Prague - The authors of the petition, which was created after the dismissal of the directors of the National Gallery in Prague and the Museum of Art in Olomouc, consider the resignation of Minister of Culture Antonín Staněk a success. Leoš Válka, the initiator of the petition and founder of the DOX contemporary art center, said this to ČTK today. The petition was created shortly after the dismissal of Jiří Fajt and Michal Soukup and demanded Staněk's resignation.
"But it's not won yet; it depends on the new minister to follow up with further necessary steps aimed at conducting quality selection processes for both positions. We have a mandate and we must not squander it," said architect Josef Pleskot to ČTK, who was another spokesperson for the petition.
The Social Democratic Party's leadership has instructed Staněk to prepare competitions by the end of May, which is also the deadline by which the minister announced his resignation. It is currently unclear whether the selection processes will be prepared. Staněk justified the dismissals of Fajt and Soukup by serious economic misconducts allegedly revealed by audits in both institutions. Both dismissed directors rejected such reasons.
There were two petitions created based on Staněk's dismissal of both directors. The earlier one now has over 7,000 signatures, including many prominent figures from cultural and public life. Pleskot said he perceives Staněk's resignation as evidence that people can unite and "won't just accept everything that is presented to them." According to the petition's initiators, Staněk was incompetent and unable to address issues in the cultural sphere.
"We appreciate that Antonín Staněk chose to calm the situation by resigning himself. However, this is only the first step. It is now crucial that a respected and competent person becomes the new minister who will be able to lead the Ministry of Culture appropriately," said Johanka Lomová, representing the second petition against Staněk's actions, initiated by younger artists and art historians, which has been signed by several hundred people.
"The events around the National Gallery in Prague and the Museum of Art in Olomouc highlighted the need for structural changes - especially the establishment of expert administrative boards for large subsidized organizations, whose existence should ensure a more structured management system and prevent similar conflicts, like those we have witnessed in recent weeks. At the same time, it is necessary to resolve the appointments of both dismissed directors in a transparent and informed manner," added Lomová.
Válka also considers Staněk's resignation a significant victory for those striving for transparent and standard solutions in the cultural sphere, and especially for keeping politics out of it, which they claim occurred in Staněk's case. He does not want to speculate about who could replace Staněk, but he believes the bar has been set so low that "it cannot be lowered any further."
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