Art for the City

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The Art for the City programme was established in 2020 under the patronage of the City of Prague with the aim of enriching the city’s public spaces with both temporary and permanent artworks, thereby bringing art closer to the general public. We provide conceptual, financial and production support for the creation of contemporary artworks for the capital’s public spaces. The programme aims to provide financial support for the acquisition of artworks for public spaces through municipal organisations and investors. We adhere to the principle that public space is for everyone – we strive to ensure that the works supported are interactive, accessible to the widest possible audience, and situated outside the city centre as well. Institutionally, we fall under the Prague City Gallery, which acts as the programme’s expert guarantor.

Most of the artworks by both established and emerging artists that we support are selected by an expert committee following open calls. In addition to installing artworks in public spaces, we also organise festival-style events, gallery exhibitions and educational conferences every year. After 1990, there was no form of support for contemporary art in the city’s streets and parks. This led to public spaces being ‘cluttered’ with works which, whilst mostly ‘free’, were not donated altruistically to city districts, institutions or the City of Prague. The Art for the City programme will enable us to select and support the very best that contemporary visual art has to offer for the most valuable asset Prague possesses: our shared public space.

We have a long-standing partnership with other municipal and cultural institutions, such as the Prague Public Transport Company, Prague Embankments, Holešovice Market, the Municipal Library and Creative Prague.