It is common sense in international cultural policy discourse that the importance of cities is increasing. In the case of Europe, this is not only due to the growing urban population but also due to the changing power relations and an ongoing economic dynamic which integrates culture in the value chains of cities. This interrelation renders both culture and cities important factors for prosperity and growth.

In this lecture Michael Wimmer discusses two Austrian cities, Vienna and Linz, which have rather different traditions and characters. Wimmer will discuss the implications of potentially conflicting cultural narratives and current cultural developments in Vienna and Linz and their cultural policy implications on an interregional, national and European level. The lecture will address how cultural policy measures positively or negatively influence the increasing importance of the cultural profile of cities.

Dr. Michael Wimmer is the executive director of EDUCULT (Vienna, Austria). Through his previous work as director of the Austrian Cultural Service (ÖKS), a music educator and political scientist, Michael Wimmer gained comprehensive experiences in the cooperation between the arts, culture and education. Wimmer is a lecturer at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and on cultural policy at the Institute for Theatre and Media Studies, Vienna University. He is a consultant of the Austrian Ministry for Education, Culture and the Arts and since 2007 a member of the ministerial expert committee on the New Middle School. On the international level, Michael Wimmer is an experienced consultant of the Council of Europe, UNESCO and the European Commission, who invited him to join the EU Expert Network on Culture. He is also a member of the scientific committee of the International Conference for Cultural Policy Research (ICCPR).