2007

ProCulture is a part of Otevřená společnost o.p.s.. Full version of the Annual Report 2007 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 2007

Research and Expert Activities
The Initial Analysis of the Current Links between the Labour Market and Culture, the biggest project that ProCulture coordinated, consisted of research and production of the final report. The research was conducted as part of the Operational Programme Human Resources Development in cooperation with the Arts Institute – Theatre Institute and EUPC s.r.o. for the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. The final report contains a complex study on the importance of culture for Czech economy and employment based on a statistical analysis, expert material and a number of interviews with employers and experts in the various areas of culture as well as specific recommendations on where to send the support from the European Social Fund in 2007−2013 (the Operational Programmes Human Resources Development and Employment, Education for Competitiveness and Prague − Adaptability) in order to raise employment in culture. The analysis includes background research for the various areas of culture, i.e. theatre and dance, music, cinema, libraries, museums and galleries, copyright, monument preservation, cultural tourism, churches and religious communities.

ProCulture was the only non-profit programme to assist in preparing the ratification process of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions as part of a Ministry of Culture working group which was closed down in spring 2007. The international convention – thought to be a key pillar of culture management globally – was adopted by the European Union in December 2006 and so far has been ratified by 80 countries. In the Czech Republic, the Convention was approved by the Cabinet in July, but rejected by the Senate later last year. In effect, the Czech Republic is the only country to have rejected the Convention.

In summer 2007, a member of the ProCulture team was appointed by the Czech Minister of Culture as a member of a working group for designing new culture policy which was expected to be presented to the Cabinet by the end of the year. The Ministry used the electronic library at www.proculture.cz/knihovna/ as a recommended source of documents and materials related to the issue. Since the material had not been ready, which is what ProCulture warned about in its comments, we asked the Ministry to postpone the deadline; therefore, the document may be completed in a more concentrated way; the previous version of the document was adopted by the Cabinet in 2001. In 2007 ProCulture joined the Arts Institute – Theatre Institute in a new research project called Analysis of the Social-Economic Potential of Culture and Creative Industry in the Czech Republic. In autumn, ProCulture held an international workshop called Culture and Creative Industry and was one of the participants. For the first time in the Czech Republic, the workshop introduced the concept of creative economy, the British model of culture and creative industries and the Czech Republic's potential to promote the development of arts and culture. The project is part of the research and development programme of the Ministry of Culture and is planned to run until 2011; in 2006 ProCulture had started assisting in another several years' research project called A Study of the State, Structure, Conditions and Funding of Arts in the Czech Republic.

ProCulture presented the Council of Professional Artists, Associations with a project it is going to implement over the years to come. Called Reinforcing the Accountable Cultural Policy by Civic Surveillance, the project was supported by the Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe in autumn 2007.

Arts Management
ProCulture is a partner of a two-year programme (2006-2008) of the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague aiming to design, test and introduce a subject called Arts Management for the students and teachers of the Academy. The project was given a subsidy as part of the Single Programming Document for Objective 3 of the NUTS 2 Region (Prague) and is co-funded by the Czech national budget, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the City of Prague and the European Social Fund. The project first included pilot lessons in the winter semester which was supposed to provide the students with background knowledge and expertise that would 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.

Culture Policy
In 2007, Culture Policy was approved as a new course offered at the Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University in Brno, South Moravia. Culture Policy is soon to be included in the new masters' degree in Culture Management taught in the study programme called General Theory and History of Arts and Culture. The course deals with the economic, legal and arts aspects of culture institutions. The year before, ProCulture had been working on the materials needed for the approval of the course, and lessons will be officially opened in 2008.

Other Partners of ProCulture:
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)
Diplomacy Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – seminar called Culture in the EU Agenda Activites

In 2007 we continued to run our web pages at www.proculture.cz; 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. ProCulture publishes an E-bulletin and sends it to registered addresses on a weekly basis. 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 2007 the number of people registered to receive the ProCulture e-bulletin was more than 1,200 addresses. The average visitor rate was 16,000 per month. At the same time, the pages at www.proculture.cz had a total of 1,460 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 goes to 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.

In 2007, the Minister of Culture was closely observed by the media, whether he would – in case the culture budget decreased – fulfill his promise and break the fragile coalition government by leaving it as he had pledged on his arrival. In the summer budget session, the Cabinet finally vetoed – partly in response to the media's pressure – the initial proposal of the Ministry of Finance, increasing the budget by approximately one
billion crowns.

ProCulture at National and International Forums:

• Lecture called Lobbying at Various Levels as part of the Fórum 50% workshop called How to Lobby for the Equal Opportunities of Women and Men, Prague, March 19 & 20
• Internal workshop for members of the Ministry of Culture called More Efficient Support of Arts 2007–2013 held on April 4
• Lecture on Culture and Possibilities of International Cooperation with the Czech Republic as part of a conference on the cooperation between the UK and Eastern Europe - EUCLID, MayFair II, Tate Modern, London, May 9 & 10
• Visit on behalf of the Ministry of Culture to the International Cultural Industry Fair (ICIF) in China on May 16 to 19
• Visit to the public debate hosted by the Institute for European Democracy called European Cultural identity? on June 13
• Visit to the first Cultural Forum for Europe held as part of Portugal's EU presidency as a platform for a civil society on September 26 & 27

In autumn 2007, the project manager Marta Smolíková joined the International Visitors Leadership Program focused on Promoting tolerance through the arts. This was a highly acclaimed scholarship of one month awarded by the US State Departement to twenty people selected from all over the world in order to get them involved in various activities, organizations, institutions and bodies related to the issue and based in Washington DC, Philadepphia, Seattle, Louisville, and New York. These bodies and organizations are our closest partners:

Arts Institute / Theatre Institute – cooperation in research projects
Prague City Council – grant-funding policy
Ministry of Culture – culture and grant-funding policies
Council of Professional Artists, Associations – monitoring culture policies; the 1 percent for culture programme

Members of the ProCulture team assist in the counseling bodies of the following institutions and projects:
Council of Professional Artists, Associations
Ministry of Culture
Prague City Council
The City of Plzeň
Czech Centre of the International Theatre Institute
Prague Quadrennial 2007

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.