Paying off the debts left by last year's Prague festival - organised by the Golden Golem Foundation - has increased the costs of this year's by a third, said Jiri Samek, head of the festival's new organisation, Bohemia Promotion. Still, he describes it as an investment.

"I thought it would be sad if it came to an end after last year. Now I'm firmly convinced the 'A category' will be preserved for Prague and the Czech Republic, and the festival can begin to build a long tradition."

"All festivals first have to stabilise when they're starting out, and that can be a very expensive business, especially when the financing is all private. All you can do is to rely on the enthusiasm of those who have the money and want to spend it on an event which isn't well-known yet, but is definitely well-received abroad." Samek does not see the existence of two festivals in the Czech Republic as a problem in finding them, maintaining that for sponsors a festival is mainly a promotional instrument and if Prague and Karlovy Vary manage to differentiate their roles there will be enough money for everybody.

The burden of the debts taken over has caused the festival some internal problems, Samek said. Still, he said, "that's not as important as happy audiences."

Radka Prchalova

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