The Vienna Festival | Free Republic of Vienna is Europe's most significant cross-over festival with a radical socio-political impact.
© Franzi Kreis
+++ GO VIRAL! +++ 1,5 mio. users reached via Festwochen social media channels +++ MEDIA RELEVANCE! +++2,800 media reports in 25 countries +++ REACHING OUT! +++ 430,000 viewers via live streams and television +++ AUDIENCE ATTRACTION! +++ 100,000 visitors +++ GO VIRAL! +++ 1,5 mio. users reached via Festwochen social media channels +++ MEDIA RELEVANCE! +++2,800 media reports in 25 countries +++ REACHING OUT! +++ 430,000 viewers via live streams and television +++ AUDIENCE ATTRACTION! +++ 100,000 visitors
+++ GO VIRAL! +++ 1,5 mio. users reached via Festwochen social media channels +++ MEDIA RELEVANCE! +++2,800 media reports in 25 countries +++ REACHING OUT! +++ 430,000 viewers via live streams and television +++ AUDIENCE ATTRACTION! +++ 100,000 visitors +++ GO VIRAL! +++ 1,5 mio. users reached via Festwochen social media channels +++ MEDIA RELEVANCE! +++2,800 media reports in 25 countries +++ REACHING OUT! +++ 430,000 viewers via live streams and television +++ AUDIENCE ATTRACTION! +++ 100,000 visitors
The Republic of the Arts
In 2024, Vienna, one of the five largest cities in the EU, experienced the rebirth of Europe's biggest crossover festival: the Vienna Festival was declared the Free Republic of Vienna. During five weeks, 47 theatre, opera and music productions from all over the world as well as over 100 activist and art events took place in all parts of Vienna, the capital of modernism. The talk of the town were productions such as Florentina Holzinger's opera Sancta, the concert with the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra and Oksana Lyniv, the last play by René Pollesch and the Volksstück that toured the whole city.
An occupancy rate of 96% and 100,000 visitors made Milo Rau's first year as artistic director of the legendary festival the most successful edition in recent decades. Several million viewers were reached via streams on television and social media, a total of 2,800 media reports were published in 25 countries, and the initiated debates shook up the city and the Austrian Parliament.
The Proclamation of the Free Republic of Vienna
The proclamation of the Free Republic of Vienna in front of 36,000 people on 17 May at the Cityhall Square was followed by the appointment of a 100-member council, including citizens from all parts of Vienna, but also artists like Annie Ernaux or Sandra Hüller. In the Vienna Trials against the Austrian Government, the right-wing party FPÖ (Freedom Party of Austria) and eventually the festival itself, Milo Rau 'put reality on trial'. 'The most exciting thing that theatre currently has on offer' was how Die Welt summed up the fireworks that the Vienna Festival set off in 2024.
With the Vienna Declaration, the Vienna Festival became the first festival ever to adopt guidelines that set out quotas, the democratic organization of curation and ethical and ecological standards. 'An institutional revolution that no other festival in Europe has delivered', reported Agence France-Presse.
No excuses anymore!
But it is not just politics and discourse, but intensive structural work that lies at the heart of the Free Republic of Vienna. 'Frustrated by the stubborn gender imbalances in classical music, the Vienna Festival have this year formed the Academy Second Modernism, an initiative that will showcase works by 50 female and nonbinary composers over five years,' as the New York Times reported.
WHAT´S UP IN 2025?
'Staging an entire city' and 'creating a Baroque World Theatre' - that is what Milo Rau and his fantastic team have achieved in Vienna. Now, they are working tirelessly on the 2025 edition which will open on May 16, 2025, with a big show in the centre of Vienna. The new season’s contents are still kept a secret, only one project is already known: Nobel Prize winner Elfriede Jelinek's mythical play Burgtheater, which has been banned from the stage for 45 years, will finally be performed at the Burgtheater itself, directed by Milo Rau!
