One hundred employees are leaving the Slovak National Gallery

Bratislava – A hundred employees are leaving the Slovak National Gallery (SNG) in response to the actions of the Ministry of Culture and the temporary general director of the gallery, Jaroslav Niňaj. More resignations will follow, according to a press release from the initiative to protect the gallery. Some senior SNG staff submitted their resignations in the first half of January, stating that they do not wish to witness the "destruction of the institution."

The Slovak Minister of Culture, Martina Šimkovičová, dismissed the director of SNG, Alexandra Kusá, last year, as well as the directors of the national theater and the national museum. The dismissed director of SNG was supported not only by Slovak representatives but also by representatives of Czech cultural institutions. Protests against the actions of the former television presenter Šimkovičová, who claims to be a guardian of traditional values, were held in Slovakia.

"The Slovak National Gallery, as we know it, is collapsing. Years of built reputation and professional support are in ruins,” states the initiators of the appeal, whose spokesperson is Zuzana Dzurdzíková. The appeal was addressed to the minister in November, demanding a halt to the non-transparent changes in the organizational structure of SNG.

According to the SME.sk website, approximately half of the gallery's curators, the majority of marketing staff, and members of the dramaturgical council have resigned. SNG has a total of 270 employees, with the mentioned hundred set to leave by April 1.

The initiative claims that Niňaj is running the gallery completely incompetently, has stripped the gallery of people critical of the minister, and is politicizing it. Employees are being reassigned to new positions without notice or alteration of contracts. The interim director has also caused the cancellation of several key exhibitions planned for this year, the press release states.

"We cannot continue to work in an environment where laws are being violated, fundamental management principles are ignored, and where professionals become victims of the government's arbitrary decisions," the initiative states.

Šimkovičová advocates for so-called traditional culture and, for example, positions herself against LGBT+ themes. The minister previously stated that the culture of the Slovak people should be Slovak and nothing else.

The Slovak Ministry of Culture previously also pushed through a new law on public broadcasting. In practice, this has resulted, among other things, in the departure of the station's director. Government MPs also allowed the Ministry of Culture greater control over the funds that distribute subsidies in culture through changes in the laws.