Krems Culture Stacks

Krems Culture Stacks are short, credit-bearing university courses in arts and cultural studies. Each Stack combines two accredited 3-credit courses into a self-contained 6-credit unit, with an optional third component taking it to 9. All content is drawn from courses already taught at the University for Continuing Education Krems — no degree, and no prior study, is required to take part.

6 or 9 ECTS credits per Stack · two accredited university courses per Stack · no degree and no prior study required · three participation tiers: Observer, Participant, Crediting · English and German · Campus Krems, online or hybrid

Each Stack belongs to one of four categories — not by subject field, but by the kind of academic engagement it offers and the kind of participant it is built for.

For the curious lifelong learners: 

Expanding Horizons
For curious minds with no career agenda. These Stacks are built around questions worth taking seriously — about culture, place, memory, image, and story. No prior academic background required.
→ Browse Expanding Horizons Stacks

For the deep divers:

Research in Praxis
For the deep divers: RESEARCH IN PRAXIS — Where active research meets public engagement. These Stacks are led by researchers whose current work is the content — offering direct access to knowledge being made, not just knowledge already settled.
→ Browse Research in Praxis Stacks

For those who want the cutting edge:

Innovate & Experiment
Emerging topics taught in formats that fit the content. These Stacks bring future-facing questions into the room — about technology, culture, media, and the shifting boundaries between them.
→ Browse Innovate & Experiment Stacks

For the career builders:

Upskill & Advnance
For professionals whose field has moved on. These Stacks deepen existing expertise at academic level — without requiring a full degree commitment. Credits earned here are the most likely to carry forward into existing Certificate Programs and Master's degrees.
→ Browse Upskill & Advance Stacks

► OPEN (now enrolling)

Knowledge Transfer and Storytelling
Upskill & Advance · 6 credits · Hybrid · English or German
How do you make research matter to people outside it? This Stack centers on storytelling for people working in culture and science. Learn from practioners in the field and develop real-world skills to bring important content to your chosen audience. Relevant professionals working in museums, research communication, or creative sectors who want to develop stronger narrative and communication strategies.

Image Forensics Lab
Innovate & Experiment · 6-9 credits · Online — synchronous sessions + async work · English
How do you know whether an image is real? This Stack draws on current research in image analysis, media studies, and visual culture to develop practical and theoretical tools for reading images critically. Relevant to professionals from journalism, law, communications, cultural heritage, and digital media, as well as arts and cultural studies specialists.

Photographic Thinking Lab
Innovate & Experiment · 6-9 credits · Online — synchronous sessions + async work · English
How does photography construct the world around it? This Stack covers analysis of photographic images and systems as arguments, not just as pictures. Relevant to photographers, curators, archivists, journalists, researchers and educators who work with images and want a rigorous account of how photographic meaning is produced.

Audience Orientation
Research in Praxis · 6 credits · Hybrid · English or German
How do you design to put audience at the center? Build key skills to understand audiences, measure impact, and design engaging interpretive experiences in cultural and scientific contexts. Relevant to professionals working in museums, research communication, or creative fields who want to better understand and engage audiences.

Research Methods in Arts & Cultural Studies
Research in Praxis · 6 credits · Online or Hybrid · English

→ Send me information how to enroll in Open Stacks

► UPCOMING

Media Convergence & Neurodiversity
Upskill & Advance · 6 credits · Hybrid · Summer Semester 2027· German / English

Lebenskünstler_innen
Expanding Horizons · 6 credits · On-site, Wachau region · German / English
Artists have always combined life and art. What does it look like when an artist’s life is their art?

Write Your (True) Story
Expanding Horizons · 6 credits · On-site, Campus Krems + Wachau · English
What makes a story true? A weekend or three-Saturday Stack exploring storytelling traditions from Aboriginal narrative to AI — and into your own writing.

Cultural Economy: Project Creation
Upskill & Advance · 6 credits · Hybrid — intensive block + online work sessions · German / English
You work in culture. You have ideas worth funding. What you need is the project management vocabulary, the budget structure, and the feasibility framework to make them legible to the people who give grants, commission work, or approve institutional budgets. This Stack combines academic grounding in cultural economics with applied project development — participants leave with a real draft proposal and faculty feedback on its quality and feasibility. Relevant to cultural managers, curators, festival organisers, heritage professionals, and independent practitioners across the arts sector.

→ Notify me when enrolment opens for upcoming stacks

► EXPLORING

Curating Joe Zawinul
Research in Praxis · 6 credits · Intensive Weekend Block · On-site, Campus Krems + AGZ Archive · English / German
Josef "Joe" Zawinul (Viennese-born, globally influential)  left behind a collection held in the Archive of Contemporary Arts in Krems. This Stack enters that archive directly: working with the collection, exploring what curation means when the subject stands at the intersection of jazz, electronics, and cultural identity. For musicians, archivists, music historians, and anyone drawn to the question of how a life becomes a collection.

Wachau Light & Dark
Expanding Horizons · 6 credits · On-site, Wachau region · German / English

AI and the Cultural Imagination
Innovate & Experiment · 6 credits · Online or Hybrid · English

Digital Archiving for Cultural Institutions
Upskill & Advance · 6 credits · Online or Hybrid · German / English

→ Register interest in Explorative Stacks

• Each Stack is built from two accredited 3-credit courses — typically a content course and a practice-based Arts & Culture Lab — giving a total of 6 credits per Stack

• Some Stacks include an optional self-directed praxis component (project, independent study, research paper, internship) bringing the total to 9 credits for participants who desire expert feedback and choose to work toward a graded outcome

• Choose a level: Observer (attend the content courses), Participant (engage with the full Stack including lab and workshop sessions), or Crediting (earn formally assessed, portable academic credits)

• Credits earned at the Crediting tier are recognised under the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) and documented on a formal university certificate issued by UWK

• Stacks are part of the UWK Stackable Program framework — credits earned can be presented toward future Certificate Programs, Academic Expert Programs, or Master's degrees at UWK and beyond, subject to program requirements

Krems Culture Stacks are available at three levels. The tier you choose determines your access, what you receive at the end and the price - but not the quality of the experience.

Observer — €280 for a 6-credit Stack.
Attend the content sessions and receive an attendance statement.

Participant — €580.
Full engagement including lab and workshop sessions, with a statement of active participation.

Crediting — €980.
Assessed work, individual feedback from faculty, and a certificate recording your learning outcomes and grade.

For 3-credit Stacks the fees are €140, €280 and €480. For 9-credit Stacks they are €440, €880 and €1,440. Full details are on each Stack page.