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The federal cultural institutions (Bundesmuseen, National Library and Bundestheater, mostly based in Vienna) provide the backbone of Austria's cultural life. They accommodate valuable world-renowned collections of cultural heritage and art productions at the highest level. Public responsibilities for cultural affairs have been re-allocated by sector to different institutions or bodies. Depending on the allocated tasks and responsibilities, different models of institutions or partnerships have been adopted. In 2002, the federal museums (as well as the Austrian National Library) were outsourced and since then managed as private law entities. They are owned by the federal state, who allocates the legally determined... read more →

Examples of inter-ministerial cooperation are related to issues of foreign cultural policy (see chapter 1.2.2), cultural diversity (2.5) and intercultural dialogue (2.5.1), architectural policies (2.9), the creative industries (3.5.1) and cultural tourism (3.5.6). To secure the framework conditions of artistic work, there was a phase (2009-2012) of close cooperation between: the Arts and Culture Ministry; the Ministries of Labour, Family and Youth, Health, Foreign Affairs and Women's Affairs; representatives of the art scene; interest-groups (IGs); trade union and social-partnership representatives; and Inter-ministerial working groups (IMAGs). They have been working on the issues of social security, employment law, unemployment insurance law,... read more →

The Cultural Council (Kulturrat Österreich), a consortium of 11 interest groups and professional associations representing the interests of art, cultural and media workers, is a platform for common cultural policy concerns and objectives. The council represents these issues towards politics, media and administration, and initiates, promotes and publishes debates on cultural, educational, media and social policies (see chapter 7.2.4). Further associations advocate the interests of particular groups, e.g. mica – music austria, an independent, non-profit association to support musicians; the Association of Cultural Mediators, an advocacy group for the professionals in museums; and Kreativwirtschaft Austria as part of the Austrian... read more →

Political responsibility for culture at the local level rests with either the city / town councillor or in some smaller municipalities with the mayor. The majority of local government offices, or municipal administrations have cultural departments (often combined with sports, tourism, science and education), which are inter alia responsible for libraries, as well as amateur art, folk culture, traditions and village renewal. Communities with less than 20 000 inhabitants generally have no culture department of their own. Local level competence includes: preservation of the appearance of villages, towns, old town centres festivals, especially in provincial capitals such as Bregenz, Salzburg, Linz,... read more →

The nine Bundesländer (federal provinces) in Austria are: Burgenland (BGL), Carinthia (K), Lower Austria (NÖ), Salzburg (SBG), Styria (STMK), Tyrol (T), Upper Austria (OÖ), Vienna (W) and Vorarlberg (VBG). The Bundesländer are active in promoting culture in all relevant fields, based on elements of private law. All Bundesländer governments have at least one department that concerns with cultural affairs, in some cases they are associated with science, education or sports. A member of the government generally assumes the political responsibility for this department. Occasionally, some cultural competence is reserved for the governor. The legal basis of the promotion of arts... read more →

The basis for the administrative structure in the field of culture is the Federal Ministry Act. Since 2014, after alternating ministerial responsibilities in recent decades, arts, culture and cultural heritage were integrated into the Federal Chancellery (Bundeskanzleramt BKA). Since the transformation into a State Secretariat end of 2019, the art and culture agendas are the responsibility of Division IV ‘Arts and Culture’ of the Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport (BMKOES).  The tasks of the Arts and Culture Division are the promotion of contemporary art in Austria and to foster the presence of Austrian artists abroad,... read more →

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Objectives Austria is a federal state and most cultural competences are assigned to the Bundesländer ("cultural sovereignty") by the general clause of Article 15 of the Constitutional Law. On national level, cultural policy is the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Arts and Culture within the Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport (BMKOES). The previous and current national governments and most of the Bundesländer draft their core objectives for arts, culture and cultural policy in legislative programmes or culture strategies. With different importance, the main priorities of recent years are to promote emerging artists and contemporary... read more →