Bühnen Graz must cut 17 million euros over five years

Graz’s Bühnen Graz performing arts organisation must save 17 million euros over the next five years, while Styria’s 2027 budget proposes 2.2 million euros in cuts to culture, ORF reported.

About 110 organisations that received funding in the past two years are not expected to face cuts in 2027. The continuity offers those groups greater planning security, but the Interest Group Culture Styria criticised the lack of support for small initiatives, saying the funding distribution risks undermining cultural diversity.

Bühnen Graz managing director Bernhard Rinner said the organisation would need to restructure. Audiences would hopefully notice little of the changes, he said, but the organisation would suspend programme booklets, stage more co-productions and fewer in-house productions in Graz, and drop some set designs. It would perform in front of the iron curtain instead.