Dr. Helga Schwarzwald
office@freier-rundfunk.at
Helga Schwarzwald studied law in Salzburg. In her dissertation on pornography and criminal law she centred on a specific branch of media. She began her professional career as a co-director of the Women’s Counselling Service in Salzburg and as a feminist-informed legal advisor. She encountered practices of art and cultural initiatives on a detour via Amsterdam, before settling in Vienna in 2002.
Helga Schwarzwald has been active in shaping the development of community media since 2003. She was managing director of Radio Orange 94.0 in Vienna between 2004 to 2011, during which time she played a leading role in the conception and realisation of numerous international media, art and educational projects. As a former board member of the Association of Austrian Community Broadcasters and IG Kultur Österreich, Helga Schwarzwald has enthusiastically brought her extensive experience in advocacy to the service of Community Media and the right to freedom of expression and information as Managing Director of the Austrian Association of Community Broadcasters since 2014.
Since 2008 she has also deepened her engagement with contemporary art, as an artist and as a curator.
Mag.a Vera Wolf, BA
office@freier-rundfunk.at
Vera Wolf studied law and political sciences in Innsbruck and Paris. During her studies, she volunteers as legal advisor at an Austrian Refugee Agency. Moreover, she gives workshops for students in political education as well as on the topics flight, migration and integration. After her studies, she works in the context of international organisations, including as an advisor for humanitarian affairs and sustainable development at the Permanent Mission of Austria to the UN in New York. At the organisation for Victim Support, she takes over the respective agendas as a legal expert and deals in particular with the Austrian Anti-Hate Speech Law.
She joined the the Austrian Association of Community Broadcasters in April 2021 to support managing director Helga Schwarzwald in the advocacy work for Austrian Community Media as an assistant. She is furthermore pursuing a Master's degree in Sociology in Vienna. From October 2022 to September 2023, she represents Helga Schwarzwald as managing director during her sabbatical. She has been a board member of the Community Media Forum Europe (CMFE), the European interest group, since September 2023.