Inclusive and sustainability activities

The Jindřich Chalupecký Society profiles itself as a caring and responsible cultural institution that has long promoted diversity, fair representation, participation and socio-environmental sustainability. We understand the principles of inclusion and sustainability as interconnected ethical and methodological frameworks that are reflected in all areas of our activity – from curatorial practice and the implementation of exhibition projects, through collaboration (with artists, cultural workers) to relations with the audience and communities that form a living and integral part of our institution.

Over the past decade, we have programmatically linked original exhibition formats with participatory and discursive projects for the general public and with educational activities popularizing contemporary art. We place particular emphasis on building long-term relationships with communities that have difficult access to culture for various reasons, and on working with the audience, whom we do not understand as passive recipients, but as active co-creators of our institutional environment and program. A successfully developing format involving community members and the general public is participatory art mediation, which the SJCh has been developing since 2024. In 2025, the Society, in cooperation with the National Gallery Prague, implemented the pilot year of the School of Participatory Art Mediation, whose graduates participate as paid art mediators in programs for the public.

We see inclusion and sustainability as key components of our mission, which aims to actively contribute to the reform of the cultural and arts sector in response to current socio-political and environmental challenges. We are systematically redefining the role of the arts institution – not only as a place to present art, but as an accessible physical and social space that supports dialogue, collaboration and care. At the same time, we are rethinking and adapting our operating model to better reflect the values ​​of equity and sustainability in the daily functioning of the institution. The strengthening of our human capacities with the position of coordinator for inclusion and sustainability, who works not only at the level of conceptually setting processes and preparing specific solutions, but also at the executive level - she implements the new practice both in exhibition practice and in working with people"), was central to the development of this practice. An important aspect of her work is also support in the area of ​​working relations and professional consultation in the area of ​​inclusion and sustainability to CJCh laureates in the preparation of their exhibitions. Through her, SJCh also offers consulting services to other cultural and artistic institutions.

This section of the website serves as a digital space for documenting our activities and cooperation with partners across the local and international scene. At the same time, it is also a signpost that provides an introduction to the topics and informs about examples of good practice, significant publications, events and personalities in this field. This line of our work aims to connect political-theoretical frameworks with practical approaches and illustrate how these principles influence everyday institutional practice, relationships inside and outside institutions and the wider society.

Here you will find contributions dedicated to, for example, the accessibility and democratization of art, different approaches to art mediation, participatory art, the principles of care in cultural work, the circular economy in artistic operations, or the transformation of work culture from performance pressure to sustainability.