Lenka Zogatová will have a commemorative plaque in Brno at Fléda

Brno – Cultural organizer Lenka Zogatová will have a memorial plaque on the façade of the Fléda club in Brno. Family and friends will cover the costs through a fundraiser on a transparent account, needing 50,000 crowns. Zogatová was the director of the Czech Centre in Bratislava and an important figure in the Brno cultural scene. She passed away on December 1, 2014, after a long illness, which is also the date when the bronze plaque will be unveiled, followed by a gathering and concert, said the initiators to ČTK.

Architect Tomáš Rusín, one of the initiators, considers Zogatová's contribution to the Czech cultural scene to be heroic and indispensable, not only during her tenure at the Czech Centre in Bratislava. "There have been and are dozens of bands that owe their existence to Lenka," Rusín told ČTK.

"My participation in the project was mainly driven by friendship with Lenka. She didn’t distinguish boundaries and was very active and straightforward," said Jiří Plieštik, the sculptor and author of the emerging memorial plaque.

"She left a significant mark in a managerial role. She was able to organize various cultural events, sometimes under very difficult, even dangerous conditions. For example, the secret concert of Nico in Kníničky in 1985," Plieštik added. According to him, Zogatová was exceptional even as an actress and singer.

Before 1989, Zogatová worked at the Musilka club in Brno, where alternative groups performed thanks to her, groups that faced bans elsewhere. She also organized several illegal concerts of foreign artists, including a performance by the German singer Nico. She studied theatrical theory and occasionally worked as an actress. She appeared in Czech films Protector and Alois Nebel.

After the breakup of Czechoslovakia, she took a position as a dramaturge at the emerging Czech Centre in Bratislava, where she returned as the director in 2012. In the meantime, she worked at HaDivadlo and the National Theatre Brno, and also at the Fléda club. She succumbed to a serious illness at the age of 58.