Supervisory Board decides

Director of the Brucknerhaus must take his hat off

Kerschbaum's "corrections" failed to convince the mayor and the supervisory board.

(Bild: © Harald Dostal / 2023)

The Chairman of the Board Dietmar Kerschbaum was suspended at the LIVA Supervisory Board meeting on Friday - together with the Commercial Director. The cultural managers were no longer acceptable to Mayor Klaus Luger (SPÖ) after malversations surrounding Kerschbaum's time in office became known.

Mayor and LIVA Supervisory Board Chairman Klaus Luger had already made it clear to the "Krone" newspaper before today's meeting: Dietmar Kerschbaum's era as CEO of the Linzer Veranstaltungsgesellschaft is over. The Supervisory Board met at 10 a.m. and unanimously decided to suspend the Burgenland native until further notice. Commercial Director Rainer Stadler was also released with immediate effect. This was announced by Luger following the meeting. The mayor emphasized that the dismissals "do not mean a prior conviction". It was also decided that LIVA would be subject to a compliance audit.

There will be a shadow that falls on the Brucknerhaus, but today's decisions ensure that we are clear about how things will continue.

Klaus Luger (SPÖ), Linzer Bürgermeister

Inspection office report the beginning of the end
Kerschbaum - and with him the commercial director - stumbled across a whole list of misconduct, starting with a damning report by the Audit Office in July 2023, which criticized, among other things, the lack of regulations for the allocation of free tickets, a proliferation of subscription offers with sharply declining subscriber numbers and increased representation expenses.

Linzer Veranstaltungsgesellschaft

Dietmar Kerschbaum has been the artistic director and artistic director of the Linzer Veranstaltungsgesellschaft (LIVA) since the end of 2017. It includes the Brucknerhaus, Posthof, Kuddelmuddel children's cultural center, TipsArena and the Lissfeld, Auwiesen and Pichling sports parks.

Questionable "in-your-face business"
On Tuesday evening, the weekly magazine "Falter" reported on new allegations against the LIVA boss. For example, he is said to have received the questions from the hearing commission in advance as part of his appointment - which Kerschbaum does not deny. However, the decisive factor for the current dismissals is also questionable "self-dealing", according to which the trained tenor engaged himself and received excessive remuneration for this. In addition, despite increasing the number of staff, he is said to have outsourced the programming to an agent who himself looked after potential artists for the concert hall. The allegations are now being investigated, says Luger, before a decision is made as to whether or not to retain Kerschbaum in the long term.

"Correction" not successful
In the run-up to today's meeting, Kerschbaum had announced his intention to correct the "allegations made" - an undertaking that he did not succeed in. "That is not even possible in a single Supervisory Board meeting," says Luger. In view of this, he considers a release to be "the best solution for both sides". However, Kerschbaum has promised to contribute to the complete clarification of matters. Corresponding proceedings are to be initiated as early as next Monday.

The affair comes at the worst possible time for the Brucknerhaus: next Friday and Saturday are the 50th anniversary celebrations of the arts and cultural venue. Luger says that immediate consideration will be given to changing the planned setting for the coming weeks. In any case, LIVA's formal ability to act is assured.