Two most active Czech cultural institutions in the US have signed an agreement cementing their close ongoing cooperation and opening new venues for even wider collaboration. The National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library (NCSML), which is a Smithsonian Institution Affiliate, and the Czech (Cultural) Center New York agreed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding to facilitate closer collaboration between the two parties, with an emphasis on the development of joint educational and research projects, exhibitions, and programs.
Both institutions will encourage direct contacts and cooperation between the members of their communities, departments, institutes, and other national and international entities.
They will encourage and execute an exchange of cultural programs, exhibits and speakers, joint partnerships for cultural exhibits and programs, joint educational projects, and an exchange of information, ideas for residencies and resources.
NCSML President & CEO, Dr. Cecilia Rokusek welcomed the agreement as a further step to continue programs and truly enhance the Czech imprint in the US with such programs as the series of Czech top opera female singers’ recitals performed in Cedar Rapids over the past two years.
The signing was followed by a concert of the prima donna and soloist of the State Opera in Prague Jana Sibera and American pianist Katelyn Bouska.
Director of the Czech Center New York Miroslav Konvalina pointed out that the best Czech opera singers from the Czech Republic have found their homebase at the National Museum & Library in Cedar Rapids, Iowa as well as at the Bohemian National Hall in New York where the Czech Cultural Center resides. This affiliation truly exemplifies the journey of those early Czech immigrants who arrived in New York and then came to Iowa, a state that so reminded them of their homeland.
