Austrian Urania for Styria

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Austrian Urania for Styria
purpose Adult education
Chair: Josef Smolle
Executive Director: Wolfgang Moser
Establishment date: 1919
Number of members: approx. 8000
Number of employees: 14th
Seat : Graz
Website: www.urania.at
Urania is based in Palais Trauttmansdorff , Burggasse 4, Graz

The Austrian Urania for Styria is an adult education institution based in Graz and in close contact with Styrian universities, museums and cultural institutions.

As a non-partisan and non-profit association, it is a member of the Association of Austrian Adult Education Centers and the Styrian Education Network. In her educational work, which includes lectures and symposiums, seminars, educational trips, language courses and courses on the subjects of IT, instrumental and singing lessons, art, sport and movement, she feels a humanistic view of man, the values ​​of democracy and enlightenment , gender equality and Committed to respect for different social systems, cultures and religions.

history

The "Grazer Urania" was founded in a constituent meeting on February 14, 1919 and in a founding meeting one month later as a politically independent and non-profit association under the patronage of the Styrian Governor Anton Rintelen ( Christian Social Party ) and the Graz Mayor Vinzenz Muchitsch ( SDAP ) founded. The founding committee included the champagne manufacturer Emil Kieslinger (1882-1970), the state school inspector and university professor of physics Karl Rosenberg (1861-1936) and the social democratic journalist and politician Anton Afritsch (1873-1924). The Urania contributed to the "dissemination of scientific knowledge and general education" (statutes of 1919, § 1). The focus was on cultural work (concerts and films) and lectures. In the interwar period , the Urania had between 7,000 and 12,000 members.

The Urania idea was born in Berlin as a result of the Enlightenment. Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), who was convinced that scientific knowledge made people more sensible and allowed them to act more rationally, held public “Kosmos Lectures” in 1827 and 1828. Decades later, Wilhelm Julius Foerster , the director of the Berlin observatory , together with the astronomer Max Wilhelm Meyer and the entrepreneur Werner von Siemens founded the company " Urania " in Berlin in 1888 as an institution that was supposed to serve the scientific education of the general public. As a result, many Urania institutions were established in Germany, Switzerland and Austria-Hungary (e.g. in Vienna and Budapest in 1897 , in Zurich in 1907 ).

In 1938, the Urania in Graz was dissolved by the National Socialists . After the Second World War , a new establishment took place in 1947 under the name “Austrian Urania for Styria” - hereinafter referred to as Urania for short. It has set itself the task of disseminating further training in a general and comprehensive form in Graz and Styria. It conducts adult education, preferably in connection with university institutions, museums and cultural institutions. Important cultural and educational innovations of the post-war years, e.g. B. the youth (later Jeunesse) concerts, the Forum Stadtpark , the Trigon exhibitions, the Graz Declaration of Adult Education or the Hammer-Purgstall- Renaissance go back to initiatives in which Urania was significantly involved. It has set itself the task of disseminating further training in a general and comprehensive form in Graz and Styria, "with the aim of shaping the human personality in its entirety and unity" (§ 2 of the statutes of 2019).

Management and organization

Urania is a registered association (ZVR 134609890) and is therefore subject to the legal basis of the Association Act and currently has around 8,000 members. The management is incumbent on a ten-member board under the president Josef Smolle and the vice-presidents Hans Sünkel and Arnold Hanslmeier (since 2017). The honorary board of directors is supported in content-related and adult education issues by an advisory board with over 40 advisory boards - personalities from politics, business, science and culture. The Urania team consists of a managing director and twelve other employees. The branch in Knittelfeld is looked after by a part-time employee, the branch in Weiz on a voluntary basis.

Directors since 1947:

Presidents since 1947:

literature

  • Caesar Walter Ernst, Markus Jaroschka (ed.): The future begins in the head . Festschrift 75 years of URANIA. Leykam, Graz 1994, ISBN 3-7011-7292-7 .
  • Hannes Galter et al. (Ed.): The Urania in Graz - 100 years of education and culture. Leykam, Graz 2019, ISBN 978-3-7011-8110-0 . (A Urania story by Hannes Galter with contributions by Gerhard Bisovsky, Rudolf Egger, Wilhelm Filla, Markus Jaroschka and Karl Kalcsics.)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mission statement. Austrian Urania for Styria, accessed October 30, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Hannes Galter: The Graz Urania (1919–1938) . In: Hannes Galter et al. (Ed.): The Urania in Graz - 100 years of education and culture . Leykam, Graz 2019, ISBN 978-3-7011-8110-0 , pp. 65 ff .
  3. ↑ Hannes Galter: The Graz Urania (1919–1938) . In: Hannes Galter et al. (Ed.): The Urania in Graz - 100 years of education and culture . Leykam, Graz 2019, ISBN 978-3-7011-8110-0 , pp. 71 .
  4. ^ Wilhelm Filla: From the "Kosmos Lectures" to the international Urania movement . In: Hannes Galter et al. (Ed.): The Urania in Graz - 100 years of education and culture . Leykam, Graz 2019, ISBN 978-3-7011-8110-0 , pp. 9-57 .
  5. ↑ Hannes Galter: The Austrian Urania for Styria in the years 1947 to 1971 . In: Hannes Galter et al. (Ed.): The Urania in Graz - 100 years of education and culture . Leykam, Graz 2019, p. 181 f .
  6. ^ Neue Galerie Graz: Dreiländer-Biennale trigon. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Austrian Urania for Styria (Ed.): Urania: September - December 2019 . Trimester program. Graz, S. 1 ( urania.at [PDF]).
  8. ↑ Our statutes. In: Austrian Urania for Styria. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Branch offices. Austrian Urania for Styria, accessed October 30, 2019 .