2006
ProCulture Activity Report 2006
ProCulture is a part of Otevřená společnost o.p.s.. Full version of the Annual Report 2006 of the institutions is published on http://www.otevrenaspolecnost.cz
ProCulture – research, information and education center for arts and culture
ProCulture aims to make Czech society change its attitude to culture through pro-active cultural policy and integrate culture onto the general political agenda. The basic assumption is that healthy culture is vital for the continuous growth of society as culture promotes creativity and innovation, brings together communities, has positive influence on public life and public administration. Culture is also a global force with dynamic growth that makes the world around us different.
Our Goals
ProCulture's task is to comment on and design strategic documents related to arts and culture based on its own research that is particularly interested in arts management and cultural policy. Special care is devoted to the provision of information on the trends in arts and culture and to the promotion of successful strategies that help make arts as diverse as possible as well as accessible and promote the growth of regions, especially in EU countries. ProCulture provides relevant information and services to cultural institutions and organizations necessary for keeping up their capacities and professional nature, and thus sustainability. In addition, it provides culture information and analyses to the Czech media, national and local authorities and politicians with decision-making powers.
What we achieved in 2006
RESEARCH AND EXPERT ACTIVITIES
Cultural Policy
The Government Resolution No. 676 of May 31, 2006 adopted the Concept of More Efficient Support for Arts 2007-2013. The design and drafting of the Concept was one of the major projects we launched in 2004 in close cooperation with the Theatre Institute; ProCulture held expert debates in working groups, later designing the draft version of the Concept. In spring 2006, ProCulture provided expert assistance to the Ministry of Culture in responding to all the internal and external comments that had been made before the Cabinet worked on the Concept.
Once the Concept had been adopted we began implementing some of the tasks involved. A member of the ProCulture team was invited to join a working group that the Ministry set up in order to prepare the background materials for the proposals of legislation amendments in the film industry. In the autumn, a Green Paper on the Film Industry was completed and introduced to the Subcommittee for Culture and Media Legislation of the Lower House of the Czech Parliament on March 28, 2007. In autumn 2007, the Ministry is to present the White Paper to the Cabinet.
We also participated in designing the program called National Support of Whole Year Exhibition Programs for Visual Arts and Architecture. Being a non-legislation task of the Cabinet, it is to appear on the agenda in 2007.
In late 2006, a working group was set up for preparing the Ratification of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions; a member of the ProCulture team was invited to the group (there were no other members of NGOs). In December 2006, the EU adopted an international agreement that is supposed to be a new major pillar of culture policy on the global level. It is to be adopted by the Czech Republic in 2007.
Another important activity was to prepare a base documentation for a new programatic period of the European Union 2007-2013 in the field of culture. We assisted in working with the background materials for the culture-related parts of the Integrated Operational Program. The partners included the Ministry of Culture and the Initiative for Culture which is an association of registered legal persons.
ProCulture assists in the implementation of the Analysis of the State, Structure, Conditions and Funding of Arts in the Czech Republic and the Analysis of the Social-Economic Potential of Culture and Creative Industry in the Czech Republic.
EDUCATION:
Arts Management
ProCulture joined a two-year project (2006-2008) of the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design Prague (VŠUP) aiming at designing, certifying and launching a university subject called Arts Management targeted at the students and teachers of the Academy. The project was awarded a grant under the Structural Funds (JPD, Goal 3 of the NUTS 2 - Region Prague), the rest of the funds coming from the national budget (Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs), Prague city budget, and the European Social Fund.
The Project was launched in September 2006, but the pilot course is set to run in the academic year 2007/08. The Arts Management course is supposed to give the students knowledge and expertise that will enable them to plan, budget and manage arts and design project on their own. Apart from ProCulture/ Open Society p.b.c., other partners include the non-profit organization Partners for Democratic Change and Cross Czech a.s.
The project's supervisor at the Academy, Ms Pavla Pečinková on the introduction of Arts Management:
“The project responds to the new challenges that professional artists have to face. It will enhance the standard of the Academy's curriculum and broaden the graduates' career prospects. Marta Smolíková, Head of ProCulture/Open Society o.p.s. on the project: The management of visual arts is something that Czech education institutions have neglected so far. Unlike in theater or music management that are taught as independent subjects, it is only the practical work after their graduation that gives the students of visual arts enough experience, as often as not intuitive and full of mistakes. From now on, arts management courses will provide them with the ways and methods of promoting their work in society at large and on the market.”
The Curriculum of Cultural Policy – in late 2006 we assisted in designing a new course to be opened at the Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University Brno. Cultural Policy is planned to be part of a new master's degree module called Culture Management under the section called General Theory and Arts and Culture History at Masaryk University. The module will focus on the economic, legal and artistic management of cultural institutions.
Other University Partners
DAMU (Theater Academy): Granting + Cultural Policy (for the undergraduates of the Department of Theater Production)
FSV UK (Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University Prague): Arts Promotion + Management of Exhibition Projects (for the students of the subject called Museum Work)
BACKGROUND:
In 2006, we had been running our dynamic web pages at www.proculture.cz for 3 years; the pages include practical details aimed at arts and cultural non-profit organizations, state and public authorities, artists, managers, art institutions, and anyone else interested. The pages are updated on a regular basis; at the same time, we publish the ProCulture e-bulletin and send it on a weekly basis to registered addresses. Primarily, we seek relevant and interesting as well as practical information, essays and documents, explain their background and build an electronic archive – in order to do this, we have to keep up with the latest events and bring out the reports in a way that makes the bulletins up-to-date and diverse in issues. In other words, experts will always find what they are interested in and at the same time will be given a comfortable insight into new issues.
In late 2006 the number of people registered to receive the ProCulture e-bulletin was more than 1 000 addresses. The average visitor rate in December was 454 per day.
At the same time, the pages at www.proculture.cz had more than 1270 pages and these have more documents attached to them or links to other documents. Readers come repeatedly to some of the pages as they are unique sources and documents; therefore some of the older texts show a growing visitor rate even now.
1 per cent of national budget will go to culture – Since 2005, ProCulture has monitored how much money from the national budget is for the Ministry of Culture compared to other sectors, and has been involved in various activities aiming to raise the budget for culture, while promoting public debate on the role of culture in society. 1 per cent of the national budget allocated to culture was first set as a goal of Cultural Policy in 1999, and has never been achieved. In 2005, it dropped to 0.49%. In 2006, the election pledge of “1 % for culture” was popular with most political parties. When the budget was discussed by the Cabinet in the summer, the extremely unfavourable proposal by the Finance Ministry was moderated with a slight increase, partly due to an explicit analysis of culture published by ProCulture. Eventually, culture was allocated – excluding churches and religious institutions – a 0.64 per cent of the national budget.
Presentation of the Issue at National and International Forums:
Participation in a round table called Culture Funding – Potential Ways of Czech-Saxonian Cooperation held by the Department of Culture, City Council Dresden (Germany) in cooperation with the Czech Center in Dresden on March 10, 2006 in Dresden – Neustadt. ProCulture's presentation aimed to introduce some practical examples and potential ways of supporting culture in the Czech Republic. Lecture and discussion called Transforming Czech Cultural Institutions held by ProCulture for the students of Dresden International University on April 1, 2006; the event was part of an academic program presenting the undergraduates of Kultur und Management with all the different cultural institutions in the Czech Republic.
Presentation on Culture Infrastructure and Regional Development was held on April 24, 2006 as part of the seminar called Cultural Policy and Structural Funds, and the participants were the staff of the Ministry of Culture and the institutions funded by the Ministry.
Participation in a conference called Europe for Intercultural Dialogue held in Granada on April 27 to 28, 2006 by the Spanish Ministry of Culture; the event was supposed to promote the upcoming European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008 and was a sequel to the Berlin Conference on European Cultural Policy (2004) and the Budapest Conference on the Role of Culture in the Construction of a New Europe (2005).
Participation in a public hearing called Culture: A sound investment to the EU held by the European Commission in Brussels on December 4, 2006; the event was a summary of the public debate on culture held in the autumn that year.
These bodies and organizations are our closest partners:
Theatre Institute – cooperation in research projects
Prague City Council – grant-funding policy
Ministry of Culture – building a program promoting contemporary arts in museums and galleries; cooperation in preparing SF, program promoting dance
Council of Artists
A member of the ProCulture team is a member of the counseling bodies of the following institutions and projects:
Ministry of Culture
Prague City Council
Council of Artists
International Theatre Institute
Prague Quadrennial
Czech Office of Culture 2000
ProCulture is a member of the European Forum for the Arts & Heritage (EFAH), assists in the administration of the Council of Artists which is a founding member of the European Council of Artists.
The web pages at www.proculture.cz (ISSN 1214-8369) are part of the Web Archive of the National Library.
