What Donaufestival does

Donaufestival is an annual contemporary arts festival held over two spring weekends (six days) in Krems an der Donau, Lower Austria, presenting approximately 80 international artistic positions across music, performance art, film, and discourse, with up to 20 events per day across multiple venues including Klangraum Krems Minoritenkirche, the Messegelände exhibition grounds, Kino im Kesselhaus, and partner venues such as Kunsthalle Krems. The festival is operated by NÖ Festival und Kino GmbH, a private limited company that is 95% owned by NÖ Kulturwirtschaft GesmbH (NÖKU), a publicly-funded cultural conglomerate managing nearly 40 art and scientific institutions in Lower Austria. Its digital presence runs on a Django framework with a Block-Editor CMS implemented by MIR MEDIA digital agency, with no proprietary AI/ML components.

The festival's business model combines ticket sales — day passes at €50 (Friday/Saturday) and €39 (Sunday) at the box office, with a 10% discount for advance purchase, plus youth, student, senior, disability, Kulturpass, and €10 solidarity tiers — with corporate sponsorship (EVN, Raiffeisen, Hypo Noe, Vienna Airport, Gasteiner, NV), public subsidies from NÖ Kulturland Niederösterreich, Stadt Krems, and the Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport, and ancillary merchandise and ticket-voucher sales. GTM is event-driven and concentrated in a single city: owned channels (website, email newsletter, social media on YouTube, Vimeo, Spotify, SoundCloud, plus a Telegram channel for in-festival updates) sit alongside earned media through press and media partnerships with FM4, OE1, and DER STANDARD. The festival is staffed by a small team of 1–10 employees led by Managing Directors Klaus Moser and Stefan Mitterer, with Artistic Director Thomas Edlinger (since 2017) shaping the cross-genre programme.

The product surface is narrow but deliberate: the annual festival itself is the core product, supplemented by artist programming, ticketing, newsletter subscription, and a Krems–Vienna shuttle bus service, with a bundled free-admission benefit into the Kunstmeile Krems exhibitions. Since the 2005 repositioning under Tomas Zierhofer-Kin, the festival has positioned itself as an "exceptional festival format in the European festival landscape," and the 2026 edition carries the theme "Mad Hope" with the 2027 edition already dated 16–18 April and 23–25 April.

Name

Donaufestival

Legal name

NÖ Festival und Kino GmbH

Website

https://donaufestival.at

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Donaufestival is an annual contemporary arts festival in Krems an der Donau, Austria, presenting roughly 80 international music, performance, film, and discourse positions over two spring weekends, operated by NÖ Festival und Kino GmbH and funded through ticket sales, corporate sponsors, and public cultural subsidies.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cultural Festival / Contemporary Performing Arts

NAICS

Promoters of Performing Arts, Sports, and Similar Events with Facilities (711310), Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (71)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Concerts & Music Festivals (THAJAFAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Dance Performances (THAJAFAD)

Keywords

• Contemporary arts festival
• Music performance art
• Cultural event programming
• International artist curation
• Live performance festival

Headquarters

HQ city

Krems An Der Donau

HQ country

Austria

HQ region

Europe

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Ticket Sales: Day passes, weekend packages, and discounted price packages with freely combinable festival days sold through online webshop and physical ticket offices.
2. Festival Sponsorship: Sponsorships from corporate partners including EVN, Raiffeisen, Hypo Noe, Vienna Airport, Gasteiner, and others. Media partnerships with FM4, OE1, DER STANDARD.
3. Merchandising: Festival merchandise including vouchers sold in various denominations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Donaufestival is an annual cross-genre contemporary arts festival held over two spring weekends in Krems an der Donau, Austria, presenting approximately 80 international artistic positions across music, performance, visual art, film, and discourse at up to 20 events per day. The core offering is multi-venue live event programming combined with ticket sales (day passes and weekend packages) and ancillary services including a Krems-to-Vienna shuttle bus and free admission to Kunstmeile Krems exhibitions for ticket holders.

Product overview

Donaufestival is a single annual cultural festival event held in Krems, Austria, offering a unified program of music, performance, art, film, and discourse across two spring weekends. The product portfolio centers on the core festival event itself, supported by ancillary services including ticket sales (with various discount categories and solidarity tickets), newsletter subscription, and shuttle bus transfers between Krems and Vienna. The festival operates multiple venues including Klangraum Krems Minoritenkirche and the exhibition grounds, with free admission to Kunstmeile Krems art venues included with festival tickets.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Donaufestival Annual cross-genre contemporary arts festival held over two spring weekends in Krems an der Donau, Austria, presenting approximately 80 international artistic positions across music, performance, art, film, and discourse at up to 20 events per day across multiple venues. Festival ticket includes free one-time admission to Kunstmeile Krems exhibitions.
• Festival Bus Transfer Service Shuttle bus transfer service running from Krems to Vienna on all festival days, providing visitor transportation between the festival site in Krems and the Vienna metropolitan area.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

16 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Kunstmeile KremscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with Kunstmeile Krems art venues (Kunsthalle Krems, Landesgalerie NÖ, Forum Frohner, Karikaturmuseum Krems). Festival tickets include free admission to exhibitions. Ligia Lewis installation at Kunsthalle Krems in 2026.
• Klangraum Krems MinoritenkirchecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMain festival venue for concerts in the afternoon until early evening. Historic church converted to concert space.
• Forum FrohnerminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFestival partner venue in Krems.
• Kino im KesselhausminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFestival partner venue for film screenings.
• Kunstraum NiederösterreichminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFestival partner venue.
• FM4 (ORF)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerMedia partner - Austrian public radio station.
• OE1 (ORF)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerMedia partner - Austrian cultural radio station.
• DER STANDARDminorGTM or Marketing PartnerMedia partner - Austrian newspaper providing 10% discount to subscribers.
• RaiffeisenminorGTM or Marketing PartnerMain sponsor and partner - Austrian banking group. Provides discount to account holders.
• EVNminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSponsor - Austrian energy company.
• Hypo NoeminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSponsor - Lower Austrian bank. Provides discount to customers.
• NÖ Kulturland NiederösterreichminorGTM or Marketing PartnerFunder - Cultural funding organization of Lower Austria.
• Stadt KremsminorGTM or Marketing PartnerFunder - Municipality of Krems.
• Bundesministerium für Kunst, Kultur, öffentlichen Dienst und SportminorGTM or Marketing PartnerFunder - Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport.
• Birngruber (Mobility Partner)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerMobility partner for the festival.
• NÖ Kulturwirtschaft GesmbH (NÖKU)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerParent company of NÖ Festival und Kino GmbH. Part of the NÖKU Group of nearly 40 art and scientific institutions in Lower Austria.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival: Long-running UK festival dedicated to contemporary and experimental new music, presenting international artists in a regional UK city. Comparable model of curating ~80 international contemporary music positions with public-funder support.
• MUTEK: International festival dedicated to digital arts and electronic music with editions across multiple cities. Comparable in curating international experimental/electronic artists, music+art integration and thematic yearly programming.
• Holland Festival: Major annual international performing arts festival in Amsterdam spanning music, theatre, dance, opera and visual art. Comparable multi-venue format, public-funder backing, and cross-genre contemporary programming scope.
• Berliner Festspiele: Berlin-based umbrella presenting multiple festivals and series across contemporary music, performance and visual art. Comparable public-funded institutional structure and breadth of contemporary arts programming across venues.
• Wien Modern: Vienna-based annual contemporary music festival featuring international orchestral, chamber and experimental programming. Closest Austrian analogue to donaufestival given comparable scale, contemporary-classical/experimental focus and Austrian public-funder ownership model.
• CTM Festival: Berlin-based annual festival for adventurous music and art, combining club culture, experimental performance, discourse and film. Closely aligned with donaufestival's cross-genre experimental music and performance art programming.
• Unsound: Annual experimental music festival in Kraków, Poland presenting international artists across electronic, noise, contemporary and improvised music with strong discourse component. Comparable curatorial approach and contemporary experimental music focus.
• Ars Electronica: Annual festival for art, technology and society in Linz, Austria presenting international artists working at the intersection of media, music and digital culture. Comparable in scale, Austrian location, public-funder support, and cross-genre contemporary curation.
• steirischer herbst: Annual contemporary arts festival in Graz, Austria combining performance, visual art, music and discourse. Highly comparable as a regional Austrian multi-disciplinary contemporary festival with cross-genre programming similar to donaufestival.
• Transmediale: Berlin annual festival and conference for art and digital culture combining experimental music, performance, exhibitions and discourse. Comparable thematic, cross-genre programming with discourse formats similar to donaufestival.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/donaufestival
• Facebookfacebook.com/donaufestival
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/donaufestival

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Donaufestival