The change will enable funding of the theater from other founders, for example the region, and will also bring the possibility of planning budgets for four years in advance. The institution is currently struggling with a lack of space, the priority is to preserve the four-ensemble theater, said Mayor Dagmar Škodová Parmová.
České Budějovice was the first in the republic to use the legal form of a public cultural institution. “The new legislation made it possible for us. This step brings great advantages. The public cultural institution is established by the city, but other founders can also enter there alongside us, who bring the possibility of additional funding, with a certain greater certainty than grant-in-aid organizations. Another benefit is that we can supervise the functioning of the organization much better,” explains the mayor.
According to theater director Martina Schlegelová, this is a change for the better. After the winter season, due to technical conditions, the theater leaves the Metropol House of Culture in České Budějovice, where it was rented. At the beginning of the year, the region again called on the trade unionists to sell Metropol to him.
“The transition to a public cultural institution enables the region to act as a second founder in the future. And we think that the investments that have been neglected in the South Bohemian Theater for a long time and now prove to be absolutely necessary, because otherwise the theater will not be able to function as it has been, are not possible without the region,” emphasizes the director.
Until now, the South Bohemian Theater was a contribution organization. However, this legal form did not allow him to plan long-term, for example. Now the cultural institution has an approved four-year financial plan and 183 million crowns have been secured for the year 2026. The amounts in the next three years will be similar.
Photo: Profimedia.cz
The rotating auditorium in Český Krumlová brings the majority of sales to the Jihočeský divadl. In his photo from last year, there is a production of Muž dvojhvézdy directed by Peter Forman.
According to the director, the advantage of the new legal form of the theater is also a different organizational structure, where the institution is now supervised by an administrative and supervisory board. “The management of contributory organizations is so chaotic that it just breeds mutual distrust on both sides,” notes Schlegel.
City representatives Jiří Svoboda from the ANO movement, Jan Zahradník from the ODS and the mayoress, who is unaffiliated, sit on the administrative board. The six-member board of directors is complemented by experts: former director of the South Bohemian Theater and current head of the Dejvický Theater in Prague, Lukáš Průdek, plus dramaturg Jan Šotkovský from the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno. The last member is Milan Šlachta as a representative of the Bosch group, which is one of the partners of the scene.
The South Bohemian Theater includes drama, opera, ballet and the Malé divadlo ensemble. It employs around 250 people. The revolving auditorium in Český Krumlov, which in 2024 brought in more than 56 million crowns in entrance fees, brings four fifths of its revenue.
České Budějovice councilor and South Bohemian governor Martin Kuba said last fall that the region is ready to invest money in the South Bohemian Theater if it becomes a public cultural institution. The city now pays more than 200 million crowns a year for the operation of the theater. “After the transport company, it is the second organization where the most money goes from the city budget,” said Kuba.
The draft law on public cultural institutions was approved by the previous government of Prime Minister Petr Fiala from the ODS in 2024. The then Minister of Culture Martin Baxa argued that it meets the long-term needs of cultural institutions. According to him, the new form will be particularly suitable for larger theaters, symphony orchestras, libraries and memory institutions such as museums.
The law applies from January 1, 2025 and enshrines a public cultural institution as a new type of legal entity, i.e. an alternative to existing contributory organizations. The goal is the depoliticization of institutions, the participation of the professional public in their management, ensuring financial stability and streamlining financing.
The model of the functioning of cultural institutions in Austria served as inspiration. Among other things, the law removes the positions of the founder and the director of the institution, who is appointed by the board of directors. This is to prevent possible political interference.
A public cultural institution can be established by the state, region or municipality. The transformation of existing contributory organizations into public cultural institutions is voluntary on the part of the founders, in the past, for example, the Moravian Theater in Olomouc, the National Theater in Prague or Ypsilonka have shown interest in it.
