On May 16, 2014, the Center for Transatlantic Relations at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University together with the Embassy of Austria hosted an all-day event commemorating the opening of the Iron Curtain on the Austrian-Hungarian border 25 years ago. The event, which took place at the School of Advanced International Studies of John Hopkins University, featured three individual panel discussions focused on “Remembering 1989: Opening of the Iron Curtain”, “1989 in the Context of Today’s Challenges” and “The wall still to fall – for a new generation”.  

On May 21, 2014, the Embassy of Austria together with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum hosted a special screening of the HBO documentary "50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus." The film which was produced in association with the museum chronicles the efforts of Gilbert Kraus and his wife, Eleanor -  two Americans who undertook the successful rescue of 50 Jewish children from Vienna after Kristallnacht, the worst outbreak of organized violence instigated by the Nazi regime against Jews until this point.

On May 28, 2014, the Austrian Embassy celebrated the release of the book “Relationships/Beziehungsgeschichten: Austria and the United States in the Twentieth Century,” written by Guenter Bischof, Chair and Marshall Plan Professor of History at the University of New Orleans.

On May 21, 2014, Mrs. Andrea Kaufmann, the Mayor of Dornbirn, the largest town in the state of Vorarlberg, visited Drexel University in Philadelphia as head of a high-ranking delegation. Drexel University was founded in 1891 as the Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry by the banker and philanthropist Anthony Joseph Drexel (1826-1893), the son of Dornbirn-born painter and banker Franz Martin Drexel (1792-1863), who immigrated to the U.S. in 1817.

On May 30, 2014, the Botstiber Institute for Austrian-American Studies hosted a panel discussion entitled “Espionage and Intelligence in the 21st Century: How did we get here and where do we go from here? – An Austrian-American Discussion” at the Austrian Embassy. Speakers included Audrey Kurth Cronin (George Mason University), James Jay Carafano (Heritage Foundation), Timothy Naftali (New York University), Siegfried Beer (University of Graz), John Irvin (NOIR for USA), Guenter Bischof (CenterAustria, University of New Orleans).

Austria's Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister of Finance Michael Spindelegger and Governor of the National Bank of Austria Ewald Nowotny visited Washington, D.C. from April 10 - 13 to attend the 2014 Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group. During the 3-day event, thousands of government officials, journalists, civil society organizations, and invited participants from the academia and private sectors, gathered to discuss current global issues and international developments. In the framework of the spring meetings, Mr. Spindelegger and Mr. Nowotny also attended a special evening reception at the residence of Austrian Ambassador Hans Peter Manz on April 10, 2014.

On April 23, Ambassador Manz attended the groundbreaking of voestalpine's direct reduction plant in Texas, where, after about a year of preparation, Wolfgang Eder, CEO of voestalpine, broke ground for the construction. This € 550 million (approx. $ 764 million) investment is the largest foreign investment in the history of the Austrian Group.

On April 27, 2014, Austrian quantum physicist Anton Zeilinger was inducted as a Foreign Associate into the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. He is one of 21 Foreign Associates from 14 countries who were elected in April of the previous year in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Membership in the Academy is a widely accepted mark of excellence in science and is considered one of the highest honors a scientist can receive.

On April 28, 2014, former EU-Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development and current president of the European Alpbach Forum, Dr. Franz Fischler spoke at the prestigious Metropolitan Club in Washington, D.C. In his speech titled "Europe 2020 and beyond," Dr. Fischler discussed the situation of the European Union today and previewed opportunities and challenges Europe may encounter in the future.

When: May 19th, 2014
Where: Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, New York

When: May 21st, 2014
Where: Austrian Cultural Forum, New York

In the past years, exil.arte has attempted to bring composers to the public, which were ostracized, banished or killed by national socialists. exil.arte organizes staging concerts, symposiums and workshops and publishes CDs and book series. The concerts encompassed in „EXIT TO USA" are supposed to communicate the knowledge about these composers outside of Austria. Austrian Cultural Forums in Paris, New York, and Mexico City are the main co-partners for theses series of concerts. Young musicians, who work very enthusiastically on this new repertoire, will give the performances predominantly.

When: Saturday, May 10, 2014 | 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Where: Embassy of Austria | Washington, DC

On May 10, 2014 the Embassy of Austria in Washington, D.C. will open its doors to the public as part of the annual EU Embassies' Open House: a day of family fun, food, culture and more. The event offers visitors a rare look inside the embassies and provides a unique opportunity to experience the cultural heritage and national traditions of the 28 EU member states.

On April 1, 2014, the opening reception of the Red Bull Stratos: Mission to the Edge of Space exhibit took place at Smithsonian's National Air & Space Museum. On October 14, 2012, Austrian daredevil, BASE jumper and skydiver, Felix Baumgartner became the first human to successfully accelerate through the sound barrier in free fall by jumping to Earth from a helium balloon in the stratosphere.

Annemarie Moser-Pröll, the most succesful female Alpine ski racer during the 1970s, was inducted into the International Ski Racing Hall of Fame as the 2014 legend of Honor in Vail, CO during a ceremony on March 22, 2014. More than 40 of the most sucesfull ski racers were in attendance, among them Marc Girardelli and Franz Klammer. 

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Austrian Film Museum in Vienna, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City shows a major collaborative exhibit exploring the city of Vienna through the history of cinema. The exhibit, supported by the Austrian Cultural Forum New York, focuses on Austrian and German Jewish émigrés as they look back on the city they left behind, as well as on contemporary filmmakers and artists.

MoMA PS1 is currently showing works by Austrian painter Maria Lassnig. The exhibition will be on display until May 25, 2014. As the museum points out, Maria Lassnig (born 1919) is one of the most important contemporary painters and can be seen as a pioneer in many areas of art today. Emphatically refusing to make "pictures," she has long focused on ways of representing her internal world.
 

The Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico currently shows Decay and Revolution : Art in Vienna, 1890-1910. The Exhibition consists of 36 works from the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, Austria, and represents different aspects of artistic creation during one of the most vibrant periods in the history of Western art. It brings the art of the Secession movement to Puerto Rico for the first time.

On 22 February, Vienna City Councillor Andreas Mailath-Pokorny and the Austrian Consul General in New York, Georg Heindl, handed the Decoration of Honor in Gold for services to the Republic of Austria to Ms. Renée Price, director of the Neue Gallerie in New York City. The Decoration had been awarded to her by decision of the Austrian Federal President. Ms. Renée Price has served as Director of the Neue Galerie since its founding. She was instrumental in making this Museum a center of world-wide renown for Austrian and German Art.

More: http://www.neuegalerie.org 

On March 29, 2014, the Austrian painter duo Daryoush ASGAR and Elisabeth GABRIEL opened their exhibition “Armed with Fever and Good Health” at the Torrance Art Museum in Torrance, CA. All their work is characterized by a love for psychedelia and counter-culture activities and in their own words combines “conventional canvas and references to history painting with the language of mass media and advertising.” The exhibit will be shown throughout May 15th.

To salute Vienna’s unique and extraordinary musical legacy, the Carnegie Hall in New York City is currently hosting a three-week citywide festival. The event features symphonic and operatic masterpieces, chamber music and a variety of new music that is emerging from the Austrian capital. The central piece of the festival is a concert series by the renowned Vienna Philharmonic orchestra. Within the framework of the festival, the Austrian Cultural Forum New York is also hosting a series of events, including lectures, concerts and exhibits centered around Vienna.

On Friday, February 14, 2014 a group of thirteen students from the International School of the Americas in San Antonio, TX, visited the Embassy to learn about Austria’s educational system and family well-being. After a brief presentation outlining the topics, the students had the opportunity for an extensive Q+A session. Besides stopping by at the Embassy, the group also visited a couple of other institutions in Washington, D.C. as part of their research project.