Arts | All stories

The Czech Centre in Prague is currently hosting a seminar and workshop for the winners of this year’s Susanna Roth Translating Competition. Organised by Czech Centres around Europe in cooperation with the Literary Section of the Arts and Theatre Institute, the competition is open to young translators up to 40 years of age who haven’t yet published a complete work of literature. This year, they were required to translate an extract from a novel by Anna Bolavá, called Do Tmy or Into the Dark. I caught up with one of the winners, Paddy Phillips.

A new production entitled Here is Here is getting a lot of attention for its combination of genres from social to documentary theatre. Performed at three buildings of the Moravian Gallery in Brno, the tour lasts an hour-and-a-half and makes use of both historical fact and fiction.

Puppeteers’ Chrudim (Loutkářská Chrudim), one of the longest-running puppetry festivals in the world, is just around the corner. Held in the town of Chrudim, east of Prgaue it begins next week for the 65th time.

The London Czech Centre was instrumental in a recent project highlighting the industrial and cultural heritage of Ostrava in the east of the country. Entitled Stories from Ostrava – From Industry to Culture, it includes a short film called D.O.V by two students of architecture and an exhibition of photographs by photographer Viktor Kolář. Together, the present a unique glimpse for British audiences into another side of the Czech Republic – one beyond the medieval bridge and castle of the Czech capital.

The Sculpture Line summer festival is back – bringing sculptures to the streets of Prague and in one case to the Vltava River. In all, some 17 works by Czech and foreign artists are on view all around the city throughout the summer months.

Handmade Dreams is an exhibition of contemporary costume jewellery is now on at the Czech Centre in Prague. On view, are pieces by some of the Czech Republic’s top fashion and costume jewellery manufacturers and designers. The show last throughout the month of June.

The Zlín Film Festival, an international festival for Children and Youth gets underway this Friday. Over the next eight days, festival-goers will be able to choose from hundreds of screenings of some of the very best films for children and teens.

Sullivan Fortner is an immensely talented pianist who has been getting plenty of attention on the jazz scene with numerous live performances and with his successful debut Aria on Impulse. This summer he will be performing at the Newport Jazz Festival and in the Czech Republic this week as part of the American Spring Music Festival.

Kateřina Čapková heads the Prague Gallery of Czech Glass, a not-for-profit organisation promoting excellence in glassmaking as well as offering a prestigious international award since 2008 which has attracted attention worldwide. The gallery also boasts a small depository and permanent collection – anyone interested in glass works should visit.

The third annual Prague Design Week 2016 kicked off in the Czech capital this week at Kafkův dům (Kafka’s House). Organisers of the event, which features more than 90 exhibits by established firms, graduates and up-and-coming designers, say they want to highlight both variety in design as well as elements of the process itself, how an idea goes from being a sketch on paper to a prototype to finished product.