History of the Salzburger Kulturvereinigung
Street Theatre for the People of Salzburg
It was the festival director Oscar Fritz Schuh who, together with his wife Ursula, had the idea of a fairground theatre with free admission. In 1970 his vision was finally accepted by the Salzburger Kulturvereinigung that then became its future sponsor. The subsidy providers: city, state, and federal government, saw this as a suitable opportunity to present the street theatre as a kind of "opening of the festival" for the population of Salzburg. The Stiegl brewery provided the two magnificent horses and coachmen and donated a beer wagon to the Kulturvereinigung. This beer wagon was converted into a theatre wagon by the Salzburg Festival. Schuh remained faithful to the street theatre until his death in 1984, after which director Klaus Gmeiner held the reins for 30 years before the director and actor Georg Clementi took over the direction of the street theatre in 2016.
Fell Out of Time: Lectures With Colour Photographs
In addition to the theatre and concert sectors, the Kulturvereinigung devoted itself to education and organised popular science colour slide lectures, to which thousands of people from all over the region made pilgrimages, especially in the 1950s and 1960s. At a time when information was not as easily accessible as it is today, lectures by Heinrich Harrer on "7 Years in Tibet", Dr. Hans Hass on the "Great Animal World of the Sea" or lectures on Africa regularly blew up the capacity of the Great University Auditorium.
The Legacy of Georg Trakl - Salzburg's Internationally Most Famous Poet
A further responsible task awaited the Salzburger Kulturvereinigung in 1973 when the province of Salzburg took care of the Trakl memorial in the poet's birthplace, which had been newly created with the help of the Kulturvereinigung. Since 1973, the curator and director Dr. Hans Weichselbaum has constantly expanded and filled the memorial with life. The most important addition was the acquisition of the Trakl estate from Erhard Buschbeck, a school friend of Trakl (1978). It was supplemented by a donation from Prof. Lotte Tobisch-Labotyn in 2008. In 1987, on the occasion of the 100th birthday of Georg Trakl, the memorial was spatially expanded into a research and memorial site. Today the Geor Trakl research and memorial site has a considerable collection of manuscripts, documents, publications, and photographs as well as a film portrait, and is accessible to visitors daily.
From Pioneer to Salzburg's Leading Concert Organizer
In the course of its 70-year history, the Salzburger Kulturvereinigung has established itself as the leading concert organizer in the city of Mozart. Today it is responsible for a large part of the symphonic musical life of the city and invites internationally renowned orchestras to the main venue of the Salzburg Festival even outside festival season. In a long-standing partnership with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, more than 900 concerts have been organized. The Salzburgers also know the Kulturvereinigung as the organiser of the Salzburg Street Theatre, which has been stopping at around 40 venues in the city and province of Salzburg every summer since 1970 with its theatre car and offers high-quality theatre with free admission. In addition, the Kulturvereinigung has been operating the Georg Trakl Research and Memorial Site (Georg Trakl Museum) since 1973 and conveys the literary heritage of Salzburg's internationally most famous poet in this museum and in numerous events. The ticket office of the Salzburger Kulturvereinigung is also located here in the historic Trakl House.