Czech Republic/ 7. Public institutions in cultural infrastructure  

7.1 Cultural infrastructure: tendencies & strategies

Since the beginning of the 1990s, the sphere of culture went through two essential changes: decentralisation and re-allocation of public responsibilities. The first period was about privatisation of cultural industries that had been subordinated to the state until 1990 (film production, film studios, book production and music industries, etc). State circuses and variety shows were privatised as well as other cultural institutions. The second period was linked to the territorial reform of public administration in the Czech Republic (see also chapter 1).

The Ministry of Culture (MC) established 82 state-funded organisations in 1998. By 2001 this number had reduced to 39 and there are only 29 such organisations in 2012. The most recent change came into effect on 1 January 2012, when Prague State Opera and the National Theatre were joined. The majority of these organisations are libraries, museums and galleries that were transferred to new regions and the state kept only those of national and international importance. The tendency is to decrease the number of these organisations in future.

There are 18 museums, galleries and memorials, 3 art institutions (National Theatre, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and Prague Philharmonic Choir), 3 libraries and 1 institute from the field of cultural heritage (National Cultural Heritage Institute Prague) that are included in the list of organisations supported by the MC. http://www.mkcr.cz

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