Nobody is an island

"Having known Eric Poettschacher as a colleague and friend for almost 20 years, I would say he is in a category of one when it comes to a wide-angle view of the creative industries, and helping creative individuals, enterprises and institutions orient themselves to their best advantage within the bigger picture."

"The cultural sector is a world of its own, driven by emotion, passion and empathy. It is rare to find organisational consulting with such a deep understanding of the subject matter, the content and the structural coherences. To be accompanied by someone who understands and shares those values and structures is a great gift."

"Eric Poettschacher has his very own and convincing working style. I was able to experience it in various contexts such as a strategic planning, culture change and organisational transformation. A precise clarification of collaborations goals is generally followed by meticulous planning - which in retrospective view has always been worth every minute. His language is free from worn-out platitudes. Expect meaningful metaphors instead that open doors to new spaces of action. He draws on an impressive body of knowledge in regards to methods, intervention designs as well as current developments and gives everyone involved an opportunity to widen one´s horizon and participate in creative solutions. In sum, the evidence of real changes in the everyday life of an organisation is much more important than concept papers gathering dust in drawers. On the whole: a wonderful partner whenever things are in motion or need to be moved."

"Eric Poettschacher has decisively shaped the current strategy process of Kunstmeile Hamburg GbR, an association of the directors and management of Hamburg's five major art museums - the Bucerius Kunst Forum, the Deichtorhallen Hamburg, the Hamburger Kunsthalle, the Kunstverein in Hamburg and the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe - and has made it a great success through his exceptionally knowledgeable facilitation and support.

He combines an excellent knowledge of the industry, an extremely broad horizon with a clear vision of the cultural institutions of the future, as well as an immense wealth of experience in consulting in all areas of organizational development, an impressive spectrum of methods, and a great deal of trust in the systemic development power of his clients."

"A facilitator's facilitator, Eric hosted and guided a cross-section of our partners, funders, community members and staff through a process to clarify our vision and to institutionalize #i4Policy from a bottom-up movement into the Innovation for Policy Foundation. Not only was Eric able to steer our workshop toward a successful conclusion - to establish a strong metaphorical and literal foundation upon which to consolidate our work of charting new pathways of public policy co-creation - in the face of a number of constraints, our team and community was brought closer together through the experience. As facilitators, we also learned much from his seemingly endless toolkit of methodologies and approaches."

"Everything is constant change - especially in Arts Marketing. At Komische Oper Berlin we have once again taken the decision to restructure this department and adapt it to new challenges. Eric Poettschacher is a congenial sparring partner for this change process. A strategy workshop with him has brought us forward enormously, a subsequent team building workshop supported the implementation incredibly. With his support we go through this process in 7-mile steps. We are looking forward to his further valuable support!"

“Eric designed and facilitated a strategic workshop with #i4Policy and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung - a great success! He works interest-driven and insists (!) on a very sound preparation of a workshop - his "clarity of intention" approach helped us throughout the entire process - preparation, performance and follow-up. His methods are versatile and adaptable. His nature is focused, highly professional and compassionate. Looking very much forward to our next cooperation within an intercultural context.”

“Eric Poettschacher is a playmaker and truly unconventional consultant. For him, the development of a better future is a passionate strategic interaction between all parties involved. With unbelievable ease he manages to draw proper conclusions and ingenious comparisons, thereby presents possible moves in a pictorial way and eventually gets to the right questions. He leads processes without one even noticing it. He has all options in mind and always finds the right passage for the next move. Just an ingenious playmaker.”

“The Humboldt Forum has been under construction as a new cultural-scientific association since 2016 and is a project full of ambivalences, driven by diverging interests, representing a multitude of topics and a high degree of organisational complexity. How can communication for this location and the joint offerings of the most diverse partners be coordinated and orchestrated in such a way that visitors are not overwhelmed by the diversity of voices, but receive the right information at the right time in a simple and comprehensible manner? Eric Poettschacher is the ideal sparring partner for such a task. With his professional expertise in systemic organisational development and high sensitivity for diverging needs, he has made decisive contributions and provided trend-setting impulses for the implementation of integrated communication structures internally and the formation of a strong brand to the outside world. Thanks to his skilful facilitation and clear structuring, we were able to successfully develop new formats and decision-making processes in communications - prototypical for the entire Humboldt Forum.”

“It is fun to work with Eric on the preparation of our numerous workshops for the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR). Be it the activities on climate change or the exchange on sustainable hydropower in the Danube basin. It means professional handling from the conclusion of the contract, to the challenging preparation of workshop contents, guiding questions and objectives, to the clearly structured workshop report. Again and again a great support for our work. Merci!”

“Eric Poettschacher helped us to refine a core aspect of our qualities and put it "in the shop window" - without having to let go all the other features of our work. By the way, we would never have sat down around a table with a traditional consultant. In this case we felt immediately understood and connected by his straightforward manner.”

“Eric Poettschacher accompanied Seefestspiele Mörbisch in 2012/2013 during the transition to a new artistic direction. His wealth of experience as well as knowledge of international benchmarks, flanked by market research and brand development, has decisively shaped the change process. I was impressed how quickly he adapted himself to the specific needs of Seefestspiele Mörbisch and how skillfully and consistently he facilitated workshops.”

“Eric Poettschacher can be characterised by his broad knowledge of structural frameworks and operational processes involved in the production and reception of cultural activities. He has a high level of analytical competence, quick comprehension and a sharp sense when it comes to delimitate clear tasks. His empathy and strength to fathom the possible complete his professional expertise.”

“Eric Poettschacher has guided and accompanied RADIALSYSTEM V through a very intensive restructuring process lasting several months. Thanks to his methodical competence, empathy and consistent focus on results we were always sure to be on a good course, even in difficult phases. He never prescribed anything, but helped us instead to find solutions ourselves - with clever, precise questions and the right interventions at the right time. This kind of empowerment has brought us as a company significantly and sustainably forward.”

“As an open, creative and focused sparring partner, Eric Poettschacher inspired and encouraged us in trusting our innovative ideas and implementing them successfully. We have seen him as a very good listener and someone with the ability to precisely summarise complex issues, engage with the concerns of his counterpart and give visionary ideas a concrete form.”

“Eric Poettschacher is an exceptionally gifted seminar and workshop facilitator. His work is based on highly professional preparation, reliability and flexibility. He follows up with the concerns of workshop participants without losing sight of what is really important. Eric is attentive and excellent in project coaching as well as in designing whole process architectures. It's a pleasure to work with him.”

“Eric Poettschacher supported me during the development phase of MuseumsQuartier Vienna (MQ) - today one of the leading and most innovative cultural institutions in Europe - in questions of public relations and strategy. Without his expertise, analytical thinking and humaneness, we would certainly not have been able to solve this difficult task so well.

The opening of MQ in Vienna was preceded by 25 years of planning and discussions with highly diverse stakeholders, which made the point of departure for this project extremely challenging. Eric's intuition for complex constellations and his systemic approach opened up completely new perspectives for me in regards to managing organisations.”

“Eric Poettschacher gave me and my team excellent advice on various major projects such as Vienna Art Week, Austria's EXPO participations in Japan, Spain and China and Flow - a Festival for Culture and Science - particularly on strategic planning, program design, communications as well as organisational and team development. As one of the top creative business experts in Europe, he understands both the business and creative sides of highly dynamic projects. I value him as an extremely precise, analytical advisor with a high sensitivity for different stakeholders. His systemic approach goes way beyond hard facts and figures as he also considers how emotional aspects influence teams, projects and businesses. Eric Poettschacher has made a significant contribution to the success of my ventures.”

Business Location South Tyrol

EOOS Design

EURAC research

FAS research

Künstlersekretariat am Gasteig

Nesta – National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts

Ovos media

Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz

Voith Hydropower

Vienna business agency