The Arts and Theatre Institute (ATI) is a state-funded organization founded by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic. It was founded in 1959 as the Theatre Institute. Since the middle of the 1970s it has been based in the Baroque Manhart House on Celetná Street in Prague. In 2007 the institute changed its name to the Arts and Theatre Institute (ATI).

The mission of the Arts and Theatre Institute is to provide the Czech and international public with a comprehensive range of services in the field of theatre and individual services connected to other branches of the arts (music, literature, dance and visual arts). The ATI collects objects and work relating to the theatre, processes and provides access to them, pursues research, initiates and participates in international projects, and publishes scholarly work. The ATI is also the headquarters of the Czech Office of the EU Culture Programme (Czech Cultural Contact Point)

The ATI has 65 employees, one-third of them work part time. Although the ATI is funded with the help of a contribution from the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, almost 31% of its funding is self-generated revenue.

The Theatre Institute

The Theatre Institute (TI) is a centre of information, advice, education, production, and publishing for the field of theatre. It openly provides a broad range of services (a library, bibliography, documentation, video library, web portals, and databases), initiates and takes part in international projects, promotes and presents Czech theatre abroad, collects work and objects relating to the theatre, engages in research and documentation, and publishes scholarly work on the theatre.
More about The Theatre Institute here.

The Arts Institute

The Arts Institute (AI) was founded in 2005 as a separate department of the Theatre Institute with the mission of advancing and elevating the social prestige of art. The AI supports the exchange of information and experience between artistic fields, provides information and advisory services, pursues educational activities, and presents and promotes Czech art abroad.
More about The Arts Institute here

Look at the promotional video here: http://www.idu.cz/en/promotional-video

ATI Websites
The ATI operates several internet portals, which are dedicates not only to the theatre itself, but also to the music, literature, dance etc. 
www.idu.cz , www.theatre.czwww.culturenet.cz, www.pq.cz, www.czechlit.cz, www.theatre-architecture.euwww.czechmusic.orgwww.programculture.czwww.czechdance.info


The Arts and Theatre Institute (ATI)

Celetná 17
110 00 Prague 1
Czech Republic
Tel +420 224 809 111
Fax: +420 224 809 226
info@idu.cz
www.idu.cz


Contacts

Ondřej Svoboda, Head of Theatre Institute Section
ondrej.svoboda@divadlo.cz
Tel: +420 224 809 164


Themes

Digitisation

The ATI has implemented several digitisation projects directed at processing, protecting and facilitating access to collections and archive materials and is involved in international projects aimed at facilitating access to digitised materials in Europe. The public can access digitisation project outcome online via Virtual Study.

Collections, documentation, databases

The ATI is the main documentation centre for Czech theatre, assembling and systematising information on theatre.  The ATI manages collections devoted to scenographic work and theatre photography. It maintains a large database of documentary material (photographs, scenographic work, theatre productions, a library, an online bibliography, a video library), which are accessible online via Virtual Study.

Research

Research on theatre forms the main area of research at the Arts and Theatre Institute (ATI). The ATI, and especially its Department of Czech Theatre Studies (DCTS), is currently the only research institution in this field in the Czech Republic that focuses on the history of the theatre and thus ensures the continuity and advancement of the study of Czech theatre history, i.e. the conservation and deepening of the historical record of an important phenomenon of Czech national culture.

Department for Czech Theatre Studies publish the acquired knowledge in the form of biographical lexicons in printed and electronic. See Czech Theatre Encyclopaedia 

Virtual Study

The Virtual Study (ViS) is a comprehensive interface for accessing all of the Institute’s information databases. The study’s objective is to facilitate research, increase the informational value of the database materials through their joint and interconnected publishing, to provide access to materials that would otherwise be inaccessible or accessible only to a limited extent (negatives and slides from the photographic and scenographic archives), and last but not least to protect the original materials, which would suffer from regular use.

International cooperation

The ATI promotes Czech culture and especially theatre, dance, music and literature in all its forms, abroad. It prepares the concepts, dramaturgy and production background for international and local projects, festivals, exhibitions, seminars, and conferences, and it also organises such activities. It collaborates with Czech and foreign theatre and artistic organisations and institutions and universities. It actively participates in international networks and it develops Czech activities in the field of international non-governmental theatre organisations. It provides contacts and information about Czech theatre abroad and about foreign theatre at home. It prepares publications and informational materials about Czech theatre for distribution abroad, and participates in the preparation of books for publication. Activities are summarized here

Czech Art Guide

As part of its mission to promote Czech arts abroad, the Arts and Theatre Institute published a series of guides to Czech dance, theatre, music, literature etc. Each guide offers a brief historical background to its given field, information on current projects, portraits of top artists, important figures and arts bodies in the field, an extensive up-to-date directory of artists, institutions, schools, organisations and companies and other useful information on the current Czech arts scene.
See other Theatre Publications, Periodicals, CDs and DVDs in Foreign Languages.

Scenography, theatre architecture

The ATI is the organiser of the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space, the biggest international exhibition in this field.

The ATI operates a multi-language database of The European Theatre Architecture (EUTA) which is used as a resource in international projects.

Creative industries

Arts Institute has launched two important research projects concerning cultural and creative industries (CCI). Both projects are supported by the Czech Ministry of Culture.

Socio-economic potential of cultural /creative industries in the Czech Republic (2007-2011)

Czech Cultural and Creative Industries Mapping (2011-2015)

Czech Cultural Contact Point

ATI was commissioned by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic to serve as the national secretariat for the Culture 2000/Culture Programme.
The primary goal of the Czech Secretariat of the Culture Programme is to inform and provide consultation services related to the European Union’s Culture Programme to the Czech public, primarily cultural organisations, and to promote their interest in multinational cooperation and realisation of relevant international cultural projects. The Theatre Institute in Prague was commissioned by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic to serve as the national secretariat for the Culture 2000/Culture Programme.
The Czech Cultural Contact Point is supported by the Culture Programme of the European Union.
See http://www.programculture.cz/en/