The Women’s Educational Institute (commonly known as Vesna) is a continuation of the activities of the Czech Women’s Educational Association based in Brno, which was founded in the early 1870’s. It focuses on educational, social, and recreational activities.
In its current form, it was officially founded on February 7, 2022. But the current team started already in May 2021 as a group of volunteers. Its core activity was humanitarian aid distribution centre for families in need. Vesna cared for ca. three hundred families. It was not only clothes, appliances, electronics or toys. Vesna offered a consultation on social services in Brno and South Moravia. In summer 2021, Vesna helped tornado victims and organized school days to provide school supplies to hundreds of families.
The Vesna Šatník (Wardrobe) is a unique source of basic material needs. It also functions as a centre for the transfer of information on educational, cultural, recreational, physical, and social activities. The operation of the Wardrobe would not be possible without the thousands of hours of work of hundreds of volunteers from different countries. During the first three months of the war in Ukraine it provided aid 10 hours a day, 7 days a week. In 2022, 32 000 people visited Šatník. Since June 2022, the Wardrobe has again been operating in “pre-war” mode, with visitors making appointments for specific dates. You can find the rules of Šatník and register for a visit here. The material for families in need is supplied by donors from Brno and the surrounding area, including a large number of foreigners. Foreign women are also part of the Šatník’s clientele.
In cooperation with the Brno diocese, we created 20 rooms for Ukrainian refugees at the former Ursuline convent at Josefská 1.
The historic buildings of the Vesna association on Údolní 10 also serve as a venue for a number of educational and recreational activities aimed primarily at women and children, and for public meetings and cultural events. We also have here a group “Vesnenka” for children 3–6 y.o.. In 2022, more than 5000 women and children participated in Vesna’s activities at Údolní 10.
Now Vesna operates as the important humanitarian aid distribution centre and social centre for people in need living in Brno and around.
Vesna is always open to cooperation and offers volunteering opportunities for both corporate groups and individual expats. Some of the staff can communicate in English and will be happy to tell you about the various activities you could join.
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Brno Poetry through the eyes of foreigners
The project And the Whole Town Smells of the Rose of Stone, named after a poem by Jan Skácel, is a follow-up to the successful project My Life with Brno, which in 2023 involved dozens of “new Brno citizens” of various origins. The foreigners wrote short stories about their relationship with Brno, and other participants responded to these texts through a series of workshops led by Brno artists.
The first part of the project focuses on works of literature. Many foreigners, male and female, living in Brno are interested in exploring Czech culture more deeply, responding to it and even participating in it.
With the support of the Poetic Brno Project (www.brnopoeticke.cz) and several meetings with writers, we want to encourage their interest in poetry connected with Brno and possibly spark their own creative ambitions. We invite foreigners living in Brno to write short poetic pieces on the theme of “Brno poetry” – lyrical prose / poem / haiku / variations on folk song. We deliberately chose this genre because it touches people mainly on an emotional level. Foreigners face a language barrier and when their vocabulary is not sufficient, poetry will act as a condensed form of language.
In the visual art section, participants will illustrate the newly created works of literature or the already existing works about Brno (Blatný, Kainar, Skácel, Mikulášek, Krchovský, Ohnisko…). The workshops will be led by Brno artists and art school teachers, with an emphasis on a variety of
techniques and approaches.
The workshops will primarily be attended by foreigners living in Brno, but also by Czechs, male and female, and will be open to all generations. The workshops will therefore create a space for joint intercultural and intergenerational creation.
Does Brno deserve a poem in your native language?
Do you dare to write poetry in Czech?
Find workshop terms at www.spolekvesna.cz
Send your works to kalicinska@spolekvesna.cz
Jan Skácel
Small review of a queen
For conscience to rest calm, hoping to soothe her sins,
thus free of plaster,
of fair-face only brickwork
Elisabeth Richenza, widow of two kings
in Old Brno, she had a church erected
A temple beautiful
of beauty equal to the sins,
in tracery ‘bove the windows there was so vested
amorous rose by master masons
the way the pious queen requested
And the whole town smells now of the ancient rose of stone,
about Eliza, trolleybus sings a song
Richenza by name,
who in Old Brno’s crypt
has taken rest from her aged loves for so long
