About us
Feng-yün Song, z.s. is a registered Czech association based in Prague 10, working at the meeting point of culture, well-being and community care.
Our story
The association began the way most honest things begin — informally. A small group of musicians, teachers and carers in Prague started meeting to sing traditional repertoire together, partly out of love for the music and partly because rehearsing together was the only hour in the week when nobody felt like a stranger. Word travelled. A Czech neighbour brought her mother. A Chinese student brought two classmates. Someone brought a colleague who had been signed off work with burnout and had not spoken to anyone in days.
Within a couple of years the singing had grown a second life around it: conversations after rehearsal turned into practical help with housing forms and doctor's appointments; requests from a local school turned into a youth creativity series; a member's health crisis turned into our first structured mindful-living programme. We formalised as a zapsaný spolek under Czech law so that this work could be governed properly, funded transparently and continued beyond any one founder's energy. Our identification number, IČO 28558502, and our registered seat at Chodovská 1549/18, 101 00 Praha 10, are matters of public record.
Today the association runs five interlocking programme lines and a year-round calendar of concerts, workshops, circles and outreach visits. We have deliberately resisted growing faster than our capacity to know people personally. We would rather run twelve excellent workshops where facilitators remember every participant's name than sixty where nobody is really seen.
Philosophy
Our founding philosophy is simple and stubborn. Art is not an ornament attached to social work — it is one of the most effective entry points into it. People who would never accept an invitation to a "support service" will accept an invitation to sing, to listen, to learn a melody their grandmother knew. Once they are in the room, care becomes possible: a conversation, a referral, a friendship, a reason to come back next week.
From that conviction follow all our working principles. We keep participation free or near-free. We never separate cultural work from well-being work. We treat every participant as a potential contributor rather than a recipient. We measure success by whether people return, whether they bring someone with them, and whether their situation is materially steadier a year later.
And we hold ourselves to the standards of the institutions that trust us. Public funds, private donations and in-kind support all carry an obligation: to document, to report, to correct course when something does not work, and to say so plainly when it doesn't.
Leadership
Profiles below describe the roles and responsibilities within our governance and delivery structure. Named biographies and photographs are maintained in our published annual report and are available on request.
Statutory representative
A vocal artist and educator who has spent more than two decades bridging Chinese and Central European musical traditions. She chairs the board, represents the association legally, and still teaches a Saturday heritage workshop because, in her words, leadership that leaves the room stops understanding it.
Day-to-day leadership
Responsible for programme delivery, staff and volunteer coordination, and grant compliance. Came to the non-profit sector after years in community health, and brings a rigorous, participant-first approach to how every project is designed and evaluated.
Cultural exchange & music
Curates the concert and workshop season, works with guest artists and venue partners across Prague, and mentors the young musicians who join our heritage ensemble each year.
Mindful living & health education
Designs our mindfulness, stress-relief and health-literacy series for seniors, youth and carers, and supervises the facilitators who lead them across community centres in Prague.
Social support
Accompanies newcomers and marginalised residents through practical everyday obstacles — paperwork, language, isolation — and builds the neighbour-to-neighbour networks that outlast any single project.
Accounting & reporting
Maintains our bookkeeping, prepares the annual financial report, and ensures that every restricted grant is spent and documented exactly as agreed with the funder.
