The Ministry of Culture announced a survey regarding its grants

Prague - The Ministry of Culture (MK) has announced a public survey concerning the grants it issues annually. The survey is aimed at proposals for thematic areas of selective grant proceedings and the criteria for evaluating grant applications. Interested parties can send their comments and suggestions until June 30; the conditions can be found on the ministry's website.
    The spokesperson for the office informed ČTK that the feedback will be used in preparing the grant allocations for next year. The public survey pertains to the fields of professional theater, music, dance, visual arts, literature, and support for the publication of literary magazines.
    Criticism from grant recipients and other individuals in the artistic sector is not so much directed at the grant system itself, but rather at the allocation of funds outside this system that has been practiced in several past years.
    This year, the MK will distribute over 82 million CZK in grants for theater, music, dance, and visual arts. Along with support for regular festivals, more than 140 million CZK will go towards live arts, which is 46 million CZK more than last year. The grants themselves have increased by 12 million CZK compared to last year.
    The money for the grant proceedings comes from the MK budget through the cultural activities program. This is the only and key funding source for non-state cultural activities at the ministry. According to estimates from the Council of Artistic Communities and the Initiative for Culture, there has been a shortfall of 300 million CZK annually for this program for several years.
    The cultural activities program had an approved budget of 365 million CZK for last year, and this year it has 497 million CZK.
    At the end of 2005, following public protests through the Chamber, this budget was increased by 100 million CZK for 2006. However, the grant proceedings were only increased by 20 million CZK last year in contradiction to the Chamber's decision, as the office acknowledged this year.
    A criticized practice in the distribution of funds was that regular festivals received contributions from the cultural activities program - this year, however, the MK has allocated funds for them as so-called priority projects. Every year, millions of CZK are distributed based on "recommendations from the MK leadership advisory," as stated in the ministry's annual reports; these funds do not go through a selection process, and projects receive direct support. People from the sector find this opaque practice more troubling than the underfunded grant proceedings.
    The same criticism is directed at the Prague City Hall, which annually distributes tens of millions of CZK in cultural grants and allocates a percentage of its budget to culture that is many times greater than that of the state. Another several tens of millions of CZK are distributed in the context of so-called partnerships. Part of the money always goes to business entities, which displeases grant recipients among artists, as well as some council members.