Škoda Auto has signed up for another three years with the Czech Republic’s National Theatre, extending a partnership that has run without interruption since 1998. The new agreement covers 2026 to 2029 and includes both financial support and a fleet of cars on long-term loan. It reaches all four of the theatre’s artistic ensembles and the venues where they perform.
Škoda Auto is staying with one of the Czech Republic’s best-known cultural institutions. The carmaker has extended its agreement with the National Theatre in Prague for a further three years, taking the partnership to at least 2029, according to the announcement made in Mladá Boleslav on 16 September 2026.
A partnership that dates back to 1998
The two organisations have worked together continuously since 1998, which makes this one of Škoda’s longest-running cultural commitments. The extension covers all four of the National Theatre’s artistic ensembles — Drama, Opera, Ballet and Laterna magika — and the performances they stage at the theatre’s main venues.
Cash and cars
The support is not only financial. Škoda also handles part of the theatre’s transport: eight vehicles on long-term loan cover day-to-day mobility for both the administration and the artistic ensembles, the company says. That combination of funding plus a loan fleet is a common format for carmaker sponsorships, and it lets the manufacturer keep its products visible around the institution it backs.
What the theatre brings to the deal
The reach is substantial by cultural-sector standards. In 2025 the National Theatre staged more than 900 performances at its own venues and on tour, drawing more than 500,000 paying audience members, according to the release. Škoda describes the partnership as a way of engaging an important target audience.
“Partnerships that last almost three decades are about more than cooperation between two leading institutions. They reflect mutual trust and a shared belief that culture has an irreplaceable role to play in society. We greatly value Škoda Auto’s long-standing support for the National Theatre and its commitment to helping us focus on what matters most – creating high-quality art and bringing it to the widest possible audience.”
— Jan Burian, Director General of the National Theatre
The release also carries a statement from the Škoda Auto side, but does not name the speaker. It says the carmaker is “proud to support the National Theatre as a globally recognised centre of Czech culture” and calls the partnership “one way we can share our success with our home country through the arts”.
Venues and the new season
The National Theatre’s programme runs at the historic National Theatre building, the Estates Theatre and the State Opera. Its New Stage is currently out of action: a major renovation started in March 2026 and is expected to take two years.
The institution opened its 144th season a few days ago. Highlights named in the release include the operas Rusalka and The Devil and Kate, the plays The Three Musketeers and Me and Twelfth Night, and the ballets L’Histoire de Manon and Sun, Moon and Wind.
What it means
For Škoda, cultural sponsorship sits alongside the sports and motorsport deals that dominate most carmakers’ marketing budgets, and the company presents it as part of its corporate social responsibility work in its home market. Preserving Czech cultural heritage has been part of that programme for years, the manufacturer says, with support going to institutions and projects that carry Czech traditions to present-day audiences.
The extended agreement runs from 2026 until at least 2029.
Source: www.skoda-storyboard.com