 
Heinrich Spängler
Helga Rabl-Stadler
Entführung
Masterpiece
Don Carlo
The concerts
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SPONSORSHIP ACTIVITIES AT THE SALZBURG FESTIVAL
The Salzburg Festival is proud to have five principal sponsors – Nestlé, Audi, Siemens, Uniqa and Austrian Airlines
Top artistic and economic ranking
Artistically the Salzburg Festival leads the world and this
is also reflected in economic success which other arts institutions can
only dream about: in 2002 the Festival generated 70% of its income. This
high percentage is unique in Europe. Over the decade 1991 – 2002
the principal sponsors and private patrons contributed over
2 27.3 million to this economic success. We owe particular thanks to the
main sponsors: Nestlé, Audi, Siemens and Uniqa.
An inclination for quality
Nestlé was the very first sponsor and has supported the Festival
since 1990. At the time it was managing director Helmut O. Maucher who
committed his enterprise to sponsoring the Festival. Now Peter Brabeck-Lethmate,
an Austrian, is at the head of the company and he too believes in the
partnership between the arts and business. “A shared passion for
quality – Nestlé and the Salzburg Festival” is the
slogan on which Nestlé bases its commitment.
Nestlé was also one of the first main sponsors to offer financial
support for the idea of subscriptions for young people. It is after all
essential to rouse interest in the future public for the arts and to allow
young people to attend even the expensive Festival performances. In the
past season 2093 tickets were made available as subscriptions to 306 young
people. Thanks to our principal sponsors these young people paid only
one seventh of the usual prices.
A large proportion of these young people come from Austria and about a
third come from Germany, France, Belgium and Switzerland, indeed there
are also enthusiasts from the USA or Japan. Nestlé is also supporting
the International Orchestra Institute Attergau where members
of the Vienna Philharmonic work together with young musicians who wish
to play in an orchestra. Every year at the end of the Festival the music
students have the chance to demonstrate their skills alongside their experienced
colleagues. For 2003 an especially attractive concert is planned: on 31
August Bobby McFerrin will conduct the Attersee Institute Orchestra.
Peter Brabeck-Letmathe,
chairman of Nestlé administrative council (left) with Governor
Franz Schausberger and his wife Heidi and Festival president
Helga Rabl-Stadler in the Salzburg Residenz.
Enthusiastic sponsorship by Audi
Audi has been one of the main sponsors in Salzburg since 1995 and already in 1994 sponsored the production of Stravinsky’s L’histoire du soldat. “In partnership with the arts” – this line from the Festival advertisement is also put into practice by the enterprise. As Martin Winterkorn, board chairman of Audi, says, “Sponsoring the arts is an integral part of our company’s policy.”
Every summer Audi invites its dealers, major clients and press representatives from all over the world to come to Salzburg. The links between the arts and business are, however, also implemented on a specific operational level. Through its activities for personnel in the German plants in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm on the one hand and the Porsche Holding, importer of Audi vehicles in Austria on the other, Audi staff can experience the Salzburg Festival live. Furthermore the guest performances of the Salzburg Festival during the “Summer Concerts between the Danube and Altmühl”, organised by Audi have now assumed the character of a tradition. For instance, after Les Boréades and Le nozze di Figaro in past seasons, 2002 saw a highly acclaimed performance of Jedermann in Ingolstadt.
Festival president
Helga Rabl-Stadler and Martin Winterkorn,
board chairman of Audi
Siemens Festival Nights
Siemens, whose managing director Albert Hochleitner is a great opera enthusiast, has been associated with the Salzburg Festival since 1995, initially as a project sponsor and since 1999 as a principal sponsor. Through the commitment by Siemens to organise the Festival Nights on the Domplatz, and in 2002 on the Residenzplatz, thousands of people every year have the chance to experience Festival quality without paying any entrance fees at all. Besides the dress rehearsals, which are open to the public, the Festival Nights are the most important way of bringing exciting Festival productions to a broader public. “The arts offer something for everyone but how can we bring the arts nearer to everyone? Quite simply: video transmissions on a large screen make the Salzburg Festival a festival for everyone”, as Siemens rightly states. And in the case of Siemens it is of course not only the Festival that benefits from the cultural commitment of the enterprise. The Ernst-von-Siemens Music Prize is regarded as the Nobel Prize for Music and we are especially pleased that the Austrian conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt, who in the past season returned to the stage of the Grosses Festspielhaus in Salzburg, was awarded this prize in 2002.
Albert Hochleitner,
Managing director of Siemens
New Ideas with Uniqa
Uniqa became one of the principal sponsors in 2002.
The insurance company was previously committed more to supporting top-level
sporting events but now it has signed a three-year contract with the Salzburg
Festival and is introducing certain innovations, for instance a practical
college for arts journalists. With this programme the insurance company,
which is active throughout Europe, intends to initiate an educational
offensive for young journalists from Central Europe. The programme comprises
practical seminars with eminent representatives from the field of arts
journalism, specialist discussions with the board of directors of the
Festival, as well as offering a glance behind the scenes.
Konstantin Klien,
Managing director of Uniqa
Culture is freedom of interpretation
Konstantin Klien, managing director of Uniqa, justified the company’s commitment to the Festival with the following statement which I find especially pleasing, “Culture is freedom of interpretation, art the means of its expression and freedom is important for us. That is why Uniqa is supporting the Salzburg Festival”. Activities for staff are also a particular concern of Uniqa. Insurance apprentices are to have the possibility to attend the world’s most wonderful Festival at an affordable price and to train their eyes and ears in creating an understanding and enjoyment of the arts.
AUA as a partner on the world market
From 2003 Austrian Airlines as the fifth principal sponsor will convey the idea and philosophy of the Salzburg Festival throughout the world. As Josef Burger, AUA chief commercial officer, stated, “The Festival and the Austrian Airlines Group go together perfectly. Both are Austrian top-class names and thus the basic prerequisite for successful sponsorship, a win-win situation is given.”
Josef Burger, Chief
commercial officer of Austrian Airlines
Sponsors contribute 7% of the Festival budget
Despite the successful collaboration between the Festival and its sponsors I am often asked the question “Do business sponsors restrict you in your freedom to make your own decisions?” Quite the contrary: sponsors make it possible to realise artistic projects that are dear to our hearts but which, without special financial support, would not be possible. In 2001 the Salzburg Festival received € 13.37 million from the federal government, the regional government, the city authorities and from the tourism promotion fund. The sponsors contributed € 3.1 million. This is almost 7% of the budget, a considerable amount without which the programme would certainly suffer.
Sponsorship is not a one-way street
We hope to gain a sixth main sponsor in order to realise Peter Ruzicka’s plans for more contemporary music on the Festival programme. Something that is not stressed enough in the public debate: not only art and culture benefit from additional funds but so does the economy through expertise from the arts. Sponsorship is not a one-way street. As Norbert Boltz expressed it: “Art disturbs business intellectually and allows it to deviate from its own system and be innovative.” Artists are the best seismographs, prophets and revolutionaries.
Helga Rabl-Stadler