A total of 40 grant applications were submitted to the second Open Call aimed at Contemporary Arts (CA2), which was open for submission of grant applications from mid-May to the end of August 2021.

Grant applications that fulfilled the formal and eligibility criteria and were handed over to the quality evaluation (in total 37 grant applications). Each grant application was assigned to two impartial expert evaluators for assessment. For some grant applications, the difference between the scores given by the two experts was more than 30 % of the higher score. Such grant applications were assigned to a third evaluator for assessment. As the need to commission third opinions arised, the process of quality evaluation has thus been prolonged and the last opinions were completed in December 2021.

Estimated timetable of next steps:

• Selection Committee: 1st half of February 2022
• Verification of the evaluation process and recommended grant applications: February - March 2022
• Publication of preliminary results: 1st half of March 2022
• Approval of recommended projects / rejection of non-recommended grant applications: from 2nd half of March 2022
• Publication of final results: April 2022

In the first half of February 2022, the Selection Committee shall meet to review the individual grant applications and recommend the selected projects to the Programme Operator - the Ministry of Finance for support.

In February 2022, after the completion of the quality evaluation, the Ministry of Finance in cooperation with an external body will launch a verification of the evaluation process in order to verify whether the evaluation provided by the Ministry of Culture (Programme Partner) was carried out transparently and in accordance with the rules of the Call, the Culture Programme and the EEA Grants 2014-2020.

During March 2022, applicants of projects recommended for support by the Selection Committee will be informed by letter with detailed information on the next steps. In view of the delay in the evaluation process, please note that the expected start of implementation of the project indicated in the grant application may change. Any adjustments to the project implementation period will be discussed individually with the applicants of each grant application. Applicants will also be consulted on the terms and conditions of the grant as part of the verification of the recommended grant applications. Once the terms and conditions are accepted by the applicant, the Programme Operator will issue an approval letter setting the start date for the eligibility of expenditure and allowing the implementation of the project to begin.

Applicants of projects not included in the list of recommended projects by the Selection Committee, will be informed by a message on the CEDR notice board and, depending on the verification process, will be subsequently informed about the Programme Operator´s decision on their grant application.

The final results of the Open Call will be published at www.eeagrants.cz after the verification process is completed. Information on the evaluation of individual grant applications will not be published.