Cultural Directory of Slovakia

Next is an international festival of new and experimental music organised annually by Atrakt Art in Bratislava since 2000. Its main role is twofold: to present outstanding personalities from the international scene of 'advanced' music and to offer upcoming young musicians from Slovakia and neighbouring countries a chance to perform on stage.

Monoskop is a collaborative wiki research on history of media art, set up in 2004 by the burundi media lab, Bratislava. It has continued to function since burundi's dissolution in 2005.

A project of the Experimental Studio of Slovak Radio, radioART is an experimental online music centre which aims to introduce experimental acoustic art to students of all musical tastes and skills. In addition to providing experimental music and acoustic art to listen to, it offers updates on new releases and concerts, links, downloads, and other news.

Located in the centre of the Dunajska Sterda, the Lilium Aurum Publishing house was established in 1991.Lilium Aurum means 'golden lily' in Latin, the lily symbolising light and life - mental power, respect for the law and the ability to perform one's Christian duties.

The Grand Prix Insita is awarded at the international exhibition Insita - Triennial of Untrained Art, which is held annually in Bratislava. The laureate of the Grand Prix Insita is given the opportunity to present a solo exhibition of his or her work in the year following the event.

The Danube Prizes are awarded annually at the International Festival of Television Programmes for Children and Youth, organised by Slovak Television. Television companies and producers compete for the Prix Danube in the following categories: animated production, live-action production, documentary production, and educational programmes (all up to 17 years).

This honorary award is bestowed annually in recognition of a particular major endeavour in the preceding year, for lifelong work or for long-standing contribution to different areas of culture. It is presented by the Minister on the advice of a panel or at his or her own initiative. The Minister can give out maximum 12 awards annually.

The Fine Arts Fund is awarded annually to honour outstanding lifelong contributions and work in the field of fine arts. Nominations for the award may be submitted by representatives of professional associations, institutions and individuals, and the Council of the Fine Arts Fund decides the award.

The Slovak section of IBBY is a national section of International Board on Books for Young People – IBBY.

The Marián Váross Award is presented annually by the Association of Fine Arts Theoreticians, Critics and Historians and the Fine Arts Fund to an author (or exceptionally to a team of authors) whose work clearly contributes to the development of art science in Slovakia in the fields of art theory and history. The award is named after Marián Váross (b 7 February 1923 Martin – d 21 November 1988 Bratislava), an outstanding Slovak art theoretician and historian. Nominations are made by members of the Association.

Named after Dušan Jurkovič (b 23 August 1868 Turá Lúka – d 21 December 1947 Bratislava), founder of modern Slovak architecture, the Dušan Jurkovič Award has been conferred since 1964 and by the Slovak Architects Association (SAS) since 1991. It is presented to an author or a team of authors for an implemented architectural or urbanistic work that has been instrumental in raising the standards and prestige of architectural or urbanistic work in Slovakia. It is bestowed annually by the Slovak Architects Association and the Fine Arts Fund.

Named after outstanding Slovak architect Jozef Lacko (b 19 January 1917 Zvolen – d 9 September 1978 Bratislava), the Jozef Lacko Award has been presented annually by the Slovak Architects Association (SAS) and the Fine Arts Fund in co-operation with schools with architectural orientation in the Slovak Republic since 1990 for the best undergraduate thesis in the academic year. The award is conferred without regard to the category and field of architecture, urbanism or interior design, or for theoretical thesis.

The Triple Rose Award 2009 was handed out to Peter Holka for his artistically compelling penetration into an authentic world of problems and feelings of children and young people of several generations.

These annual Awards and Prizes are gestures to give recognition to outstanding creative acts in the Slovak theatre and radio production. They are awarded by the Committee of the Section for Creative Activity in the Area of Radio, Theatre and Entertainment Industry in collaboration with artistic associations operating in this field.

The M R Stefanik Conservative Institute is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation – a conservatively focused think-tank. Its mission is to articulate, disseminate and advocate conservative attitudes and values in Slovak society, notably in public life. It activities are focused on: economy and social policy; education and schools; internal and external policy; security; EU affairs; agrarian and environmental policies; regional policy; civil society; fighting corruption; and supporting culture and arts.

The SPP Foundation’s priority focus is on the development and promotion of education, development and preservation of cultural values, support for the disadvantaged groups amongst the population, health promotion, and support for charity and philanthropic activities.

The Karol Pádivý Award is conferred annually for the development of brass band music to individuals and groups. It was established in 1991 in honour of brass band music composer and conductor Karol Pádivý (b 10 September 1908 Dolní Cerekev – d 25 September 1965 Trenčín). Its award is decided by the Music Fund's Council on the nomination of the Association Brass Bands of Slovakia.

The Jozef Kresánek Award for musicological, publicist and critical creation was established in 1991 to commemorate musicologist and composer Jozef Kresánek (b 20 December 1913 Čičmany – d 14 March 1986 Bratislava).

The Jan Levoslav Bella Award is conferred annually for a work of music or creation which has enriched Slovak music. The award was launched in 1963 in honour of Jan Levoslav Bella (b 4 September 1843 Liptovský Sv Mikuláš – d 25 May 1936 Bratislava), one of the first Slovak composers and the author of the first Slovak opera Kováč Wieland (Blacksmith Wieland).

International Theatre Festival Divadelná Nitra

The Zentiva Award aims to encourage creativity amongst young filmmakers and to allow them to work in the audiovisual sphere.

The Camera Award is given annually to Slovak cinematographers for outstanding directorial achievement and visual effects in the following major categories: feature film, television movie, documentary film, advertising and life's work.

The Director of the National Centre of Centre has presented awards to outstanding figures and prominent representatives of local and regional culture, amateur artistic production and traditional folk culture in Slovakia since 1996.

The Biennale of Imagination is an international contest and exhibition of children’s art creativity. Its mission is to develop children’s sensitivity and imagination through drawing, and to enable creative confrontation through the presentation of artistic expression of children from different countries.

The Johann Nepomuk Hummel International Piano Contest bears the name of the pianist and composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel (b 14 November 1778 Bratislava – d 17 October 1837 Weimar), a native of Bratislava, in whose work blend the elements of late Classicism and early Romanticism. It has taken place in Bratislava since 2003 and is the member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions. The Slovak Philharmonic is the organiser, and the Contest’s President is Professor Marián Lapšanský, General Director of the Slovak Philharmonic.

Launched in 1996, the Oskár Čepan Award is a competition of young talents in fine arts. Since 2001 it has been named in honour of distinguished Slovak art and literary theoretician, historian, critic, essayist, editor and painter Oskár Čepan (b 27 February 1925 Cífer – d 3 September 1992 Bratislava), author of numerous studies on fine arts.

The Biennial of Free Visual Arts is a regular Slovak national exhibition of free arts organised by the Slovak Union of Visual Artists and featuring the work of members of the SVÚ and its guests. Its purpose is to support the creation of professional Slovak visual artists involved in free arts and to highlight original contemporary Slovak production.

The Painting Competition - VÚB Foundation Award is a long-term project of the VÚB Foundation aimed at supporting the creation of young artists and creating the conditions for their establishment on the professional artistic scene.

Held annually since 1996, this competition is announced by K K Bagala and LCA – Koloman Kertész Bagala, publisher of original Slovak literature. The mission of the competition is to identify new prose writers and to give young talented authors a chance. The competition is public and anonymous. Any author who has written a short story in the Slovak language that has not yet been published may enter it in the competition. Ten authors are awarded annually – the first three places and seven financial prizes.

The Arthur Competition in the writing of original dramatic text for children and youth is run annually by the Puppet Theatre Žilina and the Theatre Institute from 2003. The purpose of the competition is to encourage original writing of Slovak drama for children and youth. The competition provides room for creation, presentation and staging of original dramatic texts, theatre plays, dramatisations, collective works, collages and serial shows for children and youth in the Slovak language.

The purpose of the Magic Nut festival is to offer presentations and competitive confrontations between radio drama productions, and meetings of producers with listeners to radio fairy tales and bedtime story programmes – including children and their parents, teachers and librarians.

Since 2002 the production company Art Script has been running the screenwriting competition for young authors aged up to 35 years. The project’s author is Silvia Králová-Panáková, and its guarantors are Ondrej Šulaj and Dagmar Ditrichová. The purpose of the competition is to foster the development of original feature-length live-action film screenwriting in Slovakia.

The National Competitive Festival of Creative Choreographies is held every three years is a competitive festival of folkloric choreography which embraces everything from folklore collective to chamber choreography (up to 6 dancers) and large form (over 6 interpreted).

The Children’s Folk Music Festival is a national competitive festival of children’s ensembles and soloists, which features interpreters of musical folklore such as children’s folk music bodies, singers groups, soloist singers and instrumentalists. The festival’s mission is to encourage and develop a love of folklore in children and to spur their interest in pursuing activity in this direction, facilitating the presentation of the results of this work to the public and confronting them with results of others. Equally the festival seeks to identify new musicians and singing talents.

Hviezdoslav's Kubín is a national advancement competition in children’s recitation and in the artistic recitation of poetry and prose by groups, individuals and poetry theatres. Its mission is to deepen literary knowledge, foster creativity, cultivate language and speech and thus to refine attitudes to the cultural and artistic value of the spoken word.

CINEAMA is the national creative competition and festival of amateur filmmaking and video production.

Launched in 1984, Divertimento musicale is the national advancement competitive festival of chamber and symphonic music. The mission of the festival is to encourage talented instrumentalists in different chamber and instrumental groupings, and to promote and further develop their artistic and concert activity in the area of classical music and compare their results.

Literary Zvolen - literary contest is a national competition in literary writing for authors, members of literary clubs and literary interest groups.

Anton Bernolák (born 3 October 1762 in Slanica, died 15 January 1813 in Nové Zámky) was a Catholic priest and founder of standard Slovak. He studied in Pressburg (present-day Bratislava), Trnava and Vienna, and in 1787 was consecrated as a priest.

Ľudovít Štúr (1815-1856) was the leader of the Slovak national revival in the 19th century and the author of the Slovak language standard which gave rise to the contemporary Slovak literary language.

Rusyns have been part of the indigenous population along the southern and northern slopes of the north-central Carpathian mountain chain for many centuries. Nowadays this territory forms part of four countries - Ukraine (Transcarpathian area), Poland (mostly Lemko region in the south-eastern part of the country), Slovakia and Romania (Marmarosh territory).

The Polish Club - Association of Poles and their Friends in Slovakia is a social and cultural organisation of citizens of the Slovak Republic of Polish nationality, citizens of the Republic of Poland living in the territory of the Slovak Republic and citizens of the Slovak Republic with a Polish cultural legacy. The organisation has set itself the objective to create the conditions for the social, cultural, scientific and sports development of its members and supporters and the promotion and development of Polish culture.

The 'Christo Botev' Cultural Association of Bulgarians and their Friends in Slovakia is a voluntary association of Slovak citizens with Bulgarian nationality, Bulgarian citizens permanently residing in the territory of Slovakia and Slovak friends of the Bulgarian nation.

Meeting in Bratislava in July 2002 at the standing conference 'Slovak Republic and Slovaks Living Abroad', Slovaks from all around the world put their heads together and agreed that they needed a tool to be able to speak out efficiently and for their words to be taken seriously. They needed a tool of global nature, ie an organisation of Slovaks living and working all around the world.

Museum of Ruthenian Culture SNM in Prešov, which focuses on history and culture of Ruthenian ethnic minority in Slovakia, was established in 2007. Its mission is to acquire, preserve, process and make available to the public the museum collections, which document the evolution of material and spiritual culture of Ruthenians in the Slovak Republic.