WHAT’S NEW!? #11 - VILLACH IN FEBRUARY 2022

The welcome2villach team collects the most important news from around Villach in a compact, monthly “News Story”, with links to more information. In February several of the City of Villach’s construction plans are becoming more concrete, childcare facilities are being expanded, and a new digital service for residents is being introduced.
 

• Coming soon: In Villach there will soon be a new neighborhood. The City is working together with the ÖBB on an innovative affordable housing project:  170 subsidized apartments will be built on 2.5 hectares near Villach’s West Train Station. As soon as the last remaining planning issues have been taken care of and finalized, the first preparatory work can be started.
   
• The Weekly Market, new: Through the purchase of the former Hotel Kasino and the neighboring building on Kaiser-Josef-Platz, the City of Villach’s plans to enlarge and move the city’s weekly market from the Draulände are finally taking form. They are currently looking for a partner to build the newly planned indoor market hall, which will be open several days a week. 
   
• Childcare options and schools continue to be expanded: Families and their needs are the highest priority for the City of Villach, and places for more than 170 additional children will be created as part of the city’s preschool campaign (Kindergartenoffensive). In addition to the expansion of current offerings, an additional preschool in the Technology Park with a “Mini Education Lab” is planned to be completed at the end of 2023. After the renovation of the Volksschule Landskron, the city is aiming to completely refurbish the Richard-Wagner-Schule and turn it into a modern educational institution for preschoolers and primary school children. An EU-wide architectural competition is already underway.

• Villach introduces a new digital service: You can now conveniently receive official government communications by email with the “electronic mailbox”. In this way, time and money can be saved and hassle can be avoided. In order to take advantage of this new service, you simply have to register with the Austrian postal service - all you need for this is an email address and the official digital ID known as the Handy-Signatur.
   
• “Matilde” provides information about migration in Villach: The EU Research project “Matilde”, which has been running for two years, has to do with the impacts of migration and the questions of how integration can be improved and how local development can be supported.
   
• It’s application submission time! February 28th is the submission deadline for Villach’s Literary Scholarship “Literatur:im:süden”, which helps support Austrian authors. In addition to the two scholarships, an additional special prize for Villach residents will be awarded again this year.
   
• This month you are invited to enjoy musical highlights at Kulturhof:Villach: PauT & The greaT kellys’ welTraumkaTzenTour will take place on February 18th, and the international AVA Trio will impress you with great jazz sounds on February 22nd. Beginning in the middle of the month, art lovers can discover “Parcour 4.0”, Alois Koechl’s amazing new exhibition at Galerie Freihausgasse: a soft opening will take place on February 18th.