The Brno Cultural Parliament is releasing another issue of the Coronewsletter. You can find out in this article how cultural institutions are doing, where to search for culture online and what to look forward to in the coming days.
SUPPORTIVE MEASURES AT THE LEVEL OF THE CITY OF BRNO
On Tuesday 21 April 2020, the Assembly of the City of Brno approved the Subsidy Programme for the Provision of Subsidies in the Field of Culture to Mitigate the Consequences Associated with the COVID-19 Pandemic. The purpose of this subsidy programme is to help cover essential costs associated with the restriction of cultural activities, especially for those entities that are not covered by programmes prepared by ministries and the central government of the Czech Republic related to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The subsidy applications can be submitted in the period from 26 May 2020 to 31 July 2020. The subsidy will be provided in an amount ranging from CZK 20 thousand up to CZK 50 thousand inclusive, and the period for drawing funds by the applicant is set from 1 January 2020 to 30 September 2020. Detailed information, including the wording of the subsidy programme together with the conditions for submitting an application for a subsidy under this programme and the application form can be found HERE. We will keep you informed about additional upcoming support tools aimed at helping larger independent cultural organisations that do not receive support from the state, and should you need an individual solution, do not hesitate to contact the staff of the Department of Culture.
BRNO CULTURAL PARLIAMENT FACEBOOK PAGE
Since last week, we have been bringing you news and the latest information from the Department of Culture regularly on Facebook on the page of the Brno Cultural Parliament (BKP).
NOMINATIONS OF CANDIDATES FOR EXPERT MEMBERS OF THE EVALUATION COMMISSIONS
Until the end of the month, you have the opportunity to nominate candidates for external expert members of evaluation commissions for individual announced subsidy programmes in the field of culture for the term of office 2020-2022. We do not have any nominations for the fields of audiovision and folklore yet. Please help us spread this message to your contacts. The work of an external expert member of an evaluation committee will be rewarded with the amount of CZK 250 per evaluated application. More information can be found HERE.
MEASURES TAKEN AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL
The Ministry of Culture has published the first rescue package in the amount of CZK 1.07 billion - further details can be found in the press release HERE. Please follow our website HERE, where we again bring you the latest information on support provided by ministries for the self-employed and for legal entities. We also recommend subscribing to the newsletter of the Institute of Arts “Culture in Quarantine” - HERE, which brings latest information on culture at the state level.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOU
Brno Cultural Calendar
We would like to reiterate our call on all cultural event organisers to use the KalTic city planning calendar when planning and postponing events in 2020 and 2021, in order to avoid unwanted clashes.
The European Cultural Foundation has announced grants of EUR 5,000-50,000 for "imaginative cultural initiatives that, in the midst of the global pandemic crisis, reinforce European solidarity and the idea of Europe as a shared public space". More information can be found HERE. The deadline for the current round is coming up already on Monday 27 April 2020!
#kulturažije (#culturelives). The DONIO platform enables cultural projects and organisations to raise funds or present themselves live on the MALL.TV internet television.
Kultura doma (Culture at Home) – a unified platform for live broadcasts of cultural performances. Culture at Home aims to create a means of disseminating culture in a virtual space, allowing artists and institutions to broadcast their live performances and sell tickets in one place. The art scene will thus receive a tool to handle the sudden loss of income, but will also support the fight against coronavirus, because 15% of the income raised by each live broadcast will be donated to the Czech Red Cross.
TIC BRNO is opening its first information centre! Thanks to the gradual easement of the situation, the services of TIC BRNO can also return, though very slowly, back to normal! On Monday 27 April, the TO JE BRNO (THIS IS BRNO) information centre will be the first to open on Panenská Street. The information centre will provide standard services in compliance with strict sanitary requirements and will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. We believe that additional businesses will follow soon!
Káznice LIVE is adding two more live streams in April. Slovak singer-songwriter Eva Jurčáková will appear with her Evolet project on Tuesday 28 April. Eva has writing in her blood, having dedicated her whole life to it and in her strong texts she captures the intimacy of feelings and thoughts. Thanks to the collaboration with Martin E. Kyšperský, her folk songs were given a more alternative sound. The next day, on Wednesday 29 April, the Káznice LIVE studio will become a Jukebox. The famed duo of Roman Blumaier and Saša Stankov will not leave anyone in doubt that they have improvisation in their blood. And how will the spectators get involved? They will write their wishes in the comments under the stream or via SMS to the phone number that the actors will give repeatedly during the broadcasting. And then they will just watch!
Behind Káznice LIVE stands the Tripitaka association, the film production company GNOMON in cooperation with the student media projects Studex.tv and Radio R, the companies Tech-Pro and Michal Gazdag, and with the support of TIC BRNO, JIC and Creative Brno. The aim is to provide viewers with a quality cultural experience and enable them to make contact with the Brno's cultural scene. At the same time, they will also support Brno's artists who currently find themselves without the opportunity to perform live. If you want to organise your own online concert or performance in Káznice, please get in touch with David Oplatek (david@tripitaka.cz, +420 725 741 376).
How to make meaningful use of your time in quarantine? Follow the website koronapady.cz!
A VISIT TO YOUR PLACE
On these days, difficult not only for Brno culture, my colleague Kryštof Trávníček will bring you short reports directly from places such as clubs, theatres, galleries or newsrooms, studios and other cultural venues of the city of Brno:
I am meeting with the artistic director of the BuranTeatr, Juraj Augustín, in the multifunctional space of the Sokol Stadium, where the ensemble has been based for several years – although due to his face mask I don't know exactly what he looks like, but this is probably characteristic for this time. We intend to discuss the current emergency situation and, above all, listen to each other. Augustín mentions the fifteen-year history of his theatre and guides me through its intricate background. At present, the theatre is proactively communicating with the IDU and is a member of the Association of Independent Theatres of the Czech Republic.
The BuranTeatr theatre is closed for external reasons, the bar is empty, rehearsals with a few exceptions are not carried out in the drama rehearsal rooms and no creative work or dancing is in progress in the workshop hall. The monthly loss is growing. Although the theatre is two thirds financially self-sufficient, and it may receive a regular subsidy from the Ministry of Culture and can also anticipate support from the city of Brno, not only in the form of early payment of instalments of the already approved subsidy, its current situation is critical and unsustainable. In addition, the theatre has to pay rent as well as its external staff, whom it does not want to lose, and that is a problem today.
Like most stakeholders in culture and in the creative industries, "Burani" (as they call themselves) are also waiting primarily for support measures taken by the central government, the ministry, the South Moravian Region, but also the city of Brno and volunteers or patrons. In normal times, they organise 30 to 50 different events per month, which of course is not the case today. They believe in an individual approach of the city leadership and the relevant authorities, which has so far been confirmed. In their words, financial aid of the order of tens of thousands, does not sort the situation – they would need an order of magnitude more and that does not mean shameless begging. Not at all, on the contrary.
"Burani" established a public fundraiser to support the ensemble. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Večerníček Buranů is broadcasted on online platforms (YouTube, FB and Mall TV) from 7 pm. Every Saturday from 7.30 pm, their Kino Buran – Edice Korona is on, and they are negotiating with Mall TV again about making their theatrical productions public. In the upcoming 2020/2021 season the BuranTeatr theatre has decided to allow free access to health care professionals, 3 firefighters, police officers and soldiers to all reruns of its performances. With this step, "Burani" want to publicly express their admiration, respect and thanks to all the rescue services fighting the pandemic in the front line, and thus from the first days putting their lives and the lives of their loved ones at risk. When the crisis is over, the theatre would welcome, for example, free promotion of all its cultural and artistic activities from the position of the city and favour of its spectators, as well as for all other stakeholders and creatives in the field of culture.
WHAT'S HAPPENING IN BRNO'S CULTURE
Thank you for the stories you share with us. If you want to tell something to each other, write to kultura@brno.cz, and we will publish selected contributions!
The Museum of the City of Brno has added a slideshow to its multimedia presentation HERE for the upcoming exhibition Chrám kamene (The Temple of the Stone) in the lapidarium at the renovated water reservoirs on Žlutý kopec. The website of Villa Tugendhat newly features a so-called kirigami – a dummy of the villa that can be built from paper. You can find the model and instructions for download at https://www.tugendhat.eu/mies-online/kirigami--villa-tugendhat-paper-model.html .
The Knihovny.cz project introduced a new portal www.ctenidetem.knihovny.cz, which will help you find your way through children's literature. On the website, you will find tips for children's librarians for all age categories. The portal has been created, among others, by the Children's Reading Centre of the Jiří Mahen Library.
On the website of Villa Stiassni HERE you can see the latest exhibition "Lev Krča and Stanislav Tobek – creators of (not only) Sokol houses".
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