With its newly launched 2014 marketing campaign “ Austria. Moments of Bliss” the Austrian Tourist Office North America shows Austria as the quintessential European travel destination in the heart of the continent.

On Wednesday, February 5, 2014, a group of 80 Pre-K kids from Lafayette Elementary School in Washington, D.C. visited the Embassy to discover and learn about Austria. Accompanied by about twenty parents and teachers the kids not only got to meet the Ambassador but also had the opportunity to virtually travel through Austria, listen and dance to Austrian pop songs and taste some delicious Austrian chocolate cake.

Between January 15 and 21, 2014, the 18th Berlin & Beyond Film Festival took place at the legendary Castro Theater and the Goethe-Institut in San Francisco. The annual festival features recent film productions from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

New Database of Austrian Space Industry and Research

Space science and research has had a long tradition in Austria. Already in 1969, the first experimental appliances were sent in space and since 1987, the year of Austria’s accession to the European Space Agency (ESA), a wide range of space technologies have been developed in the Alpine nation. Today over one hundred Austrian companies and research institutes are part of the international space sector.

Since 1982, some 40 students from the University of Innsbruck and other Austrian universities have come to The University of New Orleans for the month of February to learn about American government, history, and society through specially designed classes. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the program, which is one of cornerstones of the deacde-old transtlantic model partnership between the University of Innsbruck and the University of New Orleans.

On Sunday, December 29, 2013, the traditional concert Salute to Vienna took place at The Music Center at Strathmore in Bethesda, MD. Modeled after the original Neujahrskonzert in Austria’s capital city Vienna, Salute to Vienna takes place in many of North America’s major concert halls around New Year’s Day. For over 19 years, this simultaneously-produced concert series has delighted U.S. audiences with music from Austrian composer Johann Strauss Jr. and his contemporaries.

On February 4, 2014, the Embassy hosted an evening dedicated to Austria’s great composer Franz Schubert. Author Gloria Kaiser presented her literary biography “Franz Schubert” and discussed the life and work of the famous musical genius.

On January 29, 2014, the President of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, Dr. Christoph Leitl, held a discussion at Stanford University focusing on the prevailing innovations and entrepreneurial opportunities and challenges in Austria and how they relate to the greater  European Union. The event was organized by the Stanford University US-Asia Technology Management Center together with the European Innovation and Entrepreneurship @Stanford.