Head of Communications at ERSTE Foundation, Austria
Maribel Königer is Head of Communications of ERSTE Foundation in Vienna, editor-in-chief of the foundation’s online magazine and responsible for ERSTE’s programmes supporting investigative journalism in Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe, among them Reporting Democracy.
After completing her Master degree in art history and history at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich in 1990, Maribel worked as exhibition curator, art critic, writer and journalist. Based in Paris from 1992 to 1996, she followed the French cultural life for German speaking media such as Süddeutsche Zeitung, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Focus, Vogue as well as various art magazines. In 1996, she changed sides and engaged in public relations. Her major projects: Maribel was Spokesperson of the world’s best-known exhibition for contemporary art, documenta X (1997) in Kassel, Germany, and Head of Communications of the Culture and Events Programme, the Thematic Area and the Worldwide Projects of the world’s fair EXPO 2000 in Hanover, Germany. At ERSTE Foundation, for more than 13 years, she has focused on PR and Communications on an international level fostering social innovation, democratic development und contemporary culture in Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe. Her last professional achievement: In 2019, ERSTE Foundation’s short film “Welcome to Vienna, May 2020”, a moving story and cordial invitation to the “31st Annual General Assembly and Conference 2020” of the European Foundation Centre (efc) in Vienna, featuring multimedia artist André Heller and Kenan Al Baredi from Syria, won a Cannes Corporate TV and Media Award.
Maribel is member of the European Association of Communication Directors (EACD), International Women’s Forum (IWF Austria), the Austrian Journalists Club (ÖJC) and the International Association of Art Critics (AICA), where she served as president of the Austrian section from 2005 to 2008. She is member of the steering committee of Communication Professionals in Philanthropy, a peer-exchange group of the efc.
