The American Austrian Foundation

Each year, The AAF/Seebacher Prize for Fine Arts provides fine arts graduate students at American universities, or those who have completed their graduate studies within the past two years, fellowships to study at the International Summer Academy of Fine Arts Salzburg in Austria.

Founded in 1953 by Oskar Kokoschka, as The School of Vision, the International Summer Academy offers a unique working environment at the Hohensalzburg Fortress, situated on a hill overlooking the city. Fellows study with well-known and highly respected artists, curators, and art critics from around the world and immerse themselves in a European contemporary art scene, quite different from their U.S. academic environment.

The American Austrian Foundation has administered this program since 2000. It is funded through the generosity of AAF Board Member Gerhard Seebacher and his wife Angelika.

The AAF/Faber Young Conductors Fellowship provides promising young conductors (age 30 or younger) from the United States the opportunity to spend up to four weeks at the Salzburg Festival observing the world’s leading conductors and artists at work during rehearsals and performances.

Fellows live at Schloss Arenberg, where they are also able to interact with members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, who are in residence at Schloss Arenberg during July and August.

The Salzburg Festival (“Salzburger Festspiele”) is the benchmark for all festivals worldwide and each year unique opera and concert productions bring together the world’s finest conductors, singers, and musicians.

The American Austrian Foundation has administered this program since 1998, with support from the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, The Salzburg Music Festival, and the Young Friends of the Salzburg Music Festival. It is funded through the generosity of AAF Treasurer and Trustee Karl Heinz Faber and his wife Edith

The Salzburg Festival and the Vienna Philharmonic invite children and teenagers between the ages of 9 and 17 to apply for opera camps held at Schloss Arenberg, a 19th-century palace, during the Salzburg Music Festival.

In the inspiring atmosphere of the palace, the children create their unique version of an opera that is being performed at the Festival, by working with music educators, theatre professionals, stage designers, and dancers. Other highlights of the week include attending a dress rehearsal at the Festival as well as a backstage tour.

The final performance of the children’s production is open to the public on the last day of the camp.

The camps are organized by members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and TAKTIK and supported by the Salzburg Stiftung of the American Austrian Foundation, The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Friends of the Salzburg Music Festival.

Launched in 2001, the Milton Wolf Seminar Series addresses developing issues in diplomacy and journalism – both broadly defined. Guests include those working for state and multi-lateral organizations, journalists, representatives from media and internet companies, academics, and a select group of highly engaged graduate students whose studies relate to the seminar themes. The Milton Wolf Seminar Series particularly emphasizes the potential contribution of young and mid-career scholars, including a select group of outstanding graduate students selected each year to attend the seminar, held at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, as Emerging Scholar fellows.