23.07.2004 |
The sponsoring partnership between UNIQA and the Salzburg Festival is going into its third year. The extension of the sponsoring agreement for a further three years has been arranged. UNIQA’s involvement is traditionally not limited to pure funding this year either. Two successful projects, “Offensive for Art and the Economy” and the “UNIQA College for Journalists” are ongoing. In a current market survey, the attitudes of culturally interested Austrians towards this type of involvement in cultural facilities by private Austrian companies is being analysed. The results were presented by Konstantin Klien at a joint press conference with Helga Rabl-Stadler, President of the Salzburg Festival.
Agreement extended for another 3 years – survey confirms involvement
UNIQA and the Salzburg Festival have extended the agreement which was previously concluded just up to 2004 for a further 3 years. Konstantin Klien stated that “The current market study confirms that 81% of UNIQA’s clients absolutely support our involvement in the Salzburg Festival. This solid backing was one reason why we decided to extend the sponsoring agreement.”
UNIQA promotes Austria’s most popular cultural events
Around 57 per cent of the population of Austria regards itself as being interested in culture, this group of average Austrians differing from the rest, however, in that they tend to be female, somewhat older and live in the east rather than in the west of the country. If such people are asked which aspects of Austrian culture they are extremely proud of, the Salzburg Festival and the Vienna State Opera are named simultaneously. The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bregenz Festival and the Lake Festival at Mörbisch are also close to the hearts of the Austrians. This attitude is found in every age-group, thus indicating the importance of the Salzburg Festival, even to young target audiences. “UNIQA supports not only the Salzburg Festival, but also all the other top events of the Austrian classical music scene. And we do this in each individual case in the form of a custom-made sponsoring partnership,” comments Konstantin Klien on UNIQA’s increased involvement in the arts in recent years. The Salzburg Festival comes just before the Vienna State Opera in the survey when institutions that are deserving of sponsorship by private companies are named. In fact, all the aspects of culture mentioned above scored very highly.
Preservation of traditional values and promotion of new artistic and cultural projects
The respondents in the survey regard the involvement of private Austrian companies in the support and promotion of typical Austrian cultural facilities as particularly relevant. Nine out of ten are convinced of the importance of this and precisely 55% of those questioned, who enjoy culture actively, consider it to be extremely relevant.
Private sponsoring is becoming more important
For 70% of those questioned, it is self-evident that support from private companies should not be reduced but, on the contrary, increased. In order to maintain the high quality of Austrian culture, it is virtually essential, from the point of view of those interested in it, that private Austrian companies support and promote it. UNIQA clients are especially convinced of this necessity – 72% consider future support to be an absolute must.
Sponsoring to promote new projects
Just under 90% of the respondents support the assumption that promotion should not, however, be limited exclusively to the maintenance of existing facilities, but should also be for the support of new projects, in particular. As far as these are concerned, UNIQA is backing the Richard Strauss opera production, “Der Rosenkavalier” this year, and last year, the production of “La Clemenza di Tito“ by Mozart was sponsored Konstantin Klien comments as follows on UNIQA’s involvement in the traditional Salzburg Festival: “From the beginning of our partnership, it has been our goal to be an active partner and facilitate new elements in the artistic field. By supporting productions which cannot be funded from the normal festival budget, we are able to succeed in our aim.”
UNIQA sponsoring of Salzburg Festival is well-known
Half of those who are interested in culture are aware of UNIQA’s involvement in the Salzburg Festival and feel positively about it. Precisely 48% of the respondents think that they have heard of UNIQA’s support for the traditional festival and 56% of the company’s clients know about it. According to this survey, UNIQA is the best-known Salzburg Festival sponsor.
70% of those interested in culture consider UNIQA’s sponsorship to be very positive, regardless of age or whether they are men or women. UNIQA’s clients, especially, give their company their absolute support: 81% are behind its involvement.
Great acceptance on part of UNIQA clients
“We are very pleased that both the Salzburg Festival itself and also our partnership with this traditional festival enjoy so much prestige among the Austrians. I regard it as particularly positive that we have succeeded in convincing our clients of the relevance of this involvement as well: 81%, or very definitely more than the average individuals who are interested in culture (70%) back our decision to the hilt,” notes Klien.
Three quarters of the respondents observe a successful partnership between UNIQA and the Salzburg Festival from which both can benefit. When asked about UNIQA’s profile, those interested in culture respond equally with the future and tradition. UNIQA, on the one hand a company that is forward-looking, innovative and successful, is regarded on the other as being appreciative of art and concerned about the preservation of Austrian values and thus responsibility in society.
Charm offensive – involvement in art and business in Central and Eastern Europe
98% of those interested in culture are of the opinion that a sponsoring company should use its international contacts to increase and enhance its profile and the public’s general level of knowledge about it. Under exactly this condition, the joint involvement of UNIQA and the Salzburg Festival in art and culture, and the common ground in their Eastern European strategies led as early as 2002 to an “Offensive for Art and Business” being brought into being as a purposeful combination of business development and cultural promotion. A first step in this direction was taken as far back as March 2002 in Warsaw, where the Salzburg Festival organized a cultural evening jointly with UNIQA. In December 2003, another joint project followed in Prague and in the first half of 2004 in Budapest. Following those, events were planned in Northern Italy and in the Mannheim/Frankfurt area, so as to build bridges for people who are interested in culture and interest them in the Salzburg Festival. The people in these countries are to be made aware of the fact that there are numerous individuals from Central and Eastern European countries among the musicians, actors and actresses in these many different kinds of performances. In this way, their interest is to be aroused. “We’re focusing pretty clearly on the core markets in Central and Eastern Europe and these are also future markets for the Salzburg Festival,” according to Klien. “We are using our experience and contacts in these countries in order to work with the Festival and enable a Central European cultural identity without any imperial nostalgia to reappear.”
Training college for young journalists
A further example of genuine Central European life and the use of international contacts, in addition to “moving the Salzburg Festival over” to Central and Eastern Europe, is the UNIQA College for Journalists, which is being repeated again this summer in the Salzburg Festival setting, owing to its great success in the last few years. Approximately 100 applicants from Poland, the Czech Republic, Northern Italy, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, Germany and Austria were chosen by a jury consisting of 22 journalists from the fields of business and culture. The participants, aged 29 at the most, will be able to experience high-profile discussions by experts, theoretical lectures on journalism, and work related to everyday practice, with renowned professors and media professionals such as Dr. Russ-Mohl (Professor of Journalism and Media Management at the University of Lugano and Director of the “European Journalism Observatory”, Michael Kerbler (in charge of the Ö1 radio series entitled “Im Gespräch”) or Dan Gillmor (American business and technology columnist and author of the recently published book, “We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People”), from 7-14 August 2004.
Alongside the topic of cultural journalism, lectures on budgeting, sponsoring, and direct and indirect profitability will comprise the focus on the economic aspects of cultural enterprises.
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Salzburg Festival