The Czech Ministry of Culture has recently approved a new state arts policy, changed grant application guidelines and said it would reassess the support it provides to organisations in the field, including festivals. Some in the arts sphere are crying foul, saying artistic freedom could be under threat.
Earlier this month, the Czech government approved a draft state arts policy, which is due to run until 2029.
The document pledges to safeguard and renew the national cultural heritage, better reward arts workers, and modernise museums, galleries and libraries.
However, arts organisations said they had not been consulted about the new strategy, while the level of expertise displayed in the document was also questioned.
For his part, Minister Oto Klempíř said some critical voices were only concerned with feathering their own nests.
“I think the whole kerfuffle over our ‘incompetence’ and accusations we are burying or suffocating culture was essentially a kind of roar from interest groups.”
Jakub Vedral|Photo: ART Prometheus
Earlier this week, the Ministry of Culture announced changes to the terms of its grant procedures, a sensitive issue in a country where many arts organisations rely on public money to survive.
Officials say the new approach should reflect the planned state arts policy. However, arts organisations say some sections could be used to curtail artistic expression.
Theatre producer Jakub Vedral is the head of the Czech branch of the International Theatre Institute.
“It seems to me that the Ministry of Culture should not be responsible for determining whether a work of art constitutes defamation of a race or membership in an ethnic or social group.
“Other bodies are tasked with that. And these are conditions that certainly do not belong in a grant call issued by the Ministry of Culture, an institution that should be ensuring that culture in Czechia has the best possible conditions, enjoys freedom, and can express itself freely.”
Andrea Hoffmannová|Photo: Michal Krusberský, Česká pirátská strana, Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0
Opposition politicians have also weighed in. Pirate Party MP Andrea Hoffmannová said Minister Klempíř had overhauled arts grants in such a way as to introduce “modern-day censorship”.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Culture is due to hold discussions with such organisations as the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and the Prague Spring International Music Festival.
Karlovy Vary received CZK 47 million from state coffers this year but the Ministry said an existing three-year agreement, signed under a previous government, would undergo “fundamental revision”.
Photo: Markéta Kachlíková, Radio Prague International
The Czech Ministry of Culture will have a 9 percent higher budget in 2027 than this year, under the draft state budget.
An action plan on implementing the new state arts policy will be submitted to the government at the end of November.