Academy of Performing Arts Prague

The Academy of Performing Arts (AMU) is a university level school of music, dance, drama, film, TV and multi-media studies. It was founded by the Presidential Decree of October 27, 1945. A year later, in the winter semester of 1946, it was opened for students. Several prominent artists and writers, namely Jind?ich Honzl, Ji?í Frejka, František Troster and others, had conceived the idea of the school itself during World War II. Professors of the older Prague Conservatory also supported the idea of transforming the former maestro school into a higher school at university level. Writers, artists and other film creators with practical experience in the film industry (namely Jaroslav Bou?ek, Karel Plicka, Otakar Vávra, Ivan Olbracht, Vít?zslav Nezval, A. M. Brousil and others) watched over the school's future curriculum, trying to make it responsive to new trends in post-war film development. Later the Film studio and the theatre Disk, which belonged to the Faculty of Theatre, were added. The theatre Disk is also used by the Opera Studio of the Faculty of Music. When TV came into being, the Faculty of Film began to serve its needs by offering study programmes for TV specialists.