June 2, 2025
In the past weeks, we made a difficult decision regarding JAMA – 79th Year of Milan Adamčiak.
At the Slovak Arts Council board meeting on April 16, our application for JAMA 79 was approved. We have decided to decline this grant. This does not mean that JAMA won’t happen this year – quite the opposite.
It wasn’t an easy decision, and we don’t claim it’s the only right one. Unlike many others, we are among the more fortunate ones – our support wasn’t cancelled or slashed to unsustainable levels by the new nominees of the Ministry of Culture. We feel the need to explain why we chose this path. That’s what this statement is about. If you’re interested, read on.
1. Since the end of last year, we’ve been closely following the public sessions of the Slovak Arts Council’s board – and we’ve found them deeply disturbing. We’ve heard many bizarre statements, including the repeated claim that “the Slovak Arts Councl is functioning well” (if only the director didn’t obstruct it). These words are coming from people who are directly harming the institution through politically motivated and incompetent behaviour, shifting blame onto others. They mislead, manipulate, lie, delay funding, and threaten the very existence of culture in Slovakia. After months of protest from the cultural community, we feel helpless and exhausted. The only thing we feel capable of doing at this point is to reject this game – to refuse to be used by the Ministry of Culture as an example or a public justification for their destructive actions; to refuse to serve as a convenient proof that “the system works.”
2. We were among those who defended the Slovak Arts Council to the very last breath. We attended every protest, applauded every expert who chose to stay in the commissions and continue. This is public money and public interest – it belongs to all of us, not to the board, not to the friends or cronies of the current establishment. The resignation of Dušan Buran as chair of the SAC board in March, and the dismissal of SAC director Róbert Špoták in April marked a breaking point for us. We now see the Council as being fully taken over by people nominated by minister Šimkovičová and Lukáš Machala – people we consider incompetent, harmful, and self-serving. These people cannot be our partners.
3. Based on all publicly available information about how the board is currently operating, it is clear that decisions are being made regardless of arguments – unprofessionally, arbitrarily, and for personal gain. Several board members are under scrutiny by the General Prosecutor’s Office. We do not consider this kind of decision-making about public funding to be responsible or legitimate, and we refuse to accept it.
By rejecting the grant, we do not mean to dismiss the work of the expert commissions – quite the opposite. We are deeply grateful to those who stayed on even a year after the Council’s collapse began, continuing their work in service of applicants and the public, and helping preserve quality projects a little longer.
We are also grateful to the dismissed director Róbert Špoták, former board chair Dušan Buran, and every staff member of the SCA who stood up for the institution. You have our respect and admiration for your tireless, principled work.
Last but not least, we thank the protesting public, the Kultúrny Štrajk, the Otvorená kultúra! platform and its supporters, and everyone defending culture and taking a stand. You are doing vital, underappreciated work.
We did consider accepting the grant and using it to support artists and initiatives that were left out. But when the time came to make a decision, we simply couldn’t see how this would work in practice. JAMA, even in better times, is not a plug-and-play event. It’s not a cultural centre, it doesn’t have institutional infrastructure or standard programming.
What we can do is support artists, provide space, create jobs for cultural workers – and we’ll continue to do just that. We’re lucky to be able to offer paid opportunities in our other projects to the artists, producers, and tech teams we work with. We are deeply grateful that they continue to stand with us.
Being in this position is far from easy. We are part of Trenčín 2026 – a project that is in many ways imperfect and exhausting. But it’s also one of the few safe havens we currently have. We know not everyone has that luxury. We’ll keep looking for ways to share it with as many people as possible who need it.
We’re happy for every meaningful project that received support and will be realised. We cheer for everyone who found ways to open their project to others and support the scene. We’ll be there. We’ll come see it. We’ll support it whenever we can. We’re fully convinced that it’s essential to keep going – no matter what. We’ll keep going, too – just in our own way.
Now, for the good news: JAMA 79 is happening.
JAMA will take place as originally planned, on October 17 and 18, 2025. We continue to count the years of M.A., regardless of politics or funding. More than ever, this is a time to come together and build islands of freedom and solidarity in difficult times. That’s what we want JAMA 79 to be.
We’ll make it happen within our means, energy, and capacity – and whatever shape it takes, it will be open to anyone who wants to come. It will be what it can be – one of many possibilities. We’re looking forward to it and curious to see what we’ll manage to create.
For now, we just need a little time to redraw the plan. More from us soon. Take care.
Eva Vozárová
Fero Király