In the 1980s, the relationship between the University of New Orleans and the University of Innsbruck started to flourish: Faculty exchange and different student programs linked the two universities in two very different parts of the world: New Orleans, the city on sea level, in the United States’ Deep South; and Innsbruck, high up in the mountains, in Europe’s very center. Soon, the UNO’s Center Austria became the strategic heart for organizing the different activities – like the Austrian Students program, which for so many years brought students from the University of Innsbruck and other Austrian universities for an intensive academic program for some winter weeks to the shores of the Mississippi.

I remember the dynamic activities of Werner Feld, who was instrumental for establishing the faculty exchange program; Gordon “Nick” Mueller, UNO’s representative in all matters which concerned the New Orleans – Innsbruck relationship; and Guenther Bischof, Nick’s successor at the top of the Center Austria. I just can express my hope that the very specific friendship between the two universities and the Center Austria will be as active for the next generation of scholars and students as it has been for the last twenty years.

Anton Pelinka
Professor of Political Science
Central European University, Budapest

One of the most prestigious study programs offered by the Universität Innsbruck (UIBK) has benefitted from day one of the establishment of the Center Austria at the University of New Orleans. Every year five carefully selected students from UIBK have the chance to spend their compulsory year abroad at UNO.

This study period aims at complementing their international business education and fostering their cultural understanding by plunging them into the American way of life. Center Austria has always been of great help and assistance during all issues that might arise in such a transatlantic endeavor. I want to compliment you on your excellent and fruitful work. Congratulations – hora sit optima vobis !

Elke Kitzelmann
Associate Dean of Study International Economic & Business Studies
Innsbruck University School of Management

The City of Innsbruck - UNO FINE Arts Exchange

A city in the heart of Europe, in the middle of the Alps, directly on the river Inn and a city of the Southeast coast at the Gulf of Mexico, between the Mississippi in the South and Lake Pontchertrain in the North: those who think that Innsbruck and New Orleans could not be more different, are mistaken. If one looks closer, one can see many connections and joint interests.

Above all, the cities are united through a Sister City Agreement which was signed in 1995 and which flourishes today. In 1999 the Andechsgalerie of the City of Innsbruck and the Fine Arts Gallery at the University of New Orleans inaugurated its first art exchange. This presents an opportunity for the artists to present their works in a completely different environment and to gain experiences on an international level.

Christine Oppitz-Plörer
Mayor of the City of Innsbruck

Sending works of art and artists in both directions, across the Atlantic and the Alps, was a task laden with myriad unanticipated obstacles, all of which were somehow overcome through the generosity and shared ambition of the many people involved in the first few years of the project.

The City of Innsbruck, represented by the late mayor Hilde Zach and Horst Burman, a gregarious and warm individual who was serving as the Director of the Cultural Office of Innsbruck, fully embraced the idea, offering both encouragement and resources. Emerging artists from Austria were selected to show at the UNO Gallery in New Orleans, supported by exhibition catalogs, shipping, and travel expenses and in return recent UNO graduates exhibited in the Innsbruck Andechs Gallery during the Summer School Program. It was the ever present support of the faculty and staff in Center Austria and the Department of Fine Arts at UNO that made it possible for the program to continue through the years.

Each year recent graduates from the MFA program in the Department of Fine Arts were selected to represent the burgeoning New Orleans art community, and were offered a brief artist residency in Innsbruck. At Center Austria, Günter Bischof, Gertraud Grießner, and countless others supported and nurtured the program.

Doyle Gertjejansen
Professor Emeritus
Department of Fine Arts

Kathy Rodriguez
Director
UNO St. Claude Gallery