The cultural sector is struggling with energy costs
The last electricity bill in Innsbruck’s greenhouse was quite a challenge, says the chairman of the “Treibhaus” association, Norbert Pleifer: “Last year we paid 2,100 euros for November and this year Innsbruck’s municipal utilities debited 9,400 euros. I thought it was a reading error or someone left the light on in the artists’ toilet.”
Pleifer did not expect such a sum until next year. The money cannot be played into it: “If we don’t ask 25, but 60 euros for Josef Hader, then maybe it will work. But then the question arises as to whether anyone else is coming.”
Funding is not enough
The greenhouse receives 105,000 euros a year in funding from the city of Innsbruck. This sum was quickly used up in the new year. “We pay 120,000 euros for electricity and 80,000 euros for gas. And if you add that up, that’s 200,000 euros that you squandered without even one musician earning a shilling,” says Pleifer.
The house “Fourundeinzig” in Innsbruck is confronted with the same problems. In the privately managed cultural venue, the 400 square meter concert and event hall stays cold. Heating up for an evening would cost 1,000 euros, says the founder of the cultural institution Daniela Weiss-Schletterer: “The advance payment alone is five times what it was before.” The concerts in December and January were therefore moved to the warmer season. “We cannot and do not want to pass the price increase on to the public.”
The old tannery in St. Johann expects electricity to increase by 100 to 200 percent by the end of May. The cultural sector is often quiet in the eyes of the public, but still needs support, says managing director Hans Oberlechner: “We also need support in the cultural sector, but we don’t have the means to shout as loudly as the Chamber of Commerce.”
Cultural initiatives are not allowed to create reserves
According to the Tyrolean cultural initiatives, the energy crisis is making planning for the next year very difficult. The advocacy group for independent cultural workers represents 159 initiatives from all over Tyrol. The managing director Helene Schnitzer says about this problem: “It is still the case that cultural initiatives and associations that are subsidized are not legally allowed to build up reserves and are therefore not protected against such. The cultural scene has not really recovered from the Corona crisis, now the energy crisis is coming.”
There were no additional subsidies for the cultural sector to cushion the consequences of the energy crisis. Last week, the state parliament referred an application by List Fritz for an anti-cost-of-living package for cultural workers to the Cost-of-Living Council. However, representatives of the cultural industry have no voice there.