 (see also chapter 3.1).
Comments are closed.