2005
ProCulture Activity Report 2005
ProCulture is a part of Otevřená společnost o.p.s.. Full version of the Annual Report 2005 of the institutions is published on http://www.otevrenaspolecnost.cz
RESEARCH:
More Effective Support for Arts in 2007-2013
The main project in 2005 was to design a draft Concept of more efficient support for Arts in 2007-2013 which was prepared by ProCulture, a research, training and information center on arts and culture, in cooperation with the Theatre Institute/Institute for Arts for the Ministry of Culture. Following an internal comment procedure, the Concept was accepted by the Ministry in April 2006, and once the external comments had been settled, it was approved by the Czech Government Decree No. 676 of 31 May 2006. The preparation started as early as summer 2004, and by the end of that year all background materials were analyzed and working groups were set up that started working in early 2005. In October 2005, a draft plan was submitted to the Ministry of Culture; from then on, ProCulture worked as a consultant when comments were settled.
The main principle of formulating this middle-term strategic document was to get involved as many experts as possible. Members of the various working groups included a number of personalities and members of Czech arts and culture institutions. A more general expert group was appointed by the Deputy Minister based on a joint proposal of ProCulture, Theatre Institute and the Ministry's Department for Arts and Libraries with a total of 20 persons; also, expert groups were set up for theatre, music, literature, fine arts, film, non-professional arts and international cooperation and promotion of Czech arts abroad, and these included some 60 more personalities. Other experts wrote analytical background essays and experts had the opportunity to meet at public debates held in Prague, Brno, Hradec Králové). The Theatre Institute helped design independent web pages at www.koncepceumeni.cz, that explained the process and contained a public Internet discussion forum. The head of ProCulture chaired the meetings of the working groups and became the main author of the draft Plan.
The Concept defined the primary terms and the importance of arts:
- arts form our cultural heritage
- arts and culture are inevitable parts of sustainable development and conditions of society's stability
- arts and culture are an economic factor
- arts and culture are a tool of the country's foreign policies
- arts and culture indicate the quality of democracy and civil society.
The Concept includes an analysis of how arts have developed since 1990, an evaluation of the existing programs run by the Ministry, a SWOT analysis and specific tasks defined for the period and aim to:
- strengthen the role of arts in society
- enhance the presentation of Czech arts abroad and international cooperation
- preserve and develop variation in arts while supporting creativity and balancing the influence of consumer society
- making sure that arts are accessible for the general public (equal access)
- enhancing infrastructure including investment support of cultural institutions
The process of designing the Concept enjoyed the attention of the media and a number of institutions. For example, the draft served as a basis for the Long-term Plan of the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design Prague (VŠUP), individual parts of the plan were applied in other strategic documents such as Economic Growth Strategy, National Plan of Development, Prague Culture Policy Plan etc.
Study of the current state, structure, conditions and funding of arts in the Czech Republic (2006–2011)
In 2005, ProCulture's cooperation with the Theatre Institute/Institute of Arts involved preparing a science research project that would respond to the project task under the Ministry of Culture Science and Research program called “Analytical-sociological study of the current state of culture in the Czech Republic and abroad“. In late 2005, the project was accepted in a public tender for a six-year grant by the Ministry and will be conducted under the name Study of the current state, structure, conditions and funding of arts in the Czech Republic (2006–2011). ProCulture is going to assist in this science research project which will also include a continuous analysis of how the Plan of more efficient support to arts 2007-2013 is being implemented.
Advocating Activities
Preparing a new EU programming period of 2007-2013 – culture in strategic documents
Including culture into structural policies and political agenda in general is crucial to the right implementation and recognition of the positive role that arts and culture play. The year 2005 was principal in preparing the programming period of 2007-2013 and the implementation of the Structural Funds. Therefore, ProCulture has aimed to monitor and promote the involvement of culture into strategic documents and gave continuous reports on the process to the general public through its web pages.
In addition to conducting its own analyses, collecting documents, reports and other materials for culture policies, ProCulture lays immense emphasis on interpreting them in the right way and using reasonable arguments supporting the role of arts and culture in the development of our society. ProCulture has used its materials to promote the involvement of culture into the Economic Growth Strategy which made it easier for culture to negotiate about potential grants from the Structural Funds. ProCulture analyzed materials for the section Culture in the National Plan of Development and assisted in the work of a Ministry of Culture working group that prepared the background materials for the implementation of the Structural Funds and other related documents on the national level.
As regards the European level, ProCulture initiated that a letter be sent to Danuta Hubner, the Commissioner for Regional Policy, asking for a stronger role of culture in EU strategic documents.
ProCulture also assisted in preparing and holding a conference under a project funded by the Government; the grant was awarded to the Theatre Institute and the project called Culture and structural funds – the use of EU funds for cultural projects . The conference was held in Prague, December 2005.
ProCulture's Campaigns and Promotion with a view to bringing some selected issues into the media:
1 % for culture
In early 2005, ProCulture published a comparison of the different positions culture had on the agenda of different Czech governments since 1992 and calculations of the share that culture expenses amounted to in Chapter 334 of the National Budget between 1998-2005. It was brought out that the 2005 National Budget provided culture – excluding churches and religious communities – with a mere 0.49 per cent of the overall state expenses. The share was published in order to open a public debate on the national support for arts and culture and to highlight the insufficient financial support given to Czech culture; the one per cent for culture principle was one of the government's goals to be achieved in culture; also the share is one of the indicators of the Sustainable Development Strategy approved by the government in December 2004.
ProCulture prepared background materials for advocating activities done in cooperation with a number of other entities and individuals, in particular with the Council for Arts Communities, Initiative for Culture and other professional organizations. The project used the media to draw attention to the funding of arts and culture by publishing articles in various magazines; members of the project team participated in public debates promoting the one per cent of the National Budget for culture principle.
One of the achievements in 2005 was a lively debate on culture funding in the Parliament when the 2006 National Budget was discussed, and it was this debate that the media were quick to respond to and which stimulated MPs to increase the share for culture. In late 2005, a joint declaration was made by members of the Ministry of Culture, Council of Arts Communities, Initiative for Culture on the current state of culture and increasing the budget share for culture; it was this planned increase that allowed the Ministry to announce a 100 per cent increase in 2006 in all five grant areas (theatre, music, dance, literature, fine arts) and promised to retain the amount of funding for the Government Program of supporting professional theatres, orchestras, and singing choirs, and to declare that some of the amendments approved by the Parliament made it possible to give money to some important events in film.
70 cents for culture
The year 2005 was a crucial time for designing the EU budget for a long sequence of years (2007-2013) in terms of cultural programs. On 15 March 2005 the European Cultural Foundation and the EFAH launched a campaign called 70 cents for culture!. At the same time, a demand for 70 cents for culture was announced at the European Parliament – this would mean 315 million euro per year in a time when the Culture 2007 Program proposed 408 million for a period of 7 years. The campaign included a sign-in, promotion of the issue and a number of meetings hopefully resulting in an increase in Culture 2007 budget; ProCulture gave continuous reports to Czech experts. The 70 Cents for Culture! Petition was signed by more than 110 Czech personalities active in arts, culture and politics.
INFORMATION:
ProCulture had been running its web pages of the same name for two years in 2005, and this is where experts may learn about the activities pursued by non-state non-profit organizations, about events and projects in arts and the way they are funded; the pages contain other materials related to professional art activities and culture policies in the Czech Republic and EU. Also, the ProCulture e-bulletin is brought out and distributed per e-mail approximately once a week (except for holidays), which makes about 45 issues per year.
By the end of 2005, up to 790 users had signed in order to receive the ProCulture e-bulletin on a regular basis. The monthly rate of visitors was more than 300 visitors daily; in total, there were 98,000 visitors to 360,000 sites in 2005. The pages are entered from different parts of the world, the Czech and Slovak Republics being on top; in total, there were 53 different countries through 283 various links. Since its launch two years before proculture.cz had published more than a thousand pages/individual articles which include other documents or links to documents to be downloaded; the total number of sections was thirty one. Readers keep coming back to many of the pages as invaluable sources of information and documents: for example, some of the older theoretical articles and links to documents are being visited more and more. The top 40 pages include almost only articles of 2004 which was a time when the pages were visited by less than half the current number of users.
This is to show the number of visits to www.proculture.cz since the pages were launched in late 2003.
ArtsInfo Mailing List – a communication tool in performing arts
ProCulture provides a mailing list for performing arts professionals set up by the Open Society Fund Prague Foundation in 2000. The list aims to provide a quick, simple and open information platform for distributing information on future and existing projects or activities and a tool for distributing all relevant information that could possibly contribute to the progress of performing arts.
EDUCATION:
Art Management - Cooperation with the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design Prague (VŠUP)
In 2005, ProCulture established close cooperation with the Academy by holding counseling sessions in order to formulate the Long-term Objective in Education, Science, Research, Development, Arts and other aspects of work in the Academy for 2006-2010. Also, a project called Art Management – preparing and verifying the subject called management of arts for the Academy's students and teaching staff was prepared. The project is designed for 24 months, i.e. for 2006-2008 and it is expected to be funded by the European Social Fund and its priority called Life-Long Learning Support and the grant initiative called the Development of Initial Education as Basis for Life-Long Learning. ProCulture is the project's partner.
Cooperation with the Theatre Faculty, Academy of Performing Arts (DAMU)
There has been long-term cooperation with the Department of Production of DAMU, aiming to introduce into the education process some aspects of cultural policies. In particular, a subject called grant issues has been included into the compulsory curriculum of the three-year bachelor program.
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Through its representative, ProCulture assists in a number of counseling bodies: e.g. the grant committees of the Ministry of Culture and the Prague City Council, the Council of International Theatre Institute, the Council of Art Communities, the Dramaturgy Council of the Administration of Czech Centres, Prague Quadriennale 2007, Czech Office of Culture 2000.
ProCulture is a member of the European Forum for the Arts and Heritage. Since April 2005 it has been the secretary of the Council of Art Communities which is the founding member of the European Council of Artists.
The project's web pages are run based on financial support of the Ministry of Culture.
