What's New > PETITION in support of the Arts and Theatre Institute in Prague, Czech Republic
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By: Professor Pavel Drábek
31 January 2025
Declaration: The author of the petition, Professor Pavel Drábek (Univerzity of Hull, UK), is long-term external collaborator of ATI, as an editorial board member, competion panellist, PQ’s curator and member of the International Team, and an expert collaborator leading a research project bid on the occasion of 60 years of PQ.
Since last week, worrying news have been arriving from our colleagues at the Arts and Theatre Institute (ATI) in Prague, referring to the proposed merger of ATI and the National Information and Consulting Centre for Culture (NIPOS). What is most unsettling about this fragmentary news are the speed with which this proposed institutional fusion is to take place, and the utterly insufficient and unsystematic planning of this process. It is very concerning how vague the plan is and how little information is available to both the staff of ATI and to ATI’s partners. The situation is further exacerbated by the message of recent months regarding the financial uncertainty and worries about the operational security of ATI.
The lack of clarity around the proposal raises justified worries about the future of ATI, both in the sense of its internal operations, their research, publication and organizational activites, and its external engagement: the numerous relations with national and international partners and organizations.
For this reason we call for a suspension of this process and for the publication of a responsibly and systematically prepared proposal that will ensure the continuous operation of ATI.
What is at play is not just the existence of ATI itself but also numerous prestigious and internationally significant activities of long-standing, such as the world-wide reaching Prague Quadrennial (PQ), the journal Theatre Revue (Divadelní revue), the research activities of the Department for the Czech Theatre Studies Department, the PerformCzech department that promotes Czech theatre abroad, its unique specialist library, as well as highly impactful activities of documentation and museum holdings, and others. With a view to the impending high-profile international events that ATI crucially facilitates – such as the presence of the Czech Republic as Guest of Honour at the Franfurt Book Fair 2026 in connection with the Year of Czech Culture 2026 (launching in October 2025) or the 60th anniversary edition of Prague Quadrennial 2027 (1967–2027) – it is essential to ensure that any organizational changes are prepared carefully, systematically and transparently, without any threat to the stability of ATI as an international player and partner, and to the operation of ATI itself.