Maecenas Award goes to the Academy of Austrian Film for cooperation with Austrian Lotteries
In 2023, the two cooperation partners realised a Lotteries Day for the “Film Prize on Tour” for the second time, making Austria’s award-winning films accessible free of charge in all nine of Austria’s federal states.
What makes for good projects to promote art? The independent “Austrian Business Committee for the Arts” has been dealing with this exact question since 1989. Every year, it awards the “Maecenas” prize for art sponsorship, a prize that is awarded in co-operation with ORF, the Austrian national broadcaster, in three categories, including “Austrian cultural providers for successful engagements in co-operation with the business community”.
This is the category in which the Academy of Austrian Film submitted the “Film Award on Tour” project. In 2022, the Academy and Austrian Lotteries launched their sponsorship partnership. In autumn of the same year, Lotteries Day celebrated its premiere with the “Film Prize on Tour”. As a premium partner, Austrian Lotteries makes it possible to watch excellent Austrian films free of charge on presentation of any lottery product. In 2022 and 2023, the Best Feature Film, Best Documentary Film and Best Short Film, which won the Austrian Film Award, were shown in selected cinemas in all nine federal states. Movie fans from all across the country will also have an opportunity to do so in 2024.
The “Film Prize on Tour” Lotteries Day is the realisation of a long-cherished wish of the Academy of Austrian Film: to bring the film award to Austria’s federal states and to give these award-winning Austrian films the greatest possible public attention. The jury justified its decision with the positive response that the “Film Award on Tour” had already received at its premiere in 2022 and emphasised the positive exchange between the Academy and its premium partner, Austrian Lotteries: “Projects, ideas and initiatives are negotiated together so that the sponsor is also involved in the development steps and the content of the projects.”
Erwin van Lambaart, Director General of Austrian Lotteries, was also happy about this initiative: “As a premium partner of the Academy of Austrian Film, we support Austrian filmmakers in receiving the recognition they deserve. I’m extremely pleased about the Maecenas; it’s a wonderful confirmation of the joint success story of the Film Award on Tour, which we will continue this year.”
The “Film Prize on Tour” is an important piece in the mosaic of the Lotteries Day concept. Since 2008, Austrian Lotteries has been highly successfully pursuing the goal of making important cultural institutions and leisure facilities – museums, theatres, zoos – accessible to everyone. Enabling people to participate in art and culture regardless of their financial situation is an expression of social responsibility for Austrian Lotteries.