Artist Funding in Austria

The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna maintains an overview of public funding, scholarships, and prizes for its students and graduates, linking them to programs by OeAD, BMKÖS, the City of Vienna, and other bodies. Some scholarships and prizes are administered directly by the Academy, providing financial support for artistic projects, study periods abroad, and outstanding diploma or artistic work.

The Austrian Cultural Forums (including the Austrian Cultural Forum Washington DC and others worldwide) support cultural exchange projects featuring Austrian artists abroad. For visual artists, they can co‑fund exhibitions, residencies, and participation in festivals and cross‑cultural projects in collaboration with local host institutions. Support typically covers production, travel, and presentation costs rather than long‑term living expenses.

The City of Vienna’s cultural department (MA 7) is one of the most important funders for contemporary visual artists living or working in Vienna. It offers project grants for exhibitions and artistic production, studio and workspace programs, and sometimes multi‑year funding for artist‑run spaces and initiatives. Typical project grants range from modest production support up to larger, multi‑thousand‑euro contributions for substantial projects.

Within MA 7, Vienna offers scholarships and prizes for visual artists, including working grants, project scholarships, and awards for younger and mid‑career artists. These supports often provide time‑limited, partially unrestricted funding that can be used for living costs and artistic development, alongside exhibition and publication support.

Each Austrian province (Land), such as Lower Austria, Styria, Upper Austria, and Tyrol, has its own cultural office that provides grants to artists and cultural institutions within the region. For visual artists, these often include project and exhibition grants, studio and residency support, and occasionally travel funding for projects with regional relevance.

BMKÖS is the central federal body funding arts and culture in Austria, including contemporary visual arts. It supports exhibitions, production projects, publications, and artist mobility, as well as long‑term programs for institutions and artist‑run spaces. Grants range from small project support in the low thousands of euros to substantial multi‑year funding for organizations.

grants.at is Austria’s largest online database for scholarships and grants across all academic fields, and it also lists many funding opportunities relevant to visual artists, especially study and research‑related scholarships, residencies, and mobility programs. It aggregates calls from ministries, regions, universities, the EU, and private foundations, making it a key search tool rather than a direct funder.

OeAD is Austria’s central agency for internationalisation in education and research and also administers scholarships and residency‑type grants that can be relevant for visual artists (especially those linked to universities or research‑oriented projects). Support is usually in the form of scholarships, living stipends, and sometimes travel and material allowances for study or research stays in Austria or abroad.

Phileas supports the internationalisation of Austrian contemporary art by funding the production and exhibition of new artworks by Austrian and Austria‑based artists at biennials, museums, and non‑profit art institutions abroad. Applications are submitted by foreign non‑profit institutions (museums, biennials, art centres), which can receive funding for production, exhibitions, publications, and public programs, with a strong emphasis on solo presentations.

The Reflecta Fördermittelkompass is a searchable platform that maps cultural funding programs in Austria, including those for visual arts, infrastructure, and digitalisation. While it is not a funding body itself, it is a useful tool for artists and organizations to identify relevant grant programs at federal, regional, municipal, and private‑foundation levels.