Future of the Innsbruck Bale Cultural Center in Danger!

Future of the Innsbruck Bale Cultural Center in Danger!

The BALE art and culture center in Innsbruck, an important space for creativity, is facing an alarming closure. Loud tirol.ORF.at The rental contracts will no longer be extended at the end of January 2024, which has significant consequences for the over 200 users who carry out creative activities there. The private owner justifies this decision with fire protection requirements that cannot be met and structural defects. This is a painful setback, because the BALE provides 9,000 square meters of space for over 60 artists as well as for clubs and startups.

The current situation is particularly precarious: how meinkreis.at reported, the recent “Open Studio Days” showed great interest in this creative hotspot, which also promotes events and social engagement, such as children's skateboarding courses. At the event, over 500 people visited the BALE on both days, impressively demonstrating the need for such cultural places. Julia Pohl, one of the initiators, called on the city administration to take action and find solutions to preserve the valuable institution. The new mayor of Innsbruck, Johannes Anzengruber, who emphasized the need for further development of the BALE in his election campaign, must now act quickly to counteract the threatened closure.

Urgent need for action

Those responsible at BALE see time as running out. Most of the rental agreements run until the end of June 2024, which makes long-term planning almost impossible. There is not only a closure in the room, but also the potential of a unique creative center for the city of Innsbruck that urgently needs to be protected. Klaus Schennach, also a member of the BALE founding team, invites the mayor to come to the site to work together on life solutions that will benefit both the cultural scene and the many creative minds. Preserving the BALE is not just a question of spatial design, but also of promoting innovation and culture in Tyrol.