All Events

New York Wed 30th September 2026 Please save the date for a special evening celebrating the legacy of Václav Havel on the occasion of what would have been his 90th birthday, while also honoring the enduring contributions of the Czech and Slovak communities in New York and across the United States. The evening will feature the presentation of distinguished awards recognizing courage, leadership, and service, as well as a reception, dinner, auction, and a program of inspiring c

Rehearsal for Truth International Theater Festival is an annual showcase of contemporary Central and Eastern European theater. The festival honors the legacy of Vaclav Havel with performances that engage with politics, human rights, and other important global questions, featuring work that is bold and often experimental in form. Each edition of the festival addresses current sociopolitical trends in Central and Eastern Europe, offering New York audiences a unique opportunity

New York Mon 4 May 2026, 06:30 PM Vaclav Havel Center and Consulate General of the Czech Republic in New York present the Annual Václav Havel Lecture 2026 with economist and philosopher Tomáš Sedláček. The evening will feature: – Opening remarks by Andrew Schapiro, Chair of the Vaclav Havel Center, and Karel Smékal, Consul General of the Czech Republic in New York – Keynote remarks by Tomáš Sedláček, Director of Vaclav Havel Library in Prague – Moderated conversation with Jar

The 2026 Spring Readings will take place from April 23 – June 1. It will include staged readings and contemporary plays by award-winning European playwrights. All the readings were being presented free of charge, with a requested donation. This is a unique opportunity to see how the writers of Central and Eastern European are responding to these turbulent times, while also examining how past writers have responded to other times of crisis. We start on Thursday, April 23 with

Set in Cuba’s Zapata swamps, this intimate black-and-white documentary follows a father who secretly hunts crocodiles to feed his family, capturing the tensions of survival during the pandemic and a period of social unrest. Followed by a discussion on migration, political dissent, and everyday life in Cuba with Nadia Ivanova (Head of the Human Rights and Democracy Centre, People in Need) and Cuban documentary filmmaker and journalist Ismario Rodríguez Pérez, moderated by prof

Resilience is a visually poetic documentary exploring ecological balance and human responsibility in endangered Central European landscapes. Screening followed by a Q&A with protagonist Pavel Pokorný, moderated by Ondřej Kamenický, Director of the One World Human Rights Film Festival.

Bricolage Production Company presents Samizdat, a site-specific, immersive theater series exploring resistance and survival under authoritarian rule. Three plays by Václav Havel bring intimate, urgent, and at times absurdly funny messages to hidden corners of Pittsburgh this spring. PITTSBURGH, PA — Bricolage Production Company, Pittsburgh’s leader in transformative immersive experiences, presents three all new site-specific theater experiences on the heels of back-to-back, s

Dissent Lab, our new series featuring dissidents from around the world. This series is designed to hear from those who are struggling against authoritarians and authoritarianism in the spirit of Vaclav Havel. The inaugural discussion features Jesús Armas, a leading Venezuelan dissident who was imprisoned in December 2014 and held for 13 months. His crime: supporting Venezuela’s democratic opposition and insisting that Nicolás Maduro had lost the 2024 presidential election.