Help from the Ministry of Culture
You can find up-to-date information on the coronavirus pandemic on the ministry website, including important telephone numbers (including crisis hotlines, available from 9am to 7pm daily), contacts, advice, links and information for employers and employees. You can also access information from other ministries. For example, did you know that the Ministry of Health’s website now features a coronavirus chatbot that can answer basic questions and provide links to important contacts?
Up-to-date grant information
The Ministry of Culture asks all successful grant recipients to inform the ministry whether and to what extent their planned projects will take place in the timeframe specified in the application, or if the project or event will be postponed. This information should be sent immediately to the contact named in the call to which you have applied. The same also applies to projects that cannot be realised in the current circumstances. Please also inform the Ministry of Culture of any costs incurred thus far. More information is available here.
Contributory organisations during the coronavirus pandemic
The Ministry of Culture is also collecting information relating to the coronavirus pandemic from contributory organisations. An interview with Pavla Petrová, Director of ATI, on mapping COVID-19’s impact on the independent sector is available here.
Information for artists stranded abroad
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs's website now includes information about access to an emergency bus link for citizens stranded in various European countries, who are unable to travel back to the Czech Republic due to measures taken to prevent the spread coronavirus. Bus departures and reservation contacts are available here.
Work opportunities
Support the music industry, which is experiencing an unplanned intermezzo
The new platform Intermesos is aimed at all creative and cultural professionals who have lost their income and directs available workers from the entertainment industry towards other sectors that are currently overstretched. You can now also look for work on the site Práce v období Covid, which connects companies looking to hire with people in financially challenging situations. As always, you can also find available positions listed on our web portal Culturenet or in the Facebook groups Práce v kultuře, Práce z domova and Arts práce.
Cleanse your hands and your soul // mental health // free therapy online
What you’re experiencing is normal. A crisis like the one we’re now going through has a strong impact on our psyches. We can even experience stress similar to that caused by a state of war, explains doctor and researcher Julie Dobrovolná, who studies stress at Masaryk University. Routine, movement and self-care will help, but so can acceptance of fears and shame, advises the Institute of Psychology of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
Don’t go it alone. Free psychological care online.
One positive effect of the crisis has been a rush of solidarity. If you feel you need advice and support in these new circumstances, take a look at the Dance Career Endowment Fund’s list of who to contact for free mental health support. The new website delamcomuzu.cz is also offering free online consultations for the duration of the crisis. It is available in English and offers additional information and hotlines. You can also take a look at all the essentials for users of psychiatric and psychological care during the state of emergency, including a list of crisis centres.
Don't neglect the soul. Take care of those who take care of others.
The dynamic evolution of the pandemic results in a lot of energy being quickly invested into relief projects. Let’s be mindful of our loved ones and help prevent burnout by engaging them in some calming conversation for a few moments, or helping them to step away from the screen or sewing machine. The website covkarantene.cz offers some ideas for relaxation - or procrastination!
#umenipomaha // #arthelps
For anyone who would like to help others, but isn’t sure what to do, there is the volunteer form #umenipomaha (also available in English). Register your contact details if you’re an artist or university student who knows how sew or drive a car or is a good coordinator.
Mapa pomoci // Map of help
Initiated by the Million Moments for Democracy movement, Mapa pomoci is another way of connecting those offering and in need of help. Here you’ll find important information and diverse umbrella initiatives that are actively helping to manage the coronavirus pandemic.
Contribute to culture
Apart from the #kulturažije initiative, you can also support cultural events on darujme.cz. You can also show support by buying a ticket via GoOut to an event streamed online - see a list of upcoming streamed events here. The Skutek Association has started a financial support programme for projects in the fields of fine art and visual culture. Opava’s Bludný kámen Gallery has announced the open call Izolovaná spojení (Isolated Connections), primarily intended for (not only) freelance visual artists, performers and musicians, whose livelihoods are threatened by the current state of emergency. Symbolic support can be offered through a simple gesture, such as participating in a viral campaign like #listeknapamatku (post a photo with a ticket to a performance cancelled due to the pandemic and tag the relevant artist or theatre); #nevracejvstupenku (calling on patrons to not request refunds on tickets to events cancelled due to the pandemic) and #preckametospolu (to show solidarity with the sector - we’ll survive this together).
Culture online
PERFORMING ARTS
The National Theatre has delayed planned premieres and is considering cancelling some of them. Its contingency plan covers the possibility of several months’ disruption; in the meantime, artists and staff are carrying out technical improvements, studying new roles at home and sewing masks.
On 23 March, Experimental Space NoD launched NoDFLIX - NoD Theatre at Home on Your Couch, a platform for regular streamings that gives you access to projects you would have otherwise seen live onstage, as well as some created especially in response to the viral pandemic.
Also streaming is Drak at Home from the workshops of Hradec Králové’s DRAK Theatre. Family’s with children will be able to watch most of their current repertoire, but don’t wait too long - each video is available for 24 hours from the start of the stream!
Bolek Polívka’s Theatre also offers online programming, including staged readings of short sketches each Wednesday and Friday at 18:30, which you can support with an online donation. Mall.tv is also continuing with its programming initiative #kulturažije, with upcoming performances by Dejvice Theatre and Vosto5 and the bands Zrní and WWW. ATI is now supporting this initiative too - you can watch streaming theatre performances live on our Facebook page.
Finally, hit the books with the actors from Goose on a String Theatre - each weekday evening, they’ll be taking it in turns to read Boccaccio’s Decameron on Facebook.
LITERATURE
The World of Books trade fair has had to cancel its May edition, but the organisers are now working hard to reschedule the event for October. If their efforts succeed, guest of honour Poland is ready to present all it has to offer.
Students and faculty at public and private universities are now able to access the National Library’s digital collections online.
The Moravian Library has launched the initiative #Knihovnyprotiviru (#librariesagainstthevirus), which simplifies searches for free electronic resources offered by institutions across the country.
MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES
The Moravian Gallery in Brno is preparing to promote its collections online; interactive fun via social networks, Artotéka and podcasts are in the works. The planned spring exhibition has been delayed for at least a month. Photo: archive MG
The National Gallery in Prague is offering a selection of the most interesting items in its collection online and is currently preparing a virtual guided tour of the exhibition Echoes of the Venice Biennale. It’s also worth following the channels of the Benešov Museum of Art and Design or GASK - Central Bohemian Gallery in Kutná Hora.
On 23 March at 18.00 two curators will lead a virtual tour of MeetFactory’s exhibition The New Dictionary of Old Ideas, co-financed by Creative Europe.
FILM
Slipping into something comfortable and opening a new window on your web browser has never been easier. At Aerovod you can rent more than 300 films including Parasite, Vlastnici, Staříci and Belle Epoque. The site includes an “English friendly” search option.
INTERMISSION
Take a break from all the pandemic coverage with an interview with our colleague Michal Zahálka, whose translation (in collaboration with Z. Bartoš) of three plays by French author Joël Pommerat has just been published by ATI. Although the celebratory launch originally planned has been postponed, you can at least have a festive read through after purchasing the book from our Prospero e-shop.
British singer-songwriter Florence Welch has responded to social distancing with a call to create a collective poem on her Instagram. Nearly 8,500 fans have offered their verses in response to the ethereal artist’s call.
A gift for everyone who’s spending Friday night at home. Which means everyone… ? SoundCzech, ATI’s music export office, has created playlists introducing the artists who should have represented the Czech Republic at upcoming showcases and festivals.
Beyond Borders
Cross-border artistic collaboration // ATI call outs
We are extending the deadline to apply for support of international networking at events in the Czech Republic and abroad! The new deadline is 31.3.2020 and applies to projects submitted to either call. The deadline for applications to the Cultural Programme of the EEA and Norway Grants in the areas of Contemporary Arts, Arts and Cultural Criticism and Capacity Building of Umbrella Associations, Networks and Platforms has been extended to 2.4.2020; for applications in the area of Revitalisation of Moveable and Immoveable Cultural Heritage the new deadline is 30.4.2020.
The view from outside
Last week, Vulture magazine wrote about the impact of the current situation on the music industry, including tips for how to help musicians get through this difficult period. The New York Times has made all of its analysis and articles on coronavirus freely accessible, while The New Yorker offers this inspiring list of musicians creating in quarantine and the tracks that are sustaining them.
Still feeling unmotivated?
Approach social distancing like Frida Kahlo, Simon de Beauvoir or the Beatles
