The competition for the director of NGP could be announced after Easter

Prague - The Guarantee Council of the National Gallery in Prague has prepared the framework for the selection procedure for the director of this state collection institution. The chairman of the council, Josef Pleskot, told ČTK today that at the council meeting on February 10, its members would present the parameters of the competition to the Minister of Culture, Lubomír Zaorálek (ČSSD). According to the council's vision, the competition could be announced after Easter, and by the end of this year, the National Gallery could know the name of the new director, said Pleskot.

The NGP has not had a proper head since April 19 of last year, when the then Minister of Culture, Antonín Staněk (ČSSD), dismissed its director Jiří Fajt. He justified it by citing serious financial shortcomings. This move led to protests and was at the beginning of considerations about Staněk's departure from office. He entrusted the management of the NGP to Ivan Morávek.

Just before leaving office after President Miloš Zeman accepted his resignation, Staněk announced a selection procedure for Fajt's successor. Zaorálek canceled it upon his arrival at the ministry, as well as Morávek's appointment. He appointed Anne-Maria Nedoma as the interim director, who is expected to lead the institution until a new general director emerges from the competition. At that time, he also established the Guarantee Council, which is to work on preparing the competition and on appointing members of the commission that should select the new head of the NGP.

The Guarantee Council worked on a new statute for the NGP, which it submitted to the Minister of Culture before Christmas. On Monday, February 10, the Guarantee Council should discuss the statute with the minister, as well as the parameters of the selection procedure. The statute does not contain major changes and must continue to adhere to the National Gallery Act of 1949.

Pleskot stated that the Guarantee Council was primarily integrated into the statute as an entity that stands between the gallery director and the Minister of Culture, and should potentially make it more difficult for both to make sudden and unfounded decisions. It cannot prevent them, but if such decisions are made and are in conflict with the Guarantee Council's recommendations, they may be viewed as arbitrary decisions, believes the chairman of the Guarantee Council.

Whether the competition should result in one general director, or if the management of the institution could involve a manager with an expert, could, according to Pleskot, emerge from the course of the selection procedure. In any case, it will be multi-round, he indicated.