Winter festival: the city cancels the subsidy – salzburg.ORF.at
Culture
A few days before the start of the Winterfest circus festival in the Salzburg Volksgarten, its management is worried about the future of the event. Large reserves have been built up in recent years. That’s why there is no money from the city of Salzburg this year.
The festival for contemporary circus arts begins on December 1st in the Volksgarten and in the Salzburg scene. The city of Salzburg has canceled this year’s subsidy application of 50,000 euros because the festival has quickly generated a million euros in reserves in recent years, it is said.
“That’s why we can’t pay out a subsidy from a purely legal point of view. But I can take the jitters out of Winterfest. The city of Salzburg was a reliable partner and will continue to be so in the future,” says Deputy Mayor Bernhard Auinger (SPÖ), who is responsible for culture.
Debate between citizen list and SPÖ
Criticism comes from the green list of citizens in the city of Salzburg: “In business, one would say that one praises the businessman when he builds up reserves, because then he is able to bridge such a crisis in difficult times for his own reasons. Many other cultural institutions do it that way, it just seems that these rules don’t apply to the winter festival,” criticizes culture spokesman and municipal councilor Markus Grüner-Musil.
Undeterred by this, the preparations for the premiere on Thursday continue.
Auinger does not rule out a subsidy for 2023
Culture adviser and Deputy Mayor Auinger announces that he will continue to hold talks with those responsible for the circus festival. He does not rule out that the city will again pay a subsidy next year.
Not all tents have space in the new Volksgarten
By then, the reserves could shrink. The reason is the advance sale. For the first time, according to the festival management, a season with a full minus threatens. Currently, 70 percent of the ticket contingent has been sold, says Robert Segiun, Managing Director of the winter festival. After the redesign of the Volksgarten, not all tents would have space. Part of the program migrated to the Salzburg scene – but ticket sales here are still sluggish, says Segiun.