Olomouc is mapping its creative talents

Every place and artist will be promoted with a single database

Creative talents from Olomouc and its surroundings have found themselves a new virtual home – over a thousand entities belonging to the arts and culture sector from the Czech city have now share a common online database. The effort is part of a long-term project aiming to map out the cultural and creative industry of the region.

Quick access to art and culture, despite the pandemic

Thanks to the newly launched database, it has never been easier to find goods and services, offered by the local artistic talents of Olomouc. Anything from original artworks, gifts to cultural programmes, design and even advertising can be found in the same place at Creative Olomouc.

This is especially useful in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has taken its toll on the sector and almost singled-out anyone that does not offer their products and services online. The database is prepared by a team from Palacký University (PU) in Olomouc with the support of the municipal authorities.

"Right now, at a time when many companies, institutions and individuals are facing difficulties, we have decided to publish, promote, and at the same time point out the exceptional quality and diversity of local creative production and help make it visible," has said Rostislav Nétek, principal investigator of the project quoted by the municipal portal.

"All these entities from the field of cultural and creative industries participate in the specific atmosphere of Olomouc and are an important factor in the city's economy," has explained Petr Bilík, Vice-Rector for External Relations at PU and one of the members of the research team.

The database contains 1094 entities at this point and is open for new entries. It offers the services of a total of 14 industries - architecture, design, film and video, music, books and print, cultural and artistic education, cultural heritage, clothing, advertising, crafts, performing arts, software, TV and radio, and the fine arts.

The project team has also planned to launch a mobile application where all these entities will be even more conveniently displayed and thereby inviting to the general public, the administration, businesses and other potential customers to discover the quality of local creative industries and to support local talent.