Green light

Literature competition: Quo vadis Bachmann Prize?

Ingeborg Bachmann: namesake and figurehead

(Bild: Heinz Bachmann)

On Tuesday, the renowned reading competition was the subject of discussion in the city senate, where a decision was made on the survival of the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize and the literature course.

This is not the first time that the survival of the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize, the most prestigious reading competition with international appeal and the flagship of the literary city of Klagenfurt, has been hanging by a thread. This time because there is a gaping debt hole of more than 20 million euros and the provincial capital is unable to come up with a budget, as reported several times by the "Krone" newspaper.

Costs largely not covered
This threatens culture with a devastating clear-cutting, as only the municipal theater and the AK library are financially in the dry. At klagenfurter ensemble (artistic director Gerhard Lehner) and the Kammerlichtspiele with the children's and youth theater KuKuKK by Sabine Kristof-Kranzelbinder, the infrastructure is covered, but not the running of the theater.

All others, which provide outstanding (voluntary!) services for far too little money anyway, are facing the end, because the twelfth regulation that comes into force on January 1 means that only necessary expenditure that is secured by law or contract will be covered. The Ventil with Vada, Musikforum Viktring and the Villa for Forest around Raimund Spöck's Innenhofkultur association are affected.

49th Bachmann Prize is awarded
At least the fiery appeal by the "IG Autorinnen Autoren" to city politicians not to give up the Bachmann Prize, whose appeal would give Klagenfurt a high reputation as an attractive travel destination, was heard at yesterday's city senate meeting: the 49th Bachmann Prize of the provincial capital of Klagenfurt (€25,000) will be awarded again in 2025 (and has been advertised by ORF since Tuesday). The green light has also been given for the biennial Gert Jonke Prize (€15,000) in cooperation with the state of Carinthia.

Literature course 2025 will not take place
The literature course at the Musil Museum, which precedes the Bachmann Prize, has been dealt a bad hand: "I don't expect the budget to be approved this year. This means that the literature course will unfortunately not be able to take place in 2025," says Culture Officer Franz Petritz (SPÖ). He has learned his lesson from the misery and wants to do everything he can in future to "also contractually secure voluntary services" and thus give the independent scene the planning security it deserves!