Beginning of January, we rented one of our rooms to a group that does not fit our strong non-political stance, and inadvertently stirred up quite a bit of controversy. Our peaceful existence was hit with a tornado when an avalanche of letters and calls commenting on the event started landing on us.
Read MoreBBLA is pleased to announce that Peter Sis, a Czech-American illustrator, author, and filmmaker, receives the 2022 BBLA Award for Unparalleled Service to the Czech and Slovak Communities.
Read MoreMake donations to help save lives and democracy in Ukraine! Our recommended non-profits: in the Czech Republic and in the US.
Read MoreI trust that despite certain challenges the world is facing, you had a relaxing and enjoyable summer. With great pleasure and pride, I would like to invite you to several important events that BBLA will present to our faithful audiences “in person” in September.
Read MoreBBLA is pleased to announce that Sir Tom Stoppard, a Czech-born British playwright, is the recipient of the 2021 BBLA Award for Unparalleled Service to the Czech and Slovak Communities. He supported Czech and Slovak dissidents during the harsh times of the 1970s and 1980s.
Read MoreWe are thrilled to present the 2021 Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival as it returns to in-person format at Bohemian National Hall. Entitled “Embracing the Inexplicable,” the 2021 edition is conceived as an occasion for our international community of artists and audiences to reconvene in order to heal collectively and embrace the uncertainties amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read MoreBy Joseph Balaz | As we are heading into the fall, in compliance with the New York City rules, we cannot invite you back for in-person events at our beautiful Bohemian National Hall, not yet. However, BBLA and its member organizations feature events online, so follow us on social media to see what and when happens in our community, and when and how we reopen for in-person events.
Read MoreBBLA is thrilled to announce the recipients of the 2020 BBLA Award for Unparalleled Service to the Czech and Slovak Communities—Ambassador William and Wendy Luers. They will be honored on September 24 at the 2020 Annual Gala Celebrating Cultural Diplomacy organized by BBLA and the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation.
Read MoreWe are delighted to announce that BBLA and the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation (VHLF) will be hosting the 2020 Annual Gala on September 24, 2020. The 2020 Annual Gala celebrates cultural diplomacy in honor of Ambassador William and Wendy Luers.
Read MoreRuzena Bunza, a long-time member of the Czechoslovak Society of Art and Sciences in New York, passed away peacefully in her home on June 23, 2020, just one month shy of her 104th birthday.
Read MoreBefore the First World War, more than 50,000 Czechs lived in New York City. When the moment of the struggle for national self-determination came, these Americans generously supported the anti-Habsburg resistance led by Professor Tomas Garrigue Masaryk.
Read MoreOur members and online audiences can enjoy, from the comfort of their home, the 2020 Prague Spring International Music Festival. Eleven concerts will be broadcast online live from five concert halls in Prague and one in Brno, and recordings of legendary performances from previous years will be streamed. The festival evenings will be hosted by Ondrej Havelka.
Read MoreExactly one year after the Communist takeover in Czechoslovakia, on February 25, 1949, the Council of Free Czechoslovakia (Rada svobodneho Ceskoslovenska) – Umbrella Organization of the Anti-Communist Exile – was founded in Washington, D.C. The governments of twenty-one countries recognized its establishment. Initially, the Council claimed to be a kind of representative umbrella organization for the democratic Czechoslovak exile, but this idea quickly proved unworkable.
Read MoreWe are pleased to partner with the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation to present the second edition of the Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival’s Spring Weekend. From May 28–31 on Zoom, the festival will offer live online readings of contemporary plays penned by award-winning European playwrights from Hungary, Slovakia and Poland who explore current social and political issues in their quest for truth. Seasoned New York City–based actors will perform the three readings. A moderated discussion with prominent translators of Vaclav Havel’s plays will accompany the events.
Read MoreBarbara Kimmel Reinfeld (1935-2020), née Koháková, was born in Prague in 1935 and fled to the West with her family in 1948. They settled in America, where she completed her undergraduate education at Carleton College, and her M.A. and Ph.D. at Columbia University. Her dissertation led to the publication of her book. Karel Havlíček (1821-1856): A National Liberation Leader of the Czech Renascence (1982).
Read MoreIt is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Milan Fryscak, longtime professor of Russian and Slavic Studies at New York University and for many years President of the New York Chapter of Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU). He passed away on April 16, 2020. He was a leader and active participant in numerous Czech cultural and émigré organizations for over 40 years.
Read MoreThe New York Chapter of the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU) invites you to their YouTube channel to watch six events that you might have missed: Escaping from Czechoslovakia (2016), Posezeni: Remembering New York’s “Little Bohemia” (2018), 6-Minute Challenge (2018), The Tribute to the Art of the Folksong (2018), 5+1: Jana Jarkovska (2019), and Americans in 1990s Prague (2019).
Read MoreI met Milena shortly after she succeeded in leaving Czechoslovakia in 1961. Milena was always writing. She mainly wrote screenplays of which the best known is the script for "Zapomenute svelto” ("Forgotten Light"), which received three Czech Lion Awards in 1997. She was highly intelligent and well-read and she never lost her sharp sense of humor and irony.
Read MoreIn this time of uncertainty, fear, and isolation, but also courage and light, our member organization, the Dvorak American Heritage Association (DAHA), launches a new program called From DAHA With Love to offer some of the favorite musical moments online. The music will be broadcasted on weekdays at 10:00 am beginning April 8.
Read MoreI wish I could use my sketchy, overdeveloped sense of humor to combine the Covid-19 situation with April Fools' Day but will instead practice silly jokes distancing. With 129 years of BBLA history under our belt, we certainly will not get bogged down by this tiny, minuscule bug while still taking it extremely seriously.
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