Cultural management
Irena Pohl Houkalová
Irena Pohl Houkalová is a teacher, singer and cultural project manager who is behind the creation and development of a number of prestigious artistic initiatives in the Czech Republic. Since 2016, she has been the head of the nationwide ZUŠ Open festival of the Magdalena Kožená Foundation, which she has been managing since 2024. She worked for eight years in the management of the MenART Academy.
Irena Pohl Houkalová She studied singing at the HAMU in Prague and the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe, and previously studied pedagogy at Charles University. She has been involved in music since childhood - she sang in the Kühn Children's Choir and later performed as a soloist with leading Czech ensembles (Collegium 1704, Collegium Marianum, etc.). She also collaborates with the pianist Karel Košárek, a native of Kroměříž. She is the laureate of several important awards, including the Czech Radio Award and the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation Award.
Irena's professional career naturally combines interpretation experience, pedagogical education and managerial leadership. For eight years, she participated in building MenART Scholarship Academy, where she led the classical music section, since 2016 she has been leading the national festival Open Art School of the Magdalena Kožená Endowment Fund and as the director of the fund, today, together with her team, she creates a wide range of projects that systematically connect artistic education with professional cultural practice at the national and international levels.
In her work, she has long advocated interdisciplinary cooperation, support for pedagogical leaders, and an emphasis on lifelong learning. She also pays special attention to supporting artistically gifted children and young people with social or health disadvantages, and emphasizes the importance of art for the development of personality, social sensitivity, and social responsibility.
She is returning to Academy Kroměříž for the second time as a lecturer - with gratitude for the inspiration, experience, and professional impulses that she gained here as a student, with the determination to pass them on and to have the opportunity to be part of this exceptional community.
Photo credit Zdenka Hanáková