The cultural and language center, American Center Ostrava, formerly called the American Corner, is the result of cooperation between the Ostrava City Library and the US embassy in Prague, the latter of which also provides support for similar centers in five other cities.

The center provides information on US politics, history, economy and society. Its other services include English book and magazine rentals, board games, documentary viewings, courses, VR headset sessions, 3D printing and access to the eLibraryUSA database and Corinth application. The center also provides the opportunity to meet interesting guests, experts in various fields and American diplomats.

In September, the center will host a talk with Heather Anderson, who was awarded the title Adventurer of the Year in 2019 by National Geographic. Other events visitors might look forward to are English conversation courses, self-development workshops or even Czech language courses for Ukrainian citizens.

For students interested in part-time jobs or studying in the USA, the American Center offers regularly updated information, including study materials and an opportunity for personal consultations.

The center also offers a wide variety of services for schools. For example, a myriad of presentations hosted in both English and Czech, native speaker workshops, or access to VR headsets or 3D printers.

Since its founding in fall of 2019 under the name American Corner, the center has hosted over 200 public events and registered over 2 500 student visitors. All of this despite the pandemic, which forced some of the center’s activities into the online sphere.

Increased emphasis on online content is what inspired the merger of all American cultural centers under the unified name of American Center. This allowed the centers to mutually cooperate more efficiently and offer their online programmes to a much wider audience.