On March 27, Prague's council approved the first grant allocations to be produced by their new arts funding system, which was established in November.

The Prague Fringe was just one of a number of not-for-profit arts organisations who waited for months to discover what grant they'd receive from the committee. But just two months before the start of this year's Fringe, it was announced that most would applicants would receive less than the previous year, while some – including the Fringe - would receive nothing.

The news sent shockwaves through the Czech capital's cultural scene and many non profit theatres, galleries and festivals faced a bleak future, some even threatening to close.

The decision on this year's funding levels have since been overturned after a campaign organised by concerned theatre owners and festival directors, but the system is still considered inadequate and there are worries it will have a direct impact on Prague's reputation as one of Europe's cultural hotspots.

Steve, one of the main campaigners against the new ruling, said this year's Fringe wouldn't have been affected by the new policy, but 2009's event was hanging in the balance.

He said: "This year's Fringe will go ahead as normal and would have even if we hadn't got city funding this year. But Fringe 2009 would have been in jeopardy as we would've been sitting on debts to the sum of about £15,000 - the sum that we were expecting and finally got from the city.

"The city needs to have a structured method for deciding how the public money is spent. The Prague Fringe generates between eight and 10 times the amount that the city funds it in new money from tourists, artists etc. Surly this would make it a good investment?"

Steve is now part of a group calling for radical changes into how funding decisions are made. Concerns remain that the current structure favours commercial operators and arts chiefs have publicly denounced the system.

The group have organised a petition in an effort to achieve the changes, which proposes - among other things - separate funding systems for profit making and non profit organisations.

To sign the petition, go to www.expats.cz/prague/article/press-releases/arts-petition.