Und wieder ist es passiert!

In 2012, all Upper Austrian cultural prizes went to men!

A picture is worth a thousand words - but FIFTITU% still has a few words to say about this year's Provincial Culture Award ceremony...

Listen to the critical words on the National Culture Award here

The Provincial Culture Prize in Upper Austria has a long tradition. it was awarded for the first time in 1961. It took until 1975 (!) for a female artist to be honored...
The renowned visual artist Waldtraud Cooper was the first. It then took another 9 years before Brigitte Schwaiger was chosen for her literary work.

In between, her male colleagues were invited to the podium one after the other. It's not to say that they didn't do a good job - no question! And yes, those were still "different times" in terms of equality and its institutionalization BUT what makes the whole thing really tragic is the fact that today, in 2012 to be precise, it is apparently not a jot better and no responsible politician or female politician makes a peep about it!

All cultural awards this year would go exclusively to men! Of the 23 "major cultural prizes" awarded, no less than 3 (!) went to women.

With results like these, the question is more than justified as to how seriously the state government takes itself when the "Upper Austrian Cultural Mission Statement" (2009) talks about "gender balance (...) and reducing deficits in this regard.". And because this is obviously not enough fine words, it also states "... that women and men benefit equally from the goods, resources and opportunities of society and can draw benefits from them."

AHA!? is also not irrelevant in this case: the large cultural prize is endowed with 11,000 euros and the small one with 7,500 euros.

The fact that this year our state governor and cultural advisor (culture is a matter for the boss!) Dr. Pühringer stood in for our women's state councillor Mag.a Hummer in her agendas gives the whole thing an almost parodic note, but this does not necessarily mean that she would have rebelled in matters of cultural prizes. - Take courage, Ms. Provincial Councillor!

The ball is in the court of the responsible members of the Upper Austrian provincial government: in future, female artists must be given preferential treatment in the awarding of art prizes until gender symmetry is established. There is a lot of catching up to do and please take yourself at your word and do your job!

Another malice should not go unmentioned in this context: in the new music theater, all (!) of the commissions for "art in construction" were also awarded to men.

With feminist greetings!

PS: A small consolation is that at least talent promotion awards are also repeatedly awarded to women.