The Ministry of Culture will start a process in May that will regulate future guidelines for cultural sponsorship – together with art and cultural institutions and with the external support of the Fundraising Association Austria.
The goal is to be able to check sponsorship agreements “as well as possible for problematic entanglements” on the basis of quality standards, as Art and Culture State Secretary Andrea Mayer (Greens) announced.
“Unlike in other industries, there are no guidelines in the cultural sector to date on how to deal with sponsoring and fundraising. We want to change that now,” says Mayer. A round table is planned for June, in which federal theaters and museums should definitely take part.
Those cultural institutions for which the federal government has financial obligations by law or as a donor – such as the Salzburg Festival, the Bregenz Festival or the Leopold Museum – are also invited. Results should be available by autumn. There are no plans to create a “black list” of companies or sectors with which cooperation is not intended. “But what is also clear is that there must be certain taboos, for example when it comes to human rights violations, systematic violations of the law or warmongering,” said Mayer.
Both the federal museums and the federal theater holding company have already signaled understanding and “active participation” in the project.
Source: Nachrichten
