Canton continues to support Obwald
The Government Council of the Canton of Obwalden has decided to financially support the Obwald Folk Culture Festival for a further three years. The supporting association will receive an annual contribution of CHF 70,000 from 2018 to 2020.
The Obwald Folk Culture Festival was held for the first time in 2006. The twelfth edition took place last year at the Gsang forest clearing in Giswil. The cantonal government has supported and promoted the festival from the very beginning. According to the canton, it is one of the cultural flagships of Obwalden's cultural life and is also recognized in the metropolitan areas of Zurich and Basel.
With regard to the past funding period, the government notes that the organizing association has succeeded in "maintaining the high artistic standard". The program director, Martin Hess, set new accents in terms of content in a gentle manner without shaking up the well-functioning basic concept too much.
The Obwalden cantonal government is supporting the Obwald Folk Culture Festival with a total of CHF 210,000 in the 2018-2020 funding period. CHF 70,000 is paid out per festival and year, which corresponds to the status quo of cantonal funding. The support contributions are financed from Swisslos funds.
In the view of the Obwalden government, the assurance of cantonal funds in three-year contribution periods has proven its worth. It provides the organizers with medium-term planning security, which will be particularly important in the upcoming transition phase. The board of the sponsoring association already informed the public in November 2016 about its plans to gradually place the artistic and technical management in new hands by 2020 at the latest.
