WHAT’S NEW!? #12 - VILLACH IN MARCH 2022

The welcome2villach team collects the most important news from around Villach in a compact, monthly “News Story”, with links to more information. In March the “Max Palais” is continuing to grow, the deadline for the “My Idea, My Shop” (“Meine Idee - Mein Shop”) funding competition is getting close, and International Women’s Day ensures that campaigns around equality of the sexes and women’s politics are receiving more visibility.

• New entrance to downtown: The “Max-Palais” real estate project in the neighborhood around Villach’s main train station is growing quickly and the €50 million construction site is right on schedule. More than 100 apartments, a hotel, a medical center, a preschool, and around 10,000 m² of retail space will enrich the neighborhood once it’s completed in the coming year.
   
• The final days to enter the “My Idea, My Shop” (“Meine Idee - Mein Shop”) downtown funding competition: Entrepreneurs who want to open a new business can enter to win a €3,000 award and a six month rent subsidy until March 31st. As part of the cooperation between the City of Villach and the Carinthian Economic Development Fund, the winner will also be supported through their start-up process by the know-how of Villach’s professional business high school, the Handelsakademie. 
   
• A record bonus is celebrating a birthday: Stadtmarketing Villach has been offering a unique customer loyalty program for 15 years with the City Bonus initiative. Over the years, around 19,000 users have collected more than 71 million points by shopping downtown, and have ultimately exchanged them for 120,000 hours of parking and Villach gift certificates worth €450,000.

• Survey about Villach’s housing market has begun: In order to better plan and develop in the future, the City of Villach would like to know how happy residents are with the city’s current housing situation. An online survey around this topic was developed in cooperation with the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, and you can take part through March 15th at www.villach.at/wohnumfrage.
   
• Beginning in March, Villach’s city gardeners will again ensure that the city is colorful: Spring is around the corner and preparations for the flower season are in full swing for Villach’s “Stadtgrün” city gardeners. 30,000 violas and 57,000 spring bulbs, like daffodils and tulips, are already in the polytunnels, waiting to be planted out in the many flower beds around the city. 
   
• A strong offering for all women: Villach’s Office for Women has put its new and diverse annual program in its shop window, just in time for International Women’s Day on March 8th. The City of Villach made a clear statement for the equality of the sexes and women’s politics by founding this organization in 1993. In addition to projects, partnerships, and an exemplary subsidy policy, the Office for Women above all provides confidential consultations and important help on a wide variety of topics.
  
  The most important contact information at a glance:
   
  • Office for Women - Villach, +43 4242 205 3113, frauen@villach.at, www.villach.at/stadt-erleben/villach-fuer-frauen/anlaufstelle-fuer-frauen 
  • Counseling for Women - Villach, +43 4242 24609, info@frauenberatung-villach.at, www.frauenberatung-villach.at 
  • Women’s Shelter - Villach, +43 4242 31031, office@frauenhaus-villach.at, www.frauenhaus-villach.at 
  • EqualiZ – Villach office - Career Center for Girls (MädchenBerufsZentrum - MBZ), +43 463 508821, office@equaliz.at, www.equaliz.at/villach 
     
• March promises a diverse cultural program: With Alois Koechl’s Parcours 4.0, Galerie Freihausgasse promises a new perspective on the obstacles in art and on possibilities for an exhibition in the public gallery space. The sound ensemble Flautando Köln invites you to “Women in Music from the Middle Ages to the Present” at the Congress Center Villach (March 4th) and violin virtuoso Alessandro Quarta (March 15th) will tell sensually provocative tango stories. Beginning March 18th, Dinzelschloss Gallery is showing the art of Hertha Ortoff and Margret Picker in its exhibition “Schichtarbeit”. And in Kulturhof:Villach there will be several concerts: INSOMNIA BRASS BAND (March 10th) and CANADA DAY (March 16th), among others.