{"id":410,"date":"2023-10-23T23:20:18","date_gmt":"2023-10-23T21:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/weltmeister.cc\/?p=410"},"modified":"2023-11-15T15:53:07","modified_gmt":"2023-11-15T14:53:07","slug":"eine-klingende-visitenkarte-des-landes-und-ein-tourismusmagnet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/weltmeister.cc\/en\/eine-klingende-visitenkarte-des-landes-und-ein-tourismusmagnet\/","title":{"rendered":"Setting the stage for one\nof Salzburg\u2019s tourist magnets"},"content":{"rendered":"

After challenging years of crisis, the Salzburg Festival is looking\ninto a bright future and is already planning up to 2032.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Salzburg Festival survives everything \u2013 because despite\nthe pandemic, the performances also took place during the\nCovid years. Therefore, it was able to celebrated its 100th\nanniversary in 2020. Lukas Crepaz has been the Commercial Director\nof the Salzburg Festival since 2017, successfully steering the\ntraditional festival through the years of crisis, and will hold this\nposition at least until 2027. The Tyrolean-born director provides\ninsights into the fascination of the Festival, its economic significance\nand plans for the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lukas Crepaz steered the Salzburg Festival commercially through crises.

\u00a9 Peter Rigaud<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How much have the past years left their mark on the Salzburg\nFestival? <\/em>
Lukas Crepaz:<\/strong> In 2020, the Salzburg Festival was the only major\nfestival in the world that took place, and thus took on a pioneering\nrole for the entire cultural sector. Our concept was a model for the\nEuropean cultural scene and was adopted by many cultural institutions.\nI am firmly convinced that it is precisely in these times of\ngreat uncertainty that the DNA of the Salzburg Festival helps us:\nto make art possible. This aim drives every single one of our employees\n\u2013 every one of the more than 250 year-round staff and every\nsingle one of the up to 4,500 performers during the summer\nmonths. And with this attitude, we were able to accomplish the\nfeat of celebrating our 100th anniversary in the midst of the greatest\nhealth crisis in Europe since the Spanish flu with a four-week\nfestival programme that was artistically sensible, economically\nfeasible and, with the application of a strict and precise prevention\nconcept, safe for health. Almost 80,000 visitors were able to experience\nthe 110 events of the Festival in 2020. In making the necessary\ndecisions, we as the Board of Directors \u2013 President Helga-Rabl-\nStadler, Artistic Director Markus Hinterh\u00e4user and myself \u2013 were\nspurred on by a look at the Salzburg Festival\u2019s own very chequered\nhistory and the courage of our founders and predecessors. The\nFestival was conceived in the midst of the First World War as a\npeace project by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Max Reinhardt and\nRichard Strauss. There is a memorandum from 1917 to the imperial-\nroyal court theatre director in which Max Reinhardt promoted\nhis vision. At the Salzburg Festival, formerly hostile nations were\nto find each other again and experience the highest of the arts\ntogether. At the same time, Reinhardt had argued in this time of\ncrisis what economic significance such an undertaking would have\nfor the entire country and what prosperity future visitors from all\nover the world would bring to the entire region. This writing, so\nvisionary, has long since come true..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The imposing Gro\u00dfes Festspielhaus in the city of Salzburg, where the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, among others, performed in the summer of 2023.

\u00a9 Luigi Caputo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What is the economic significance of the Salzburg Festival? <\/em>
Crepaz:<\/strong> The Festival has always been a mutually enriching unity of\nart and business, it has formed its own eco-system. It consists of\neffects that are actually measurable and that can be calculated as\nmodels, and of effects that cannot be measured. The most recent\nvalue-added study by the Austrian Economic Chamber showed a\nvalue added of 183 million euros in Salzburg alone and 215 million\neuros per year in Austria as a whole. In addition, the Festival creates\nor secures 2,800 full-time, year-round jobs in Salzburg and 3,400 in\nAustria. Many entrepreneurs, especially in the retail and catering\nsectors, tell me that they generate about a third of their year-round\nturnover during the six weeks of the Festival. During the Festival,\nSalzburg is a cultural cosmopolitan city \u2013 the whole city breathes the\nFestival. The very high-quality demand of festival guests stimulates\ntrade, the hotel industry and gastronomy. There are educational,\ncompetence and identity effects emanating from the Festival that\nare difficult to measure. The advertising effect through the tens of\nthousands of reports, social media posts, television and radio reports\nand streaming that appear worldwide about the\nSalzburg Festival and reach millions of people is\nhuge. Every year, over 213,000 ticket holders attend\nthe more than 200 events of the Salzburg\nFestival. Another 100,000 people visit the free\nadmission offers, especially the Siemens.Festspiel.\nN\u00e4chte at Kapitelplatz and the Festival\nOpening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you think there will be a moment when\npeople that are not affluent are no longer able\nto attend the festival due to the high inflation? <\/em>
Crepaz:<\/strong> We want to be a festival for everyone. More than 50 per\ncent of our tickets, that is more than 100,000 tickets, cost between\nfive and 110 euros. Even in times of high inflation, we have only\nincreased ticket prices in the most expensive categories, where\nprice elasticity and tolerance of price increases is different. The\noffer in the lower price categories remained unchanged. It is particularly\nimportant to us to make this participation possible, no\nmatter what income group you are in. Affordability is of course an\nissue, especially in economically challenging times. But we notice\nthat our guests want to afford art. We see this in the demand, which\nis unbroken. We are heading back towards the pre-pandemic level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The classic \u201cJedermann\u201d is also being performed indoors during bad weather.

\u00a9 Matthias Horn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Is the balancing act between artistic desires and budget reality\ndifficult? <\/em>
Crepaz:<\/strong> The Festival has a self-support ratio of 75 per cent. We are\nboth an art business and an enterprise. This is also the self-image\nof our programming. People often assume that the artistic and the\ncommercial way of thinking are completely opposed. We are very\nfortunate that in Markus Hinterh\u00e4user we have\nan artistic director who has a great understanding\nof commercial necessities. Of course, high\ninflation is a very big challenge for us. While\nenergy and material prices have already returned\nhalfway to normal, the big challenge lies\nin the long-term effects. Due to the increased\ncost of living, the pressure in collective bargaining\nis much greater, which significantly increases\npersonnel costs. This puts a lot of pressure on\nthe budgets for the next few years. We will have\nan increase in staff costs in the two years 2023
The Festival has a self-support ratio of 75 per cent. We are\nboth an art business and an enterprise. This is also the self-image\nof our programming. People often assume that the artistic and the\ncommercial way of thinking are completely opposed. We are very\nfortunate that in Markus Hinterh\u00e4user we have\nan artistic director who has a great understanding\nof commercial necessities. Of course, high\ninflation is a very big challenge for us. While\nenergy and material prices have already returned\nhalfway to normal, the big challenge lies\nin the long-term effects. Due to the increased\ncost of living, the pressure in collective bargaining\nis much greater, which significantly increases\npersonnel costs. This puts a lot of pressure on\nthe budgets for the next few years. We will have\nan increase in staff costs in the two years 2023 and 2024 that is as high as the cumulative cost increases of the\nprevious six years. Since art and culture are very much depending\non personnel, we are also talking about the largest share of our\nbudget here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A venue for many a legendary performance: the Gro\u00dfes Festspielhaus

\u00a9 Luigi Caputo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Do the big stars cut back on fees \u2013 compared to big solo concerts,\nfor example \u2013 because a performance at the Salzburg Festival\nalso has a great PR value? <\/em>
Crepaz:<\/strong> We can\u2019t pay the fees of large commercial organisers. We\nhave maximum fees that are kept stable and accepted by everyone.\nThe long-standing relationship with our artists is characterised by\nmutual appreciation. And, of course, the aura of the Salzburg Festival\nis highly appreciated by all performers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the Salzburg Festival exist without the currently 18\nmillion euros in public funding?<\/em>
Crepaz:<\/strong> I prefer to talk about investments here. One finding of the\nvalue-added study was that every year 77 million euros flow back\nto the Federal Government, the Province and the City in direct and\nindirect taxes and duties. That means that every euro invested\ncomes back several times over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A costume design from the youth programme Young & Everyone

\u00a9 Leopold<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Salzburg Festival also offers a programme for young people.\nIs this how you attract the audience of tomorrow? <\/em>
Crepaz: <\/strong>In 2020, with the help of Raiffeisen, Uniqa and the W\u00fcrth\nGroup, we were able to restructure and significantly expand our\nchildren\u2019s and youth programme. In the Young & Everyone programme,\na total of 54 events and workshops will now take place\nfrom March to the end of August. In addition to the children\u2019s opera,\nthere are now further drama and musical theatre productions. In our\nFrom Abtenau to Zell am See programme, we bring our productions\nto schools and cultural centres throughout the province of Salzburg,\nthus reaching children and young people who would otherwise not\nbe able to come to the Festival. This is very important to us in terms\nof participation and cultural education because we notice that there\nare great deficits in cultural and educational policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you feel the sanctions imposed by the EU against Russia?\nBoth in the loss of Russian artists and in the absence of guests <\/em>
Crepaz: <\/strong>We condemn the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine and\nhave a clear position here. Anyone who identifies with this war, its\nprotagonists or its goals cannot perform at or be a partner of the\nFestival. The Salzburg Festival is an international festival with visitors\nand artists from all over the world. Russia was an important\nsource market before the war. This is no longer the case. However,\nguests from over 80 nations continue to come to the Salzburg Festival,\nand as of this year, the top 10 source markets include the USA,\nJapan and South Korea, in addition to the European countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The performance of the Verdi opera \u201cMacbeth\u201d in summer 2023

\u00a9 Bernd Uhlig<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the Bayreuth Festival in 2023, many seats remained empty,\nthe media spoke of a swansong. How do you see this development\nin connection with the Salzburg Festival? <\/em>
Crepaz:<\/strong> The demand for tickets at the Salzburg Festival continues\nto be sensational, we are again heading for an\nexcellent occupancy rate of 97 per cent. Everyone\nhas the opportunity to get tickets \u2013 whether it\u2019s\nthe international audience planning for the longer\nterm, sponsors, friends and patrons or those who\ndecide at short notice. Short-term demand is particularly\nhigh in a summer as strong as this one.\nInterest in individual productions increases especially\nif the production in question is very well received\nand reviewed or if it is polarising. We have\nbeen selling between five and ten per cent of\ntickets in the summer for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your contract was extended for another five years in 2021\nand runs until March 2027. Can you already draw a mid-term\nbalance? <\/em>
Crepaz: <\/strong>We have taken on a lot in the areas of digitisation, sustainability\nand infrastructure and are on a\nvery good path. The project of the century,\nFestival District 2030, for which I am responsible,\nwill secure the future of the three festival\nhalls, i.e. the central cultural infrastructure\nof the province. The project will run until\n2032. We are currently in the intensive planning\nphase and will start implementation in\nautumn 2025. An ambitious sustainability\nstrategy has been developed for the buildings,\nwhich will also be extended to their\noperation next year.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After challenging years of crisis, the Salzburg Festival is looking toward a bright future and is already planning until 2032. The Salzburg Festival will survive anything \u2013 because despite the pandemic, performances continued even during the Corona years. And so, the 100th anniversary was celebrated in 2020. Lukas Crepaz has been Commercial Director of the Salzburg Festival since 2017, [\u2026]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"business":[{"ID":411,"post_title":"Salzburger Festspiele","post_content":"","post_excerpt":"","post_author":"3","post_date":"2023-10-23 23:14:47","post_date_gmt":"2023-10-23 21:14:47","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"salzburger-festspiele","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-11-14 16:03:31","post_modified_gmt":"2023-11-14 15:03:31","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"http:\/\/weltmeister.cc\/?post_type=business&p=411","menu_order":0,"post_type":"business","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","comments":false,"_thumbnail_id":["749","2","2023-11-13 11:23:49","2023-11-13 10:23:49","","Salzburger_Festspiele_Logo","","inherit","closed","closed","","salzburger_festspiele_logo","","","2023-11-13 11:23:49","2023-11-13 10:23:49","","411","http:\/\/weltmeister.cc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Salzburger_Festspiele_Logo.png","0","attachment","image\/png","0","749"],"industry":false,"region":[{"term_id":"19","name":"Salzburg","slug":"salzburg","term_group":"0","term_taxonomy_id":"19","taxonomy":"region","description":"","parent":"0","count":"8","object_id":"952","term_order":"0","pod_item_id":"19"}],"business_type":[{"term_id":"17","name":"Businesses","slug":"unternehmen","term_group":"0","term_taxonomy_id":"17","taxonomy":"business_type","description":"","parent":"0","count":"36","object_id":"997","term_order":"0","pod_item_id":"17"}],"directory":false,"id":411}],"advertorial":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weltmeister.cc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weltmeister.cc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weltmeister.cc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weltmeister.cc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weltmeister.cc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/weltmeister.cc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":852,"href":"https:\/\/weltmeister.cc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410\/revisions\/852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weltmeister.cc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weltmeister.cc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weltmeister.cc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}