An Austrian Cultural Forum is an agency of the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, responsible for cultural and scientific dialogue with artists and scientists of each host country. A cultural forum focuses on the specific needs of local users and partners, and works independently on different contents. The international network currently consists of 30 cultural forums.
Cultural forums were originally established as either a "cultural institute" or a "cultural department of an Austrian embassy". In March 2001, both were renamed as "cultural forum".
The Austrian Cultural Forum New York Translation Prize is an annual literary prize that supports translations of contemporary Austrian fiction, poetry, and drama which have not previously appeared in English, with a grant of . The first award was in 2009. In 2012 and 2013 the award was "suspended until further notice" due to budgetary constraints. It was revived in 2014 and is now awarded in a two-year cycle.