Austrian Art Alumni Award 2026
In order to ensure that Austria maintains its position in the world of art and culture, selected outstanding graduates of arts universities are supported in the early stages of their artistic careers. To this end, the public arts universities, in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research, have launched the A4 – Austrian Art Alumni Award programme: each year, six graduates of Austrian arts universities are awarded a grant in recognition of their outstanding academic achievements.
Graduates of the Mozarteum are encouraged to apply for this grant. To be eligible, the applicant must have graduated from a diploma or master’s programme with distinction (mit ausgezeichnetem Erfolg) within the last 18 months from one of Austria’s six publicly funded arts universities:
- Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien
- Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien
- Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien
- Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Graz
- Universität Mozarteum Salzburg
- Kunstuniversität Linz
The successful applicants will each be awarded €2,000 per month for a period of 12 months (total funding amount EUR 24,000 per person). Payment is made quarterly by the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Submissions, including all required documents, can only be made via the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna's submission system. Unfortunately, late or incomplete applications cannot be considered. Email enquiries are possible up to 1 week before the deadline.
Application window: 26th January - 24th March 2026, 11:00am
Details & Application: https://calls.akbild.ac.at/calls/AAAA26/
Graduates of the Mozarteum University should be aware of the following: Whether you graduated with distinction or not (mit ausgezeichnetem Erfolg) is not written on your degree certificate. You can calculate it yourself as follows:
- In the case of a diploma, distinction (ausgezeichneter Erfolg) is calculated on the basis of all grades in your certificate.
- In the case of master's degrees, the grades of the internal and external examinations in your principal study are taken as the basis of calculation.
- None of the grades in question can be below "gut" (2).
- At least half of the grades in questions must be "sehr gut" (1).
Those wishing to apply for the grant who fulfil the necessary criteria can obtain documentation of their outstanding academic achievements under studienabteilung@moz.ac.at.
Interested parties are invited to attend an online meeting about the application process at 11.00am on 6th March 2026. The Zoom-link will be provided shortly before the event on this website: https://www.akbild.ac.at/de/veranstaltungen.