The transformation of cultural funds to foundations occurred in 1993 and 1994; it was based on the Act on the Transformation of Cultural Funds, whereby they were denationalised. These included the Czech Literary Fund Foundation, the Czech Music Fund Foundation and the Czech Art Fund Foundation. Foundations obtain their money from estate yields (immovables), from donations and from sponsor subsidies. The Czech Literary Fund Foundation is currently one of the few alternatives for supporting new valuable works of original literature and translation, theatre, film, journalism, science, radio, television, and entertainment. The foundation allocates grants for publishing or creating non-commercial literature, theatre, science and film artworks, and periodicals. It grants financial allowances/grants] for the production of new art and science projects and it gives annual awards.
The Czech Music Fund Foundation supports the development and promotion of Czech music culture and it offers grant programmes. The foundation has also established two public benefit organisations, the Music Information Centre and the Czech Music Fund.
The Czech Art Fund Foundation underwent a more unrestrained process of denationalisation. In 1997, it established the autonomous Czech Architecture Foundation and in 2008 it changed its name to the Czech Visual Art Foundation. It supports visual arts projects through grants and it organises and co-organises exhibitions. It also grants scholarships to the best students of sculpture. The Czech Architecture Foundation supports projects focusing on exhibition and publishing activities in the field of architecture and it facilitates foreign architecture exhibitions in the Czech Republic (CR). The foundation does not organise its own projects and it does not contribute to the operation of architects’ professional activities or architecture schools.
On the state level the Ministry of Culture founded two new funds – the Czech Republic’s State Fund for the Support and Development of Cinematography (now the Czech Film Fund) and the State Cultural Fund (see also chapter 1.2.2. or 3.5.3.).
There is no one fund that collects the revenue from library licensing fees and so-called levies; copyright collectives receive payments.
In connection with efforts to address the consequences of the pandemic in the culture sector proposals for new arts funds have emerged in the arts community. Some call for the transformation of the existing or the creation of a new State Cultural Fund that would be more flexible and able to respond to the needs of the culture sector, and others call for the creation of funds by genre – for existence, a state music fund.
Comments are closed.