Priorities of Ostrava: Taking Care of Culture and Senior Citizens

REGION Priorities of Ostrava: Taking Care of Culture and Senior Citizens Ing. Zbyněk Pražák, Ph.D. is one of the designers of post-1989 Ostrava. He has been involved in local culture and social issues for many years. He stood at the origins of numerous projects with distinct architectural features which enhance the style of our city, such as the Ostrava Puppet Theatre. He is also very agile in improving the system of care for seniors and the development of social facilities. Mr Pražák, a few years ago, Ostrava competed to win the title of European City of Culture. What are the current qualities of culture in Ostrava and what is the vision for the city? Ostrava is a city with a great range of excellent quality culture taken as a standard, which is why the city entered the contest for the European City of Culture. There are a huge number of cultural institutions such as theatres, philharmonic orchestras, galleries, libraries, museums as well as many events and genres of culture. Ostrava is also the centre of many projects in culture which indivisibly belong to the city’s profile. Dozens of music and drama festivals are best represented by Mezinárodní hudební festival Leoše Janáčka (the Leoš Janáček International Music Festival), Svatováclavský hudební festival (St. Wenceslas Music Festival), Colours of Ostrava, Beats for Love, Folklor bez hranic (Folk Music sans Borders), Letní shakespearovské slavnosti Ostrava (Ostrava Summer Shakespearean Festival), Cirkulum, and many others. The city council invests about 10% of its budget in culture. In the past decade, many projects have been completed, such as the renovation of Kulturní dům Akord (Akord House of Culture), the extension to the Puppet Theatre, the revitalization of the exhibition halls of the Museum of Ostrava, and the recent renovation of George Myron Theatre. Another investment has just begun, and that is the renovation of the historical buildings of the City Slaughterhouse, which is to become home to the new gallery of contemporary arts, Plato. For 2020, we have increased financing to pay for the planned construction of a new concert hall, now valued at almost 250 million CZK. The hall will be built on a design by a US studio, Steven Holl Architects, in close collaboration with Czech architects. Ostrava will thus have one of the most modern concert halls in Europe with first-class acoustics. contains even the most important multicultural festivals with long histories, such as Colours of Ostrava, Beats for Love, Cirkulum, Ostrava v plamenech (Ostrava on Fire) or Folklor bez hranic (Folk Music sans Borders). Organizers of these festivals, typically prepared a long time ahead, are in a difficult situation. We understand these events have a European reputation, therefore we are looking for ways to help them get over the most critical time and to support the continuity of these festivals in the future. Culture experienced a shock during the COVID crisis, not only in Ostrava. The City Council is the founder and promoter of many organizations and events in culture. How do you intend to revive cultural programmes? Ostrava set up a series of measures to help culture get over the difficult time of the COVID-19 pandemic. There was a special programme supporting organizations operating in culture, education, sports and non-profit activities. The council has also approved support to local entrepreneurs. Many events promoted by the city have shifted towards autumn, but I am very sorry to say that this year, some will not happen at all. The list of cancelled events The current crisis will seriously affect the economy of the city. Will it influence your visions of senior care, too? The situation is not easy; we are missing a great deal of income, and due to extraordinary expenses, we will have to apply some economic measures. Yet I believe that our principal targets in social spheres will not be affected. Currently, Ostrava has a capacity of about 2,130 beds in senior homes, 1,611 of these in city facilities. The remaining capacity is non-state and private institutions. Still, this is not enough to cover the demand, therefore we are preparing projects intended to increase the capacities of residential social services for seniors, 64 ǀ POSITIV 2/2020 The high level of a society can easily be told by how it treats its elderly citizens. Is Ostrava a cultural city in this view? The culture of a society is not expressed only in the scale of theatre and music performances or the number of museums. It consists of other aspects of at least the same significance: the environment we live in, our homes, the quality of infrastructure, and much more. Last but not least, it matters how we treat one another, the care we pay to citizens that depend on help from others, including seniors. We realize this is our responsibility in Ostrava, therefore, as a long-term policy, we promote an active approach. Within the Senior Council, there are regular meetings with representatives of organizations for seniors. Each city quarter runs a Senior Club, all twelve city districts provide so-called Senior Taxis, which is transport with lower fares. In cooperation with the city police, we provide seniors with “safety buttons” to quick-dial first responders in need, organize lectures on safety in the real world and on the Internet. They may study various fields at the Universities of the Third Age. Seniors also take part in specialized programmes and courses organized by the Museum of Ostrava and the City Library of Ostrava. We promote active seniors through annual awards of the Senior of the Year and Senior Club, and we also sponsor senior organizations.