2025 Events

NEW PROGRAM: Czech Language Playgroup

newyork

New program kickoff!

CZECH LANGUAGE PLAYGROUP
For children 3-7 years old with their parents

Sunday, NOVEMBER 16, 2025
10 am – 12:30 pm
Bohemian National Hall, 3rd Floor
321 E 73rd Street, New York, NY 10021

Playgroup
We invite all preschool-aged children and their parents to the inaugural gathering of the revived Czech language playgroup, organized by our SVU NY board member, Vera Dvorak. Siblings of other ages are welcome.
The program will feature Czech rhymes, songs, movement, reading, creative activities, and a special guest, Vit Horejs*, the renowned New York puppeteer, and a fellow board member. He will join the children to perform two Czech fairy tales.

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The main objective of the playgroup is to provide young children in our community with the opportunity to spend a few hours in a Czech-speaking environment with their peers, and to bring Czech and Czech American families together.
If there is sufficient interest, the playgroup will meet monthly.
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To attend, please REGISTER by Thursday, November 13th.
Fee: $10 per child (cash only at the door)

Please bring a snack for your child. You are welcome to contribute a small item for our shared table as well.

For more details:
Please visit the CSNY/Playgroup website (in Czech)
or contact Vera Dvorak.

We look forward to seeing you there!

* Note: Wooden Hearts, a feature film premiere starring Vit Horejs, will be screened on Mon, November 10 at 6:15 pm, at the Big Apple Film Festival in New York

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The event is organized by the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU), New York Chapter, with the support of the Czech Consulate General, the Czech Center New York and the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association (BBLA).

EXPLORING THE EXTREMES

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Wednesday, OCTOBER 15, 2025, at 7pm

A talk by Dr. Michaela Musilova, Astrobiologist and filmmaker
followed by a screening of her documentary film The Boss – Aconcagua (US premiere)

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Free. Seating is limited.
REGISTER HERE

The film takes you on Michaela’s extraordinary expedition to Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in South America, where she weaves together breathtaking adventure, cutting-edge science, and a deeply personal story of resilience. As part of her groundbreaking Astro Seven Summits project in collaboration with NASA, Michaela combines mountaineering with research, education, and student outreach—bringing space science to life in some of the planet’s most extreme environments.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A and reception.

Don’t miss this rare opportunity to witness her journey on the big screen and hear directly from one of today’s most visionary explorers.

Dr. Michaela Musilova, Slovak-born, is an astrobiologist and analog astronaut. She’s trying to understand the limits of life on Earth, while studying how the planet’s environment is changing and how it resonates with people around the world. Currently, she’s leading a unique project called Astro Seven Summits. It’s a world-first in combining expeditions to the highest mountain on each continent with scientific research in collaboration with NASA and institutions worldwide, educational activities and filming documentaries.

This event is organized by the Slovak American Cultural Center in partnership with the Czechoslovak Society for Arts and Sciences
and with the support of the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association in New York

THROUGH THE IMMIGRANT’S LENS by Tatana Kellner

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Wednesday, September 10, 2025, at 7 PM
Bohemian National Hall
321 W 73 St in Manhattan

Tatana Kellner, a multi-disciplinary artist, will discuss her work, charting her journey as an immigrant from Czechoslovakia in 1969, finding her artistic voice, and co-founding the Women’s Studio Workshop (WSW), an artists’ workspace in Rosendale, NY, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The talk will present both her personal work and the activities of WSW.

Free and open to the public. Suggested donation $15

Please register on EVENTBRITE

Tatana Kellner is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work is rooted in social issues. Born in Czechoslovakia, she emigrated with her family to the USA in 1969. Her work combines printmaking, painting, photography, and installation. It was exhibited in numerous venues across the USA, Canada, Europe, and Asia, including over fifty solo exhibitions. She has received numerous prestigious awards, grants, and artist residencies. Kellner is a co-founder and past artistic director of Women’s Studio Workshop in Rosendale, NY.
www.instagram.com/tatana1950, www.tatanakellner.com

Organized by the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU), New York Chapter, with the support of the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association (BBLA).

ECHOES OF EXILE: A Family’s Odyssey through the Holocaust and Cold War

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A book presentation by the author DANIELA GROLLOVÁ SPENSER in conversation with DAN LA BOTZ

Thursday, October 23 at 7 pm
Bohemian National Hall
321 E 73 St, Manhattan

VIDEO RECORDING ON YOUTUBE

A presentation of Echoes of Exile, a deeply personal yet historically grounded account of Czechoslovakia from the 1930s to the 1990s.

In this new book, historian and anthropologist Daniela Grollová Spenser offers an intimate portrait of her family’s experience—beginning with her grandparents, who were marked by the tragedy of the Holocaust, and focusing on the lives of her mother, translator Ruth Toseková, and her father, prominent editor and journalist Vladimír Tosek. Active in the cultural and political life of 1950s and 1960s Czechoslovakia, both were key figures during the Prague Spring. Following the Soviet invasion in 1968, they fled the country and became part of exile circles connected to leaders such as Jirí Pelikán. The book concludes with a thoughtful exploration of the relationship between political exiles and Czech society after 1989.

The English edition was published by the University of Alabama Press, 2025. Receive a 30% Discount with Promo Code BAMA.

The book was published in Czech under the title Rozpolcená doba, rozptýlené životy za druhé sv?tové války a studeného míru.

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Daniela Grollová Spenser, born in Prague, with roots in Morava, in exile since 1968, is a historian and anthropologist living in Mexico. She received her M.A. in 1987 from the University of Mexico City, and PhD in 1994 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Later, she taught history at the Ibero-American University in Mexico City, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and the Autonomous Institute of Technology in Mexico. She has published several books, including The Impossible Triangle: Mexico, Soviet Russia, and the United States in the 1920s (1999).

Dan La Botz is a retired professor who last taught at the School of Urban and Labor Studies of the City University of New York. He is the author of a dozen histories and novels and a member of the editorial board of the journal New Politics. His latest books are Riding with the Revolution: The American Left in the Mexican Revolution, 1900–1925 and Radioactive Radicals: A Novel of Labor and the Left.

This event is organized by the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU), New York Chapter, with the support of the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association (BBLA) in New York.



THE POWER OF IDEAS

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Wednesday, JUNE 18, 2025, at 7 PM
Bohemian National Hall, 321 E 73 St. in Manhattan

The Story of Three Ideas Conceived in New York and Realized in the Czech Republic: a Greenway, a Garden, and a Book.
An illustrated talk by Stefan Yarabek, President, Friends of Czech Greenways

VIDEO RECORDING ON YOUTUBE.

Join us to celebrate the legacy of the late Lubomir and Tiree Chmelar, whose visionary ideas continue to inspire connections between people, nature, and culture in the Czech Republic: the Prague-Vienna Greenway and the unique organic herb garden in the wine country of Moravia and adjacent to the magnificent Valtice Chateau, a part of the UNESCO Cultural Landscape.

Suzanna Halsey will present a FCG a book project that rediscovers the fascinating story of the Bauer Brothers, three boys from Valtice (Feldsberg) who became 19th-century world-renowned botanical illustrators. The book is written and illustrated by four former students of the Mikulov Art School (ZUŠ). The foremost expert on the life and work of the Bauer brothers, Professor H.W. Lack at the Berlin Botanical Garden, consulted on the project and wrote the foreword.

This year’s international Lednice-Valtice Music Festival (September 20 – October 18) will also feature the Bauer brothers in its program.

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Stefan Yarabek is a landscape architect of Czech and Slovak heritage based in Saugerties, New York, where he leads Hudson & Pacific Designs. He also serves as president of the nonprofit Friends of Czech Greenways, headquartered in New York City. Stefan is actively involved in heritage and preservation efforts in the Hudson River Valley, contributing to initiatives such as the Hudson River Valley Greenway and the Hudson River National Heritage Area. His connection to the Czech Republic goes back decades. In 1990, he collaborated with Lubomir Chmelar on the design and development of the Prague–Vienna Greenway, a landmark project in post-communist Czechoslovakia. Just before that, during the historic Velvet Revolution in November 1989, Stefan lectured on environmental planning and the Greenway Movement in the United States at Charles University and several architectural schools in Prague. These lectures were organized under the auspices of SURPMO, as the country began opening to new ideas and global exchange.

Join us on the journey!

This event is organized by the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences, New York Chapter (SVU), in collaboration with Friends of Czech Greenways and with the support of the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association.

Please note: One of The 6-Minute Challenge alumni, Karel Hermánek, Jr., a prominent Czech actor, appears in the free production of All’s Well That Ends Well by W. Shakespeare in Central Park and elsewhere. Until July 3, 2025.

Appeasement Then and Now/ CANCELED!!

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80 years since the End of WWII series

CANCELED!

A talk by Igor Lukes
Professor of History and International Relations, Boston University

Monday MAY 5, 2025, at 7 PM
Bohemian National Hall
321 E 73 St (cinema), Manhattan

Ukraine

In 1945, people asked: Can we coexist in peace? Will there be another war? In 2025, we ask the same questions. The talk will present new evidence regarding the pre-World War II escalating crisis and point out the parallels between the appeasers in the 1930s and today.

REGISTER on Eventbrite.

Igor Lukes is a Professor of History and International Relations at Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston Universit. He has written about the interwar period, the Cold War, and contemporary politics. His books include Dejiny a doba postfakticka: eseje, uvahy, glosy (2022), On the Edge of the Cold War: American Diplomats and Spies in Postwar Prague (2012), Rudolf Slansky: His Trials and Trial (2006), Czechoslovakia Between Stalin and Hitler: The Diplomacy of Edvard Benes in the 1930?s (1996). He is the recipient of the Central Intelligence Agency 2012 Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Literature on Intelligence and the 2000 Stanley Z. Pech Prize. Lukes is Honorary Consul General of the Czech Republic in Boston.

When the War Ended: Voices of Czech-American Eyewitnesses

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Audio-visual presentation by JULIE URBIŠOVÁ
Part of the special event commemorating 80 Years since the End of WWII series

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Thursday, MAY 22, 2025, at 7.15 PM(!)
Bohemian National Hall in Manhattan
321 E73 St, 3rd floor

VIDEO RECORDING ON YOUTUBE.

Julie Urbišová’s talk will feature remarkable personal stories about survival, hope, and new beginnings shared by Czech immigrants who lived through WWII. She collected these accounts as part of her work for Pam?? národa (Memory of Nations), one of Europe’s largest oral history projects. Since 2008, it has provided open access to firsthand testimonies from those who endured Nazism and Communism, ensuring that history’s darkest times are never forgotten.

Following the presentation, Julie will hold a live conversation with several Czech-Americans who lived during the war

Julie Urbišová is a Czech-born journalist who studied Journalism and Ethnology at Charles University in Prague. Growing up near Ostrava in the Hlu?ínsko region, which was part of Germany until 1920, Julie developed a deep interest in people’s stories. She was affected by war memories in her village, where all the men, including her grandfather, were forced to enlist in the German Wehrmacht armed forces during WWII. In 2007, Julie moved to New Orleans to continue her studies at the University of New Orleans and has since settled there with her Turkish husband and two daughters. She is the author of Doma v Nola (At Home in Nola), a book about New Orleans’ history and culture, based on her stories for Czech radio. She also hosts the podcast Doma ve Státech (At Home in the States). Since 2021, Julie has collaborated with Memory of Nations, traveling across the U.S. to interview Czechs and preserve their stories.

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PLEASE NOTE: At 6 PM, our program will be preceded by a talk, LIDICE LIVES! Global Responses to a Nazi Atrocity, by Professor CYTHIA PACES Paces from The College of New Jersey. In her unique talk, she will explore how Lidice captured the imaginations of many creative thinkers and artists in the 1940s and asks why Lidice still resonates today.

REGISTER

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This special two-part event is organized by the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU) in collaboration with the Czech Center New York with the support of the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association (BBLA).

The 6-Minute Challenge, #18

newyork

Wednesday, APRIL 9, 2025, at 7 pm
Bohemian National Hall in Manhattan

PROGRAM NOTES
VIDEO RECORDING

The popular 6-Minute Challenge invites artists, professionals, students, scholars and scientists of Czech or Slovak descent and challenges them to introduce their talent, the subject of their work, project, research, or studies in a short presentation limited to six minutes.

The 18th edition included the following presenters: Irena Canová (costume designer), Jan Cina (actor and singer), Petra Gupta Valentová (artist, Gray Nivas program), Michal Kaplan (diplomat, Czech Consulate NY), Lenka Lichtenberg (singer, musician, composer), Lenka Mašková (sculptor), Kris Príhodová (actress and model), Josef Scharfen (Hydra market consultant), and Mojmír Zálešák (student at NYU Stern and entrepreneur).

Moderated by Christopher Harwood

Organized by the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU), New York Chapter, with the support of BBLA.

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Women’s Artistic Dissent: Repelling Totalitarianism in Pre-1989 Czechoslovakia

newyork

On Wednesday, APRIL 23, 2025, at 7 pm
At Bohemian National Hall in Manhattan

Author book presentation
By Brenda A. Flanagan and Hana Waisserova

Moderated by Christopher Harwood

Free and open to the public. The suggested donation is $15.
Seats are limited on a first come, first served basis.
Please register online through Eventbrite.

To survive totalitarianism during the years when Czechoslovakia ached under Soviet rule and to retain their humanity, Czech women writers went underground to write, paint, sculpt, and create supportive communities.
The co-authors Flanagan and Waisserová will pay tribute to creative women dissidents including Eva Švankmajerová, “Mother of Czech Surrealism,” and Eda Kriseová, journalist, fiction writer, essayist, and activist who served in President Václav Havel’s first Cabinet.
They presented their book last year at the Václav Havel Library in Prague.

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Dr. Brenda Flanagan is a professor of creative writing, Caribbean and African-American literature. She has received numerous awards, including three Hopwood Awards, three NEH Fellowships, and a Michener Fellowship. A cultural ambassador for the U.S. Department of State, she has traveled extensively, particularly in Central Asia and the Middle East, often as the first American writer sent to certain regions in decades. She fell in love with Czech Republic, which she regularly visits for many years. She has become an honorary member of the Prague Surrealist group and formed strong friendships with Eva and Jan Svankmajer. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in various journals, and her published works include a novel, a short story collection, and a play. Recent activities include representing the U.S. at international book fairs and lecturing at universities globally

Dr. Hana Waisserová is an associate professor of practice of Czech and Central European Studies and an affiliate of the Harris Centre for Judaic Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She studied at Spelman College, GA, earned Ph.D. in Anglophone transnational literature from Palacky University, CR, and Gender Graduate Certificate from TAMU, TX. She has published articles concerning South Asian and Central European women’s transnational literature, women’s totalitarian experiences, women dissidents and their activism, medieval Czech literature, and Czech-American culture in Nebraska. Prior to working in academia, she lived in India and traveled widely in Europe, Asia, and East Africa, where she worked as an outdoor guide and a publicist.

Organized by the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU), New York Chapter, with the support of BBLA and in collaboration with the Václav Havel Center in New York.

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THE PRESCIENCE OF KAREL CAPEK

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What a wonderful refreshing evening with intelligent people and ideas!
THE PRESCIENCE OF KAREL CAPEK
A talk by Thomas Ort, PhD, Queens College/CUNY
March 6, 2025, at Bohemian National Hall

This year, on the 135th anniversary of his birth, we will be celebrating the genius of Karel Capek and reconsidering the relevance of his work today.

Thank you, Thomas ORT, for your erudite yet entertaining talk reminding us about the genius of this early twentieth-century Czech writer and the uncanny relevance of his work for our times’ political and technological developments. His fears about the displacement of human labor by machines and the threat of authoritarianism appear closer to their realization than ever since the 1930s.

The VIDEO RECORDING is available on our YouTube Channel.

Moderated by Professor Chris Harwood, Columbia University

THOMAS ORT is Associate Professor of modern European history at Queens College, The City University of New York. The main focus of his research has been modernist and avant-garde life in early twentieth-century Czechoslovakia, but his most recent work concerns the politics of memory in postwar Eastern Europe. He is the author of Art and Life in Modernist Prague: Karel Capek and his Generation, 1911-1938 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), which was subsequently translated into Czech (Argo, 2016). Prof. Ort’s new book project, Meaning, Memory, and the Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, explores the ever-evolving interpretations of the killing of Reinhard Heydrich, the SS general and architect of the Final Solution, who was assassinated in Prague in 1942.
We recommend Thomas Ort’s book “Art and Life in Modernist Prague: Karel Capek and his Generation“, 1911-1938 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013)

KAREL CAPEK (1890–1938), a renowned Czech writer, playwright, critic, journalist, and friend of the first Czechoslovak president TG Masaryk, has been compared to writers like George Orwell and Aldous Huxley. His notable works include the novels “War with the Newts” and “Krakatit”, and plays such as “The White Plague”, “The Makropulos Case”, “The Insect Play”, and “R.U.R.” (Rossum’s Universal Robots), which introduced the term “robot” to the world. Capek’s writing spanned multiple genres, from drama and fiction to essays, travel writing, reflections on gardening and enchanting stories for children. He was a master of language and storytelling, elevating Czech literature on the global stage.

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