Korzo Národní fundraiser tops 3 million crowns after grant refusal

A public fundraiser for Korzo Národní, the Nov. 17 celebration held on Národní Street in Prague, has passed three million crowns, three times the amount the organizers had requested from the state. Donations jumped after the Ministry of Culture refused to award a grant.

The association Díky, že můžem (“Thank You for Letting Us”) launched the collection on darujme.cz on Wednesday. According to the organizers, more than three million crowns had been raised by 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, and the total kept growing. The money will go toward marking the events of November 1989 and 1939.

The ministry cites the rules

According to Culture Minister Ota Klempíř of the Motorists for Themselves party, the grant was not awarded because the organizers do not meet the conditions. “This is not a political decision or a doubt about the importance of marking Nov. 17. It is about following rules set in advance, which must apply to all applicants equally,” the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry added that in 2023, 2024 and 2025 its expert committee repeatedly declined to recommend the project, according to internal documents, because it did not fit the focus of the grant program. Grants were nevertheless awarded: 500,000 crowns in 2023, 1.5 million in 2024 and 700,000 last year. The decisions were made by then-minister Martin Baxa (ODS), who said it is untrue that the support broke the rules: according to him, the applicant met all the conditions every year.

Organizers: the decision came too late

Korzo Národní executive director Bára Stárek said the association respects the ministry’s right to refuse, but sees its latest statements as an attempt to drag the celebration into disputes between the current and former governments. The application was submitted in April, and the answer came six months later, 29 days before the event. According to her, the ministry’s expert committee rated the project 88 out of 100 and proposed making an exception, but the ministry’s leadership rejected the recommendation.

The minister, for his part, said in an interview that the program only covers round anniversaries of whole decades, and the 37th anniversary of the events of 1989 does not qualify.

Association spokeswoman Pavla Umlaufová stressed that the annual campaign starts at this time of year after the program is published and was not a reaction to the refusal. Donations always cover roughly 30 percent of the celebration’s budget, but this year, she said, that support is especially important. The South Bohemian Region added 300,000 crowns, and Governor Martin Kuba (Our Czechia) called on other regions to join in.

Korzo Národní will go ahead in full: 160 program items, free for everyone. This year the organizers also want to mark the 90th anniversary of Václav Havel’s birth.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz