Theatre as a Public Cultural Institution: Ideological Stereotypes and Pragmatism with(out) Values

We invite you to a joint discussion about the artistic, social, economic and apolitical possibilities of culture – and especially theatre. The second year of the Forum for the Future of Culture will take place on December 12, 2023.

Guests from various professions and cultural contexts will share their opinions, perspectives and experiences in four discussion blocks entitled “Theatre as Care for the Microbiome”, “Davids and Goliaths in Cultural Diplomacy”, “Governance: Who owns Cultural Institutions” and “From Nations to Communities”. The academic sphere will be represented by Katarina Pavić, Anna Praibišová or Lukáš Kubina, who will offer an interdisciplinary view of cultural institutions and their operation models. Jitka Pánek Jurková, who will take on the role of general director of the Czech Centers from the new year and Daniel Přibyl, director of the Prague City Theatres, will share with us trends in cultural diplomacy and reflect on the cultural relations of the “big” and ” small” countries. Furthermore, representatives of the professional public from established institutions and non-established organisations will share their experiences and intentions, represented by Adriana Světlíková, Ludmila Vacková or Matyáš Dlab, who will discuss the topic of care and local cooperation. An important part of the Forum for the Future of Culture 2023 will also be discussions on different approaches to the concept of a national institution in a globalised and multicultural reality practiced in the Central European region and beyond its borders, and the Open PalmForum will provide a space for everyone who wishes to share their thoughts and opinions on topics related to with cultural institutions.

Forum for the Future of Culture is a safe space for creating a vision of an open, diverse and inclusive culture that responds to the challenges and needs of the cultural and creative industries of the 21st century. The forum was initiated in 2017 by the Warsaw theatre Teatr Powszechny. In 2022, the event has expanded beyond the borders of Poland, and the co-organizers of its 2nd edition in the Czech Republic are once again Prague’s Pod Palmovkou Theatre and the Arts and Theatre Institute.

The Forum for the Future of Culture is realised with the financial participation of Prague City Hall, the EU through the National Recovery Plan and the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.

The Forum for the Future of Culture will take place in the Pod Palmovkou Theatre. Sign up via this registration form.

SCHEDULE
8:30 – 9:00 Registration of participants

9:00 – 9:30 Welcome
– Michal Lang, Director of the Pod Palmovkou Theatre
– Jiří Sulženko, Head of the Department of Culture and Tourism of Prague City Hall
– Artur Jóźwik, Director of the Department of Culture of the City of Warsaw

09:30– 11:00 PANEL DISCUSSION I Governance: Who owns cultural institutions?
Hosted by Petr Fischer, independent journalist and philosopher
– Izabela Jasińska, Deputy Director of the Office of Culture of the Capital City of Warsaw
– Lukáš Kubina, Department of Theatre and Film Studies, Palacký University in Olomouc
– Katarina Pavić, Freelance researcher in participatory culture from Zagreb, currently working in London
– Zdenek Pánek, Executive Director of the Association of Professional Theatres and Head of the Office of the Director General of the National Theatre

11:00–12:30 PANEL DISCUSSION II – Theatre as a Care for the Microbiome
Hosted by Martina Pecková Černá, Head of the International Cooperation Department / Arts and Theatre Institute
– Ludmila Vacková, Director in ALT@RT z.s. / Studio ALTA
– Adriana Světlíková, Director of the Nová síť – service organisation for culture
– Anna Praibišová, freelance cultural manager and publicist
– Matyáš Dlab, Artistic director of the Terén platform (Centre for Experimental Theatre)

13:00-14:30 PANEL DISCUSSION III – Davids and Goliaths in Cultural Diplomacy
Hosted by Martina Pecková Černá
– Jitka Pánek Jurková, Director General of Czech Centres
– Bek Berger, Co-Curator of the international festival of contemporary theatre, Homo Novus (Riga, Latvia)  
– Emil Rothermel, Czech-German freelance theatre maker
– Daniel Přibyl, Director of Prague City Theatres

15:00-16:00 PANEL DISCUSSION III – From Nations to Communities
Hosted by Petr Fischer
– Pawel Sztarbowski, Deputy director of Teatr Powszechny in Warsaw
– Edgaras Klivis, Artistic director of the National Kaunas Drama Theatre in Lithuania
– Miriam Kičiňová, Director of the Drama Department of the Slovak National Theatre

16:30-17:30 OPEN PalmForum
Share with us your questions, ideas, interventions or needs related to the theatre as a cultural institution. You can come up with your own topic that you want to share in connection with the cultural institution, or choose from the topics that will be discussed in the individual panels of the Forum for the Future of Culture. 

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