Austria/ 3.4 International cultural co-operation  

3.4.3 European / international actors and programmes

Multilateral issues of international cultural policy are dealt with in the framework of UNESCO, the European Union, the Council of Europe and the OSCE. Austria is also a member of different networks: the International Network on Cultural Policy (INCP), the network of the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for Dialogue Between Culture and the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC). Further Austria is represented at the worldwide network of artists and the International Network for Cultural Diversity (INCD). Since 2004, Austria has had observer status at the Francophonie. The Bundesländer maintain their own European and external relations and are represented in networks like the Assembly of European Regions, Committee of the Regions (see also chapter 3.4.5). The municipalities maintain town-twinning partnerships (like Vienna-Bratislava) and cooperation; the capital Vienna is a member of international / European networks, such as Eurocities, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) etc.

Austria ratified the UNESCO Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage 1992. Austria has nine sites on the UNESCO World heritage list:

• Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg (1996);
• Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn (1996);
• Hallstatt-Dachstein / Salzkammergut Cultural Landscape (1997);
• Semmering Railway (1998);
• City of Graz – Historic Centre and Palace Eggenberg (1999, 2010);
• Wachau Cultural Landscape (2000);
• Historic Centre of Vienna (2001);
• Fertö / Neusiedlersee Cultural Landscape (2001, together with Hungary); and
• Prehistoric dwellings on stilts around the Alps (2011, together with Germany, France, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland).

In accordance with the intention of Austria to ratify the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, the national agency for Intangible Cultural Heritage was established at the Austrian Commission for UNESCO in 2006. Since 2010, there have been 50 entries in the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Austria, including e.g. the Falconry, Romany (the language of the Burgenland Roma) and the Vienna coffee-house culture.

The following ministries are responsible for the implementation and monitoring of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions: the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, the Federal Ministry for Education, the Arts and Culture, the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs, Family and Youth and the Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Consumer Protection. The Working Group on Cultural Diversity (established in 2004) of the Austrian Commission for UNESCO, composed of experts, artists and their interest groups, cultural organisations, as well as representatives of the Bundesländer. The österreichische kulturdokumentation prepared a catalogue of measures for the implementation of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions in Austria in 2009/10. In March 2010, a National Cultural Diversity Contact Point was established by the Austrian UNESCO Commission in close cooperation with the ministries responsible), which is supported by an expert commission. This is composed of representatives of the ministries, the provinces, interest groups (IGs), NGOs and other experts (see also chapter 3.3). The National Cultural Diversity Contact Point is responsible for the preparation of the report for UNESCO, the "Austrian Report 2012 on Measures to Protect and Promote the Diversity of Cultural Expressions", which is to be drawn up every four years.

Your Comments on this Chapter?