Ticket for NOTHING will support culture

Prague City Councillor for culture Hana Třeštíková.

“It’s not an April Fools prank, it’s serious. If we don’t support our artists, then many popular theatres and clubs might close. And since we Czechs like to play, I thought we could come up with something different than an ordinary fundraising campaign. We will offer tickets for NOTHING. The idea was born right after President Zeman’s recent speech and his unfair criticism of Czech artists. I want to show him that we can stand up for our artists. They are helping as much as they can, and we will help them back,” explains Hana Třeštíková.

You can purchase your ticket as usual: on the ticket portal GoOut, you can choose a venue or cultural institution at which you want to “attend” a non-existing theatre production, concert or another kind of performance. In the reservation system, you will buy a ticket to a virtual venue of your own choice. Exclusive VIP tickets (first row) cost 5,000 CZK, tickets to galleries 20CZK. The better the seat, the bigger your donation to your favourite artists.

At the moment, the capacity of the virtual venues is 1000 seats and each of them offers tickets worth 680,000 CZK in total. In case of higher demand, the number of seats may be increased.  The project involves tens of cultural institutions and by 1 May, more venues will have been added. They can apply by themselves or they will be contacted by the organisers. “The project was initiated in Prague, but it’s nation-wide. We are glad that the system currently includes such venues as Brno’s Sono Centrum or Cabaret des Peches. When it’s all over, each institution will receive the money from the tickets sales,” explains Lukáš Jandač, the GoOut business director.

The event targets private cultural institutions who get their income from ticket sales. “As public-benefit corporations, we cannot join this campaign, because most of our budget is covered by the municipal funds. That’s why we can survive in these hard times. The money from ticket sales is needed in the independent sector and we want to show our solidarity,” explains Daniel Hrbek, the director of Švanda Theatre, the decision of a Prague public-benefit corporation.

NOTHING will take place on 1 May 2020. “It’s a holiday of love, that’s why on this day we are going to manifest our love for culture,” explains Hana Třeštíková and concludes: “Do you want to know whether NOTHING is really ‘nothing’ or ‘something’? Let us surprise you. You can buy your tickets until 1 May, 12 noon.

More information here.

Source: Art Institute – Theatre Institute and Czech News Agency