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The Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU) is a nonprofit, non-political and cultural organization dedicated to the promotion of knowledge, the free spread of ideas, science and the development of people-to-people contact. The Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences unites professionals, scientists, artists, writers, students, lawyers, entrepreneurs and others around the world who are interested in Czechoslovak history, culture and science.

The Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences was founded in 1958 in Washington, DC by the provision of an Organising Council of over 200 members. In 1961, the organisation was established under the laws of the state of New York as a nonprofit cultural organization, operating first in the United States. However, the Society gradually began to establish branches in Europe and other continents. Initially, the Society received contributions from the Czechoslovak National Council (Czechoslovak exile organisation that represented political emigrants and supported refugees from the Communist Czechoslovakia), and later funded its activities from member contributions and sales of its own publications. In connection with the democratization process in Czechoslovakia in the spring of 1968, the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences began to address the question of how to help scientists and artists at home (i.e. in Czechoslovakia), how to obtain and deliver publications, etc. In 1977, the Society publicly supported Charter 77. In the 1970s and 1980s, the SVU supported exile publishers producing Czechoslovak samizdat works, and Czechoslovak independent artists, especially “banned” writers, as well. Thus, the Society contributed to raising awareness of works of Czechoslovak nonconformist authors and of the importance of independent Czech and Slovak literature abroad. In May 1987, the Society held a conference in Switzerland with an international participation dedicated to the 10th anniversary of Charter 77. In March 1989, the SVU publicly protested against the imprisonment of Czech dissident and playwright Václav Havel. After the Velvet Revolution in November 1989, the Society extended its activities to Czechoslovakia and its successor states, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. Since 1962, the Society has also regularly held world congresses that focus on various topics across science - literature, linguistics, visual arts, social sciences, physics, biology, and many others. Via these congresses, the SVU points out the importance of free Czech and Slovak science and culture in the world.

The Czechoslovak Writer (Československý spisovatel) was one of the most prominent postwar Czech publishing houses. It was established in the spring of 1949 through the merger of several private companies and cooperatives, and operated until as late as 1997. From its establishment until 1970 it was subordinate to the Union of Czechoslovak Writers, a professional organization that brought together Czech and Slovak writers and which had a relatively strong economic base thanks to its income. When the Union of Czechoslovak Writers was closed down at the turn of the 1970s because it had been one of the intellectual centres of the Prague Spring, it was subordinated to the Czech Literary Fund. After the fall of the Communist regime, the Czechoslovak Writer publishing house managed only with difficulty to cope with the market economy and soon got into economic difficulties, which resulted in its liquidation in 1997.

C³: Center for Culture & Communication was launched in 1996 as a three-year pilot program of the Soros Foundation in Hungary, in cooperation with Silicon Graphics Hungary and MATÁV (the Hungarian Telecom). Since 1999, it has continued to work as an independent, non-profit, and public foundation.

The aims of the C³ are the cultural application and creative employment of scientific and technological discoveries; research, development and support of innovative artistic potentials; and the initiation and realization of related programs. Its main focus is to foster cooperation among the spheres of art, science and technology.

Artistic production is a determinant element of C³ in its role as a new type of media centre. The works produced here are preserved on the C³ website and may be located in its collection.

Alongside traditional library activity, the C³ Archive also carries out on-line publication; in 1997, an endeavour to preserve and render accessible Hungarian video art was initiated. The continuously developed database is available at catalog.C³.hu.