COURAGE

povezivanje zbirki

The Polish Rock Granary is a project of the Regional Museum of Jarocin and is funded from the budget of this institution. It opened on the 17^th July 2014 in the building of an old granary, which was renovated particularly for this purpose. The permanent exhibition of the Granary relies on multimedia, and is dedicated to the history of Polish rock music and Jarocin festivals. The exhibition takes two floors, covering ca. 600 m². The Granary also contains a hall for temporary exhibitions. The club space on the ground floor hosts rock concerts and meetings with artists on regular basis.

A particularly important part of the exhibition features the history of Greater Poland’s Rhythms of the Youth – a regional music event organised throughout the entire 1970s – and its continuation in the form of the All-Polish Festival of Music of Young Generation (1980-1982) and the Rock Musicians’ Festival (until the end of 1980s). The narrative of the exhibition was created by Robert Jarosz and Leszek Gnoiński, while the interior was designed by Kłaput Project s.c. company. Murals in landmark locations of the city constitute an integral part of the exhibition.

The Granary is involved in research and educational activities. It promotes the legacy and the history of Polish rock music, stimulates interest in music, shapes the tastes of the audience, and promotes socially-engaged attitudes. Additionally, the Granary takes part in the organisation of the current Jarocin festival and several other music and cultural events.

The Polish Social and Cultural Association (Polski Ośrodek Społeczno-Kulturalny, POSK) was born in 1964. It is the major socio-cultural institution of Polish diaspora in Greater London and United Kingdom. The origins of POSK date back to the arrival of Polish soldiers and civilians in Great Britain during World War II and their final settlement in 1945 when the majority of Polish émigrés chose not to return to communist-dominated Poland. POSK was the brain child of Roman Wajda (1901-1974), veteran of the Polish-Soviet War of 1920 and World War II, lecturer of the University of London and Polish University Abroad, social activist and community leader. The Association moved to its current headquarters in Hammersmith, London, in 1974. At present, POSK houses several institutions including the Polish Library POSK in London, Joseph Conrad Society (UK), Polish University Abroad, "Syrena" Theatre, art gallery, and Jazz Café.
From its creation in the 1960s, POSK actively opposed the communist regime in People's Poland; it staged plays and artistic events critical of communist ideology and supported anti-communist opposition. At the peak of its popularity in the 1960s, the Association had 3000 members, often veterans of the Polish Armed Forces in the West. The following decade saw the advent of activists born in Great Britain after World War II. Throughout its existence, POSK has cultivated ties with other centers of Polish diaspora in Europe and USA; after 1989, it has collaborated with cultural and educational institutions in sovereign Poland. Following Poland's entry into the European Union in 2004, the identity of POSK has been marked by the migration of thousands of Poles into United Kingdom. 

An additional name of the Popmuseum is “Muzeum a archiv populární hudby” (Museum and archive of pop music). Its main project is a temporary exhibition and an information centre in Prague. The Popmuseum is a voluntary independent association registered at the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic as a legal entity in November 1998. The museum and archive were founded by Aleš Opekar, Petr Hrabalik, Radek Diestler and Josef Kytnar from Brno. The association currently manages the museum and a depository in Horní Počernice, Prague. Archive documents, pictures, posters, audio and audio-visual recordings, music instruments and equipment, related to the evolution of pop music and memorabilia related to important figures of Czech and Slovak pop music are stored there (pop music is understood in its entirety regardless of style, genre or time). The base of the latter large collection were the archive materials and items that were collected in the half of the 1990s while filming the TV series “Bigbít” (Czech Television, 1998) about the history of Czechoslovak rock music. The museum also has a branch in Moravia – Poparchiv in Brno – a digital archive and an archive of LPs and LP covers.

Materials are available for researchers in the seat of the museum in the cultural centre Kaštan in Břevnov, Prague. There is also an information centre for both lay and professional public. There are databases, specialized magazines and literature and eventually other materials from the collection of the Popmuseum available. A permanent exhibition of music instruments, mostly electric guitars of Czechoslovak origin and selected keyboard instruments used in former Czechoslovakia, are also a part of the Popmuseum. Other exhibition areas are for short-term thematic exhibitions. Exhibitions, concerts and screenings are organised by the museum on other premises as well, for example, in the music club Vagon in Prague. The exhibitions have mostly documentary, educational or pop-culture characteristics, rather than an artistic one. Their goal is a different form of music journalism, an aim to present an opinion on a partial phenomenon and an interpretation of particular topics. The Popmuseum collaborates with institutions and other subjects such as the Oral history centre at the Institute of Contemporary History of the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, the Slovak National Museum, music club Vagon, the Czech Museum of Music and the Retromuseum Cheb.

 

Post Bellum is a non-profit organization that has been searching for and recording the memories of key witnesses of the 20th century since 2001. It was established by a group of Czech journalists and historians who met at conferences and annual commemorative events and were convinced that witnesses should be given the opportunity to tell their stories in a coherent, comprehensive and detailed way.

The core project of the organization is the Memory of Nations. Post Bellum is also trying to make the memories it gains come to the attention of a wider audience. Post Bellum collaborators work on expanding the collection, providing financial resources and running the organization, coordinating educational projects for children and adults, etc. Post Bellum organizes exhibitions, social events and publishes books. For ten years they have been broadcasting “Stories of the 20th Century” on Czech Radio. Through their experience workshops and the extensive educational project Stories of Our Neighbors, they encourage pupils and students to become interested in modern history and their own roots. All activities follow the Post Bellum Code of Conduct.