EEA and Norway Grants will support building of memorial to Romani victims of the Holocaust at former concentration camp site
Roughly CZK 870 million [EUR 33,595,405] will be donated to support culture in the Czech Republic over the next three years by the EEA and Norway Grants program. That amount includes co-financing from the Czech state of 15 %.
A total of six funding calls will be announced to support approximately 100 projects. Representatives of the Czech Finance Ministry, which is facilitating the program, made the announcement at a press conference on 29 May. One example of a project that will be supported is the building of a memorial to the Holocaust victims of Romani origin who suffered at Lety u Písku.
“More than half of the money during this period will be targeting the renewal of cultural heritage memorials. We will also support art criticism, contemporary art, and support for professional associations and platforms,” Deputy Finance Minister Lenka Dupáková said.
As part of the protection and renewal of cultural heritage there will be several bigger projects supported with a maximum subsidy of EUR 1.5 million. That call for applications will be announced during the second quarter of this year.
Two calls for applications will be for contemporary arts and will support projects with a subsidy of between EUR 50 000 and EUR 200 000. This will be support for original artistic works and their presentation as part of the art of performance (classical and contemporary music, dance, movement arts, new circus, theater) and visual arts (the fine arts including architecture, contemporary and traditional crafts, and design).
For the contemporary art projects, emphasis will be placed on supporting the cultural expression of minorities, and the issue of inclusion is also to be addressed, including access to culture, for example, by members of the Romani minority. “Support for the cultural heritage of minorities and activities focused on inclusion will be emphasized in the next calls for applications and also directly supported by building the memorial to the Holocaust victims of Romani origin who perished at Lety u Písku,” said Jan Hrdlička of the Czech Culture Ministry.
Norwegian Ambassador Robert Kvile mentioned the renewal of the Rotunda of St. Václav in the Lesser Quarter neighborhood of Prague as an example of one of the successful projects supported by EEA/Norway Grants over the last 15 years. “Other examples are the digital restoration of Czech cinematic heritage, including the film ‘Three Nuts for Cinderella’, which is very popular in Norway, or the project of collaboration between the Wallachian Open Air Museum and the Maihaugen Museum in Lillehammer, Norway, in the area of folk architecture and folklore,” Kvile said.
The Czech Republic will receive a total of roughly CZK 5 billion [EUR 192,988,879] from the EEA and Norway Grants program during the third program period running until 2024. The biggest proportion will go to Environment and the Research programs, at 18 % each.
Culture will receive 17 %, Human Rights will receive 11 % and Health will receive 8 %. Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway contribute through the EEA and Norway Grants to reducing economic and social disparities in the European Economic Area and to strengthening collaborations with 15 European states.
Those receiving the financial support are countries in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe. The Czech Republic has been a recipient of this funding since 2004 when it joined the European Union and thereby the European Economic Area.
During the first and second program periods about CZK 6 billion [EUR 231,572,455] was invested in the Czech Republic. Currently the country receives the fifth-largest amount of funding after Poland, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria.
