A Midwest Tribute To Czech & Slovak Independence

As the Berlin Wall tumbled and the Iron Curtain crumbled, actors, students, rock-and-roll musicians, and a playwright led one of the most unique revolutions in history. Join us as we celebrate this momentous occasion.

The Midwest Consulates of the Czech & Slovak Republics along with the Czech and Slovak Club of Greater Kansas City and the Greater Kansas City chapter of People to People (GKCPTP) invite you to a 20-year salute to The Velvet Revolution. Experience art, history, the revolution and freedom while you enjoy ethnic food, pivo and the Midwest’s best polka band.

Honored guests include:

H.E. Peter Burian, Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to the U.S. and Daniel Kostoval, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of the Czech Republic

How to Participate

Attend the Friday, Nov. 6 Velvet Revolution Celebration (a full evening of dinner and dancing) for just $40 per adult. The registration fee includes the Saturday, Nov. 7 reception and film at the National WWI Museum. Attendance is limited to approximately 200 people per event.

Go to www.gkcptp.org and register now

.

RSVP is required by Nov. 2. Contact Terry Smitka for more information at 816.217.9487 or tsmitka@rwbaird.com. For those not registering online at www.gkcptp.org, checks can be sent to Terry Smitka, 1205 Wellington Way, Liberty, MO 64068. Make checks out to: Czech & Slovak Club of KC. If you are unable to attend the Nov. 6 event, you may register for the Nov 7 film event only. The film documentary showing is free and is limited to space available.

Salute to our Sponsors

Missouri Humanities Council Grant
The Missouri Humanities Council (MHC) has awarded a grant of $2,500 to the Czech & Slovak Club of Kansas City, in support of its “A Midwest Tribute to Czech-Slovak Independence.” The MHC is the only state-wide agency in Missouri devoted exclusively to humanities education for citizens of all ages. It has served as a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities since 1971. The Missouri Humanities Council is a not-for-profit organization affiliated with the National Endowment for the Humanities in Washington, D.C. Its mission is “to help the people of Missouri learn about our history, our literature, and our ideas that shape our democracy.” Information about the Council is available on their website at http://www.mohumanities.org, or by calling 1-800-357-0909.

Additional Sponsors
Additional contributors include Anheuser-Busch, the Czech Legion Project in Chicago, IL, Czech-Slovak Club of Kansas City, Greater Kansas City Chapter of People to People, Husch Blackwell Sanders LLP, International Visitor’s Council of Greater Kansas City, Lee Research Institute, Legal Printing, Inc., Lofstrom & Company, People to People International, R&D Tool, R.W. Baird and WJE Health Care Architect, as well as several in-kind donors.

Read Full Post »

Velvet Revolution Celebration!

Traditional Dancers

Friday November 6 –  Velvet Revolution
Sylvester Powell Community Center

6200 Martway (north entrance)

Mission, Kansas 66202

6:00 to 11:00 p.m.

This revolution marks the 1989 break away from Soviet communism by the Czech and Slovak citizens, followed shortly by the election of Václav Havel, former dissident, as president in the country’s first democratic elections. Let’s celebrate 20 years of freedom in style! Enjoy ethnic food, Czechvar beer, wine, authentic polka music and more!

How to Participate

Attend the Friday, Nov. 6 Velvet Revolution Celebration (a full evening of dinner and dancing) for just $40 per adult. The registration fee includes the Saturday, Nov. 7 reception and film at the National WWI Museum. Attendance is limited to approximately 200 people per event.

Go to www.gkcptp.org and register now

.

RSVP is required by Nov. 2. Contact Terry Smitka for more information at 816.217.9487 or tsmitka@rwbaird.com. For those not registering online at www.gkcptp.org, checks can be sent to Terry Smitka, 1205 Wellington Way, Liberty, MO 64068. Make checks out to: Czech & Slovak Club of KC. If you are unable to attend the Nov. 6 event, you may register for the Nov 7 film event only. The film documentary showing is free and is limited to space available.

Read Full Post »

“Accidental Army: The Amazing True Story of the Czechoslovak Legion”

Masaryk

Saturday November 7
Movie Event “Accidental Army:  The Amazing True Story of the Czechoslovak Legion”

National World War I Museum

100 W 26th St. Kansas City, MO 64108, 816-784-1918

6:00 to 9:00 p.m.

(A post-movie gathering will be announced at the event.)

Amidst the chaos of World War I, a Czech Professor led a fight for freedom that stretched across three continents. Hear the story of movie production from the creators, enjoy food and drink, and view the original 2009 documentary in the wonderful confines of the National World War I Museum at the Liberty Memorial. This showing of Accidental Army is sponsored by Czechvar (Anheuser- Busch).

Read Full Post »

Imagining Central Europe

KU Alumni/ae and the Great Plains Community are Invited to:

Imagining Central Europe

Saturday, November 7, 2009

9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Lawrence, Kansas

The Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia was one of a number of relatively peaceful but powerful “people’s” revolutions that swept Europe in 1989. The revolution started in the summer of 1989 when ordinary people demonstrated peacefully, crossed borders, and when guards and soldiers refused to stop them. When Mikhail Gorbachev, then General Secretary of the Soviet Union, declined to send in Warsaw Bloc armies to suppress the uprisings, the oppressive governments behind the Iron Curtain fell one-by-one, opening the way to free and fair elections. For 40 years a colony of the Soviet Empire, and divided from the rest of Europe by barbed wire, walls, and armed border guards, Central Europe again became the heart of Europe rather than a borderland between East and West.

Join us for an event-filled day to commemorate 20^th anniversary of the end of Soviet rule in Central Europe!

Spencer Museum of Art, Teaching Gallery, 3^rd floor

9:00-9:45 a.m.             Visit “Imagining Central Europe,” an exhibit of unique Spencer Museum Central European holdings, now on display for the first time. The exhibit includes a large Alfons Mucha work in the Art Moderne style.

Please note: Parking is available in the Mississippi St. parking garage opposite the Spencer Museum.

Spencer Museum of Art, Auditorium, 3^rd floor

10:00-11:15 a.m.         Workshop: “Reimagining Central Europe: Transition and Identity”

Professor Svetlana Vassileva-Karagyozova (Slavic),

“The Leaders of the Revolution: Lech Walesa and Vaclav Havel”

Professor Nathaniel Wood (History), “Solidarity: Non-Violent Protest and the Collapse of Communism in East Central Europe”

Maceli’s, 1031 New Hampshire St., Lawrence

11:30-1:30 p.m.           Czecho-Slovak luncheon with the Honorable Peter Burian, Slovak Ambassador, and Mr. Daniel Kostoval, Deputy Chief of Mission, Czech Embassy, Washington, DC

Murphy Hall, Inge Theater, 1530 Naismith Drive

2:00-4:00 p.m.             Staged reading of Rossum’s Universal Robots by Karel Capek, newly translated by Eva Hruska, SLL, PhD student, adapted by Professor John Staniunas, Department of Theatre.

Please note: Parking is available either in the open lot or the parking garage opposite Murphy Hall.

4:30 p.m.                     Depart for World War I Museum in Kansas City for 6:00

reception and screening of “Accidental Army:  The Amazing True Story of the Czechoslovak Legion.”

100 W. 26th St., KCMO

The registration fee for The Velvet Revolution Party is $25. The fee covers all Lawrence events including lunch. Please note that the new translation of Rossum’s Universal Robots will be available to read on line until Nov. 6 to registered participants.

Please register at http://www.crees.ku.edu/events/velvet.shtml by Friday, October 30, 5 p.m.

For more information please write to:  crees@ku.edu, and put “Nov. 7” in the subject line.

9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Lawrence, Kansas

Read Full Post »