Events and event series within the scope of Wachau 2010plus

Well-known personalities were guests of Wachau in Echtzeit (Wachau in Real Time) © photo-graphic-art
Nomaden des Seins (Nomads of Being) led to hidden places © Anna Lun

An important objective of Wachau 2010plus was to balance out the tourist season in the Wachau. To this end, a number of events were conceived and implemented that had a big impact on increasing the number of overnight stays from October to December. From the outset, joint ventures were sought with the existing festival organisers Kultur Melk GmbH (Wachau Kultur Melk GmbH since 2012) and NÖ Festival GmbH in Krems.

Wachau in Echtzeit has been organised from Melk since 2012 – an event series in which special places in the Wachau host some specially developed lectures, concerts and performances in the autumn. Ursula Strauss, who was born in Pöchlarn, knows how to use the region as a stage with great sensitivity.

A bridge between the spiritual and intellectual history of the region and modern science of the present day is formed during Lent by the Symposion Dürnstein(Dürnstein Symposium), curated by Ursula Baatz. The European Literature Days in Spitz are the fruits of a successful collaboration with Unabhängiges Literaturhaus NÖ and subsequently with Niederösterreich Kulturwirtschaft GmbH. Wachau 2010plus integrated the event into the region and provided financial support for the publication series Draußen in der Wachau (Out in the Wachau).

The series Literatur und Wandern (Literature and Hiking) was created jointly with Unabhängiges Literaturhaus and soon emerged as an independent project from the festival Literatur und Wein (Literature and Wine). The hikes, mainly on the World Heritage Trail, and lectures are based on the anthologies Welterbesteig, Donauweiber und Weinwandern (World Heritage Trail, Danube Women and Wine Hiking) published by Wachau 2010. The musical hikes Nomaden des Seins (Nomads of Being) led walkers away from the main tourist routes to vineyards, forests and meadows, where musicians of different genres made music for eight days per hike. The concept rejects any form of reproducibility and focused deliberately on the uniqueness of the mostly improvised offerings.

Existing festivals, such as Glatt & Verkehrt, Imago Dei and Kontraste, were inspired to discover the Wachau as a performance venue within the framework of Wachau 2010plus. Last but not least, Wachau 2010plus also provided stimuli for regional events such as the Spitzer Graben Festival or the fire service event Donau verbindet (Danube connects) and in cooperation with the tourist destination Donau NÖ Tourismus GmbH events such as the Osterreigen, Herbstwandern and Wachauer Advent.