Statement of the Management of the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava on the Planned Changes to the Support Activity Structure of the Slovak Arts Council for 2026

The management of the Academy of Fine Arts and Design (AFAD) in Bratislava is closely and with growing concern observing the recent developments and actions of the state apparatus of the Slovak Republic in relation to the governance of cultural institutions, which are public property and belong to all of us. As members of the AFAD leadership, we firmly oppose practices aimed at the takeover and destruction of cultural and public institutions.

By definition and under its current constitution, the Slovak Republic is a democratic state, allowing the participation of all citizens, including the professional public, in the governance of public affairs. For this reason, we call on civil society and the professional community to help preserve and cultivate public dialogue. It is unacceptable that decisions by government officials regarding the form and future of public institutions are being made without the involvement of representatives of local governments, civil society, and the professional public.

For 75 years, the Academy of Fine Arts and Design has been educating generations of artists in visual arts, design, architecture, and restoration, and thus undoubtedly ranks among the key institutions in the fields of culture, art, and the creative industries. As a public university, AFAD is acutely aware of its responsibility to foster a free, sensitive, fair, and pluralistic social and creative environment. It is crucial that public cultural institutions fulfil their roles professionally and meaningfully for the benefit of both current and future generations of Slovak citizens. High-quality institutions can only be built through professional dialogue among competent stakeholders.

We are therefore deeply troubled by the reports of planned changes to the Support Activity Structure of the Slovak Arts Council (FPU) for the year 2026. We fully agree with the statement calling for a public discussion on the structure of the FPU's support activities for 2026, which emphasizes that the current structure—prior to the announced changes—appropriately reflected many years of experience with the needs of the cultural sector in all its diversity and complexity. It also took into account feedback from applicants and insights gained by the Council itself through the implementation of thousands of projects. The existing structure balanced the needs of various genres and areas of Slovak culture, as well as the demands of different types of applicants to ensure a high-quality cultural offering throughout all regions of Slovakia.

We do not agree with the approach taken by the FPU Council and the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic, who are preparing interventions into the long-standing and proven structure of the Council’s support activities without any expert cooperation or discussion with municipalities and the professional community. By law, the Slovak Arts Council is obliged to cooperate with local governments, public institutions, and other entities in order to create favourable conditions for the development of artistic activities, culture, and the creative industries in Slovakia.

Therefore, the management of AFAD in Bratislava joins the appeal by the Open Culture! platform and Antenna – Network for Independent Culture, addressed to the Ministry of Culture and the FPU Council, to halt the approval process of the proposed changes, to open an expert dialogue with all relevant stakeholders, and to respect the expertise and experience of professionals and local authorities. The new structure of support activities should be designed to strengthen the sustainable development of the cultural environment in a democratic society and to ensure that culture remains accessible to all citizens of Slovakia, in both cities and towns.

The management of AFAD warns that the proposed interventions threaten the very foundations of a cultural infrastructure that has been built over decades. They may have existential consequences for key areas such as independent cultural centres, museums, theatres, and others that have been systematically developing spaces for the creation and presentation of art in the regions. Both state-established and independent regional cultural institutions will be forced to minimize their activities. The elimination of support for research and education will result in the loss of capacity for reflection, critical thinking, exploration, and the preservation of cultural memory and heritage, and it will undermine Slovakia's ability to reproduce and create its cultural identity.

From the perspective of art education, artistic creation, and artistic research—which are the core missions of the Academy—this means the devastation or complete loss of irreplaceable professional infrastructure necessary for the creation and presentation of all forms of art, as well as for the research and preservation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage.

The announced changes will also have a direct and significantly negative impact on the possibilities for artistic, exhibition, and publishing activities of current students and academic staff in the arts sector. These are tied to Performance Agreements with their founder, the Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic, and they are also legally obliged to register their publishing and artistic output, which directly affects the allocation of essential budgetary resources needed for research and education.

However, this is not only a matter of endangering hundreds of professionals working in the cultural sector, nor just about the artists—graduates, students, and teaching artists at AFAD—who are legally required to engage not only in teaching but also in creative, artistic-presentational, and scientific/artistic publishing activities. Following the proposed changes to the FPU’s support structure for 2026, there will be no infrastructure or funding to support these duties.

This is a project of destruction—of artistic, creative, and scientific work for future generations. It is a project of sabotage, undermining Slovakia’s competitiveness in the fields of art, culture, and the creative industries, and its consequences will affect both current and future citizens across the regions of Slovakia.

On behalf of the management of AFAD in Bratislava:
doc. Mgr. Art. Juraj Blaško, ArtD. (Vice-Rector for Grant and Project Activities)
Mgr. Norbert Lacko, PhD. (Vice-Rector for Studies)

Bratislava, September 4, 2025