For 35 years, the Minorities Tyrol Initiative has stood for the visualisation, mutual strengthening and empowerment of minorities. As a platform for exchange, culture and socio-political dialogue, it is committed to respectful and diverse coexistence.
Together with companions, friends and interested parties, the initiative is celebrating its anniversary this year - a special part of the celebrations is the intervention/travelling exhibition "What we demand! Minority movements in Austria", which will be on display in the cloister of the Tyrolean Folk Art Museum for three weeks.
At the centre of the intervention "What we demand! Minority movements in Austria" focuses on the history and central demands of various minorities in Austria. Authors from the various minority groups - mostly activists - take a focussed look at their history and present their key minority political demands in the past, present and future. Different activist as well as legal or parliamentary forms of protest prove to be inextricably linked to the history of minority political demands. The intervention makes visible the efforts, perseverance and alliances that were necessary to stand up against discrimination and for equal rights. The historical struggles for bilingual place name signs and schools in Carinthia and Burgenland, the recognition of Roma and Sinti as an Austrian ethnic group are just as much examples of strategies and political struggles as the abolition of Section 209 of the Austrian Penal Code (which criminalised homosexuality) or the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The Minorities Initiative initiated this intervention in order to visualise the diversity of minority movements and the significance of their demands for society as a whole.
The highlight of the Minorities Initiative Tirol's anniversary is the 35th anniversary celebration on Friday, 29 May 2026, in the cloister of the Tyrolean Folk Art Museum.
From 6pm to 10pm, there will be lectures, literary contributions, music, personal retrospectives and plenty of space for exchange and networking.
