Culture
The Tyrol is rich in cultural history, as reflected in the region's various museums. Culture is also a part of everyday life, in which customs, traditions and social values are kept alive and passed on to future generations. Contemporary art, too, plays an important role in the Tyrol, as the many exhibitions in the region's art galleries show. Arts festivals in town and country meet with international acclaim, like Innsbruck's Summer Dance Festival and Festival of Early Music, Klangspuren in Schwaz, Tiroler Festspiele Erl (in German) and "Music in the Giant" at Swarovski Crystal Worlds in Wattens. At the same time, Tyrolean folk culture is more vibrant today than ever before.
Funding
The Tyrolean Regional Government has a cultural mandate to provide financial support to individuals and organisations that are active in the arts at the level of performance, education or conservation. The only requirement is that their activities must be in the interest of the Tyrol and its people and must either take place here or have some special relationship with the region. Support in the form of direct financial assistance, subsidies for printing costs, grants and awards is provided in accordance with the 2010 Culture Promotion Law and appurtenant guidelines. Advice is provided by seven appointed experts, and the Tyrol has a regional platform for regular contacts and debate ("Gremium der Tiroler Kulturinitiativen"). In 2010 the Department of Culture had a budget of 80 million euros for the arts and culture. Cultural projects in the Tyrol are also eligible for inclusion in the European Culture programme.
Cultural services
The Tyrolean Regional Archives (in German) store source texts and images relating to the Tyrol's one thousand years of history.
The Tyrolean Art Cadastre (in German) is an inventory of the region’s profane and sacred cultural assets in the form of an on-line database.
The Regional Memorial Foundation (in German) maintains a chapel of remembrance dedicated to the "Virgin Mary of the Tyrol" ("Unsere Hohe Frau von Tirol"). The foundation works for conservation of the architectural heritage of the Tyrol and provides support for schoolchildren and students.
The culture portal on the Tyrol's official website (in German) also provides access to a calendar of cultural events and to a museum database covering about 170 facilities.
The Tirol Panorama (in German) will combine the huge panorama painting of the Battle of Bergisel (Riesenrundgemälde) created in 1896 and a modernised museum of the Tiroler Kaiserjäger regiments with an exciting permanent exhibition of the cultural history of the Tyrol.
Click here for further information on the subject of culture, support programmes and the relevant departments at the Office of the Tyrolean Regional Government (in German).