Advocating for
more diversity in the Viennese cultural sector

 
 
 

Vienna is a city with a wide range of diverse nationalities, backgrounds, experiences and genders and we believe that art should reflect this character. Cultural institutions should be a place where each and every one of us can recognize themselves or part of themselves. We don’t believe this is currently possible and therefore aim to foster the discussion among cultural institutions to bring the topic to the agenda. The following questions should always be raised:

  • Are programs designed and implemented taking into consideration different perspectives?

  • Do the artists and curators invited correctly represent the entire Viennese population or just a small privileged part of it?

  • Are invited artists that are not seen as “Western” being exoticised and tokenized or is this actively worked against?

We want to support cultural institutions in implementing mechanisms for the inclusion of artists with different backgrounds living in Vienna into their regular program. A strong focus has to be laid on working against the tokenization of people belonging to a certain minority. We want to constitute a force that helps ensure that Viennese cultural programs reflect the unique Viennese character that is diverse in genders, nationalities and backgrounds.

Manifest of the artists

In the long overdue discussions about the adjustment of working conditions for artists, there is now also an artists' manifesto as a tool to actively involve those affected. In spring 2023, QUESTION ME & ANSWER (QMA), in cooperation with the researcher Oliver Meurer, interviewed artists with migration and/or refugee experience about their demands to the City of Vienna. The result is a manifesto addressed to the administrative apparatus. It functions as policy advice and contains demands, formulated by the artists themselves. It contains three groups of demands, first the administrative demands, which call for the dismantling of administrative barriers, language barriers and more clarity regarding visas. In the group of monetary demands, the artists talk about affordable work spaces and increasing the accessibility of public funds. In the third part on social demands, there is a call for greater awareness of racism and fetishization of migrant artists and greater recognition for the importance of artists in general.

It is available for download here below.

Read some more about this manifest in this article about it in Bildpunkt, the magazine of the IG Bildende Kunst, issue #66 climate justice, summer 2023.