Petition draws 40,000 signatures over Arena Vienna funding cut

More than 40,000 people signed a petition within hours opposing Vienna’s plan to end funding for the Arena cultural centre from 2027, ORF reports.

The city plans to cut €259,000 in annual support, previously provided by its Department for Education and Youth. The petition, titled “Arena must stay!”, was launched by the platform aufstehn.at.

Platform spokesperson Flora Bachmann criticised the decision, saying Vienna planned to spend millions on a new event arena in St. Marx while withdrawing support from the Arena. She said the move would support major international acts while pushing out the local music scene.

City councillor for education and youth Bettina Emmerling, who is responsible for the department, defended the cuts, citing budget pressures and the need to set priorities. Projects and services for young people held at the Arena would be reduced or ended, she said, with priority given to open child and youth work that reaches “really everyone”.

Emmerling said the funding cut would not threaten the Arena as a concert and events venue. The city’s grant accounts for less than 6% of its total revenue, she said. She is in talks with Landstraße district head Erich Hohenberger to find a solution.

The Arena says it generates about €4.4 million in annual revenue, which covers its costs but leaves no surplus. Laurenz Platzer, deputy chair of the association that operates the venue, said maintaining its listed building required substantial annual investment and that the €259,000 it received in 2026 had long been insufficient.

Emmerling said the city’s cost-cutting process was not yet complete and declined to say whether other institutions would be affected.