On Tuesday, the committee for the selection of the director of the NG is to be known

Prague - The composition of the commission that is to select Milan Knížák's successor as the director of the National Gallery in Prague is promised to be announced by the Ministry of Culture on Tuesday. Minister Václav Riedlbauch will meet that day with experts from the field of visual arts, after which he seeks not only suggestions for commission members, but also to establish the criteria for the competition.
The Minister of Culture would like to announce the competition for the head of the largest domestic collecting institution in the field of visual arts before the current government's term ends. However, the exact dates of the competition are still unknown, and it is even less clear when Knížák’s successor should take office. Knížák would like to lead the NG until the end of next year, while the minister, according to his statements and those of the advisory board members, wants to set the appointment of the new director for an earlier date.
The minister's advisory board will propose members of the commission, but the minister is not obligated to follow their recommendations. During the competition, the ministry plans to approach some experts, while others will be able to apply. The advisory board includes two gallery owners, a curator, three art historians, a university dean, an artist, an art publicist, and an expert on cultural policy and cultural management.
There has also been speculation that Knížák might sit on the selection committee. However, the members of the minister's advisory board are mostly critics of his tenure at the helm of the NG, which he has led since 1999. Knížák has faced criticism from parts of the expert community for years, and recently voices have emerged calling for his dismissal.
His appointment method has also faced criticism - he was not clearly the first in the competition, yet the then Minister of Culture Pavel Dostál (ČSSD) appointed him. However, Knížák is also close to the second strongest domestic party; he unsuccessfully ran for the Senate for ODS in 1998 and is close to President Václav Klaus.
For the directors of contributory organizations, of which the Ministry of Culture has 30, there has not traditionally been a specified duration of their term. Some have been leading state institutions since the early 90s - the longest-serving are Vladimír Opěla from the National Film Archive (since 1992), Helena Koenigsmarková from the Museum of Applied Arts (since 1991), and Pavel Zatloukal from the Museum of Art in Olomouc (since 1990).
Only in recent years has their founder tried to introduce rules into this system. Riedlbauch's predecessor Václav Jehlička wanted to institute a six-year term, but only a few institutions had competitions announced just for these reasons, such as the Czech Philharmonic, the Moravian Museum, the Moravian Library, or the State Opera Prague, where the competition was annulled after the fall of the Topolánek government.
Riedlbauch has opted for a system of performance reviews every three years. So far, such a process has only taken place with the director of the National Museum, the National Gallery is the second, and during his tenure at the ministry, Riedlbauch intends to assess the mandates of the directors of the Museum of Applied Arts, the Film Archive, and the National Institute of Folk Culture in Strážnice.