CULTURE NEEDS SPACE!
The state is gambling with culture. Let’s not allow it to be taken from us.
Independent cultural centres across Slovakia are facing a targeted attack. At the end of 2025, the state effectively cut them off from public funding because they had the courage to remain free islands of contemporary art, critical thinking, and civic engagement. We must not allow the government to turn our cities into cultural deserts filled with gambling halls and abandoned ruins. Your donation will be a direct investment in the survival of spaces that bring us together and make Slovakia a better place to live.
Imagine that tomorrow your favourite cultural centre is replaced by a flashing gambling hall or a decaying warehouse. For many of us, this is no longer just fiction but a real threat: a politically motivated act of revenge aimed at silencing independent culture. Today, within the Anténa network, we are fighting for the survival of dozens of cultural and artist residency centres across Slovakia. Join the largest public fundraiser ever for the survival of living culture, and show that freedom cannot simply be “switched off.”
Do you know at least one of these 33 iconic places on Slovakia’s cultural map?
A4, Akropola, Art Cafe, Arteska, Arta, Banská St a nica Contemporary, Barmuseum, Bašta, Bombura, Citadela, Design Factory, Diera do sveta, Divadlo Na Peróne, Divadlo Pôtoň, Divadlo z Pasáže, Fabrika umenia, Hájovňa, Hidepark, Kino Úsmev, Klub Lúč, Kláštor, Malý Berlín, Nástupište 1–12, Nomantinels, Nová Cvernovka, Periférne centrá, Podivný barón, Presahy, Stanica Žilina-Záriečie and Nová Synagóga, Tabačka Kulturfabrik, Telocvičňa, Wave, Záhrada.
These are cultural centres and artist residencies connected through the Anténa network. Every year, they host thousands of public events for hundreds of thousands of people and provide safe, welcoming spaces for their communities. Today, all 33 of them are under threat.
What will remain when culture disappears?
Today, cultural centres are places full of artistic ideas, children’s laughter during workshops, and music that expands our horizons. But if we allow these “islands of freedom” to disappear, the future may look very different.
From culture to gambling: The facades of cultural centres could soon be replaced by flashing advertisements for casinos.
From communities to ruins: Places where we meet and discuss today could turn into silence, visual smog, and abandoned buildings.
From Slovakia to a cultural desert: Without these laboratories of contemporary art, we risk losing creativity and talent — people who may choose to leave the country instead.
The state has decided to gamble with our culture, our identity, and our future. Let’s stop it.
What will your support be used for?
Thanks to public funding, cultural centres were able to operate year-round cultural spaces and regularly present high-quality, diverse, and non-commercial events at accessible prices. With support from the Slovak Arts Council, the 33 centres in the Anténa network organised more than 5,600 events in 2025, attended by over 280,000 people.
However, these cultural and residency centres have now lost this systemic support, and many might have to close because of that.
Your contribution will help centres across Slovakia survive through 2026, so that we do not have to close our doors, cancel our programmes, or lose the people who keep these spaces alive.
The funds will be distributed in solidarity
We have decided to distribute the funds raised in this campaign in a spirit of solidarity. After the campaign ends, we will jointly determine how to allocate the resources to address the most urgent needs:
Basic operations and maintenance of the spaces (rent, energy costs)
Essential staff without which centres cannot function (technical staff, operational and programme coordination)
Non-commercial programmes and community activities (discussions, theatre, artist residencies are not possible without public funding)
Let’s not allow culture to be taken from our cities
Supporting the Culture Needs Space campaign sends a clear message: we will not allow free culture to be taken away. Help us protect it. Donate and help us make it through.
Thank you for standing with us on the right side of culture.
