Opposition rages:

“Fatal sign for the cultural state of Styria”

Provincial Councillor for Culture Karlheinz Kornhäusl

(Bild: Jauschowetz Christian)

On Wednesday, the new blue-black state government fired the majority of the members of the existing Styrian Cultural Board of Trustees - we reported. Today, Thursday, the new members were announced. The opposition is raging!

One day after it was announced that the new provincial government was ditching the majority of the members of the Cultural Board of Trustees, which advises on the allocation of funding and was not reappointed until January 2024, the new appointments to the Board of Trustees were announced today - with some old acquaintances, such as former Provincial Councillor for Culture Christian Buchmann, but also many new faces. What is striking about the election (see info box below) is that women are clearly in the minority (only 4 out of 15), there are virtually no representatives of the independent scene, but many people with close ties to the ÖVP and FPÖ.

"The process leaves me speechless"
This, of course, infuriated the opposition parties in the Styrian state parliament, who addressed the public in a joint statement, in which Edith Draxl, the outgoing chairwoman of the board of trustees, also spoke out: "The way this new appointment to the cultural board of trustees was made leaves me speechless. I would have been very pleased if the chosen path of depoliticization - as envisaged in the cultural strategy - had been pursued further. Instead, they are taking a step backwards and relying on party-political appointments," she says. 

The Cultural Board of Trustees was only appointed in January 2024 and was largely dismissed again.

(Bild: LandSteiermark/Binder)

Draxl continues: "I'm also surprised that the new chair has already been announced, although according to the Cultural Promotion Act, this must first be elected." By way of explanation: Initial press releases on the new appointments listed former Provincial Councillor for Culture Christian Buchmann as the new Chairman of the Cultural Board of Trustees, with Franz Koiner named as his deputy. Later, the office of the current Councillor for Culture Karlheinz Kornhäusl (ÖVP) clarified that this was a mistake and that the chair would of course only be elected at the first meeting of the new Board of Trustees.

This is the new Cultural Board of Trustees

• Johann Baumgartner; Head of Education and Culture and Artistic Director of the Steiermarkhof, Curator of the Court Gallery

• Christian Buchmann; Former Councillor for Culture, Former City Councillor for Culture

• Wilhelm Gabalier

• Erwin Hauser; long-standing director of the Helmut List Halle, co-founder of the Spring Festival

• Franz Koiner; marketing manager of Stocker and Ares publishing houses

• Gerhard Krajicek; former board member of AG Volkstanz

• Birgit Lill-Schnabl; curatorial director of the Klanglicht festival

• Karlheinz Morré; tax consultant, Kulturforum Graz

• Ewald Münzer; business economist, music publisher

• Fred Ohenhen; Intercultural Ambassador ISOP

• Alex Schmiederer ; building culture expert, Initiative for Monument Protection

• Günther Stark; doctor, writer

• Daniela Teuschler; Head of staff at the Universalmuseum Joanneum

• Anna Thaller; Director of Bildungshaus Schloss St. Martin

• Josefa Umundum; former cultural advisor to the Province of Styria

Fierce criticism from the opposition
For SPÖ parliamentary group chairman Hannes Schwarz, "the dismissal of almost all members of the Cultural Board of Trustees is a fatal sign for the cultural state of Styria". Green Party culture spokesperson Veronika Nitsche sees the change of color as "an attack on the independence of art: this is a fatal signal to all cultural workers: Anyone who doesn't fit into the political picture will be replaced. But art must be free - we will not allow it to become the plaything of party political interests."

For Neos culture spokesman Robert Reif, the current developments are an "unprecedented step backwards. Provincial Councillor Kornhäusl is leaving the field to the FPÖ without resistance. He will do lasting damage to the cultural state of Styria." KPÖ parliamentary group leader Claudia Klimt-Weithaler also warns: "Instead of relying on objective criteria, the FPÖ and ÖVP are arbitrarily recoloring the cultural sector. A body like the Kulturkuratorium needs critical voices."