Vienna's cultural year 2024: Successes, challenges and more access!

Vienna's cultural year 2024: Successes, challenges and more access!

On June 23, 2025, the Vienna City Council discussed the 2024 invoice, which reflects the positive development of cultural policy in the city. GR Thomas Weber from the Neos emphasized how art acts as a central component of democracy and cannot correspond to mere luxuryade. He emphasized the values ​​of freedom, responsibility and diversity in cultural policy, while authoritarian systems perceive art as a threat because it raises critical questions. In this context, he called for vigilance to prevent art from being misused as an identity policy tool.

The financial statements also documents the successes that the city has achieved in recent years. Projects such as the Neue Wien Museum, which attracted 650,000 visitors and offers free admission to the permanent exhibition, illustrate the efforts to improve access to art and culture for the population. Anchor centers in the city deliver low -threshold offers, such as the “Young Theater Vienna” project, which creates special theater offers for young people and families in the outskirts.

funding and challenges

The degree of support for youth and club culture was also addressed. A new sound system for the Arena Vienna should further promote this sector. At the same time, the importance of rooms for queer memory culture was underlined. Last year, the MA 7 edited a remarkable 6,870 application for funding and over 82,000 businesses, which proves the high demand for cultural support.

The discussion also included various perspectives on future cultural policy. Grin Ursula Berner from the Greens criticized the existing financing and called for more transparency and a fairer distribution of funding. In doing so, she referred to the 57.5 million euros provided for the United Bühnen Vienna. Her demand for strengthening the local infrastructure and fair working conditions for cultural workers was supported by various speakers.

In a critical remark, Gr Lukas Brucker from the FPÖ questioned the current tendency towards political agitation in art. Also GR Dr. Michael Gorlitzer from the ÖVP expressed concerns about research funding and demanded more transparency when inviting controversial personalities on cultural events.

cultural dimension at EU level

As part of the discussion about cultural policy, it is important to take into account the importance of the European interface. At the EU level, the European Commission set six political priorities in the field of culture between 2019 and 2024, including promoting cultural participation and strengthening the cultural and creative industry. These political guidelines emphasize the essential role of culture in society and its contribution to social justice issues as well as to ensure the European cultural heritage.

The EU pursues the goal of supporting the art and creative industries and creating new international perspectives with initiatives such as the creative Europe program. These measures not only strengthen the local cultural sector, but also promote jobs and economic growth in Europe.

The measures defined in the new work plan for Culture 2023–2026 aim to actively shape the cultural future of Europe. The common cultural heritage of Europe is preserved through cultural cooperation in the field of education, research and social politics and at the same time consolidated cooperation in an international context.