Color change?

Province of Styria dismisses the Cultural Board of Trustees

The Cultural Board of Trustees was only convened in January 2024 by the then Governor Christopher Drexler and the then Provincial Councillor for Human Resources Ursula Lackner (center).

(Bild: LandSteiermark/Binder)

The waters are running high: is the Cultural Board of Trustees of the Province of Styria to be dyed blue? The majority of the current members found out on Wednesday that they will soon be replaced.

The next shock in the Styrian cultural scene: after the City of Graz announced massive cuts to the cultural budget just yesterday, it has now also become known that the Province of Styria is sending almost all members of the Cultural Board of Trustees, which advises on funding allocations and was only newly appointed in January 2024, into the desert - and this in the middle of the new provincial government's current deliberations on the budget.

This is causing great concern in the scene itself. The fear is that critical voices will be silenced and the board of trustees will be "dyed blue".

Karlheinz Kornhäusl's office is trying to calm things down: "In the past, there have been repeated discussions about the composition of the Cultural Board of Trustees. The new state government has therefore decided to revoke memberships of the Cultural Board of Trustees and to appoint new experts to some of the members."

The exact timetable for this is currently still open. "In order to ensure continuity in the allocation of funding and thus predictability for cultural practitioners, the next meeting of the Cultural Board of Trustees will take place as planned in mid-March."

SPÖ and Greens show indignation
SPÖ Club Chairman Hannes Schwarz is indignant about the planned personnel changes in the elected Styrian Cultural Board: "Provincial Councillor Karlheinz Kornhäusl has promised in the media that nobody has to be afraid of him. Unfortunately, however, these words are now being followed by massive personnel changes in the Cultural Board of Trustees. With the dismissal of the best non-partisan minds, important critical voices for cultural diversity in Styria are to be silenced. Following the planned cuts, the ÖVP is thus taking the next step backwards for Styria as a cultural region. The promised Styrian path of cooperation certainly looks different."

"This is a cultural policy scandal of the first order. What's next? Content requirements for cultural projects?", criticizes Veronika Nitsche, cultural spokesperson for the Greens. "The ÖVP likes to boast a broad understanding of art and culture - now it is unconditionally subordinating itself to the FPÖ. It is more than disappointing that Karlheinz Kornhäusl, the provincial councillor for culture, is acting as a vicarious agent of the FPÖ here."

Neos culture spokesperson sees the action as "an unprecedented step backwards and lasting damage" to the scene. "Provincial Councillor Kornhäusl should have taken a protective stance towards the Board of Trustees and its members. Instead, he is leaving the field to the FPÖ without resistance."