Marta Cienkowska, Minister of Culture, has canceled the competition for the post of Director of the National Institute of Architecture and Urbanism. The reason is doubts in the interpretation of the rules of the Competition Commission. When will the next competition be announced?
The competition for the post of Director of the National Institute of Architecture and Urbanism was announced on August 20, 2025. The deadline for submitting applications was September 30, and the results of the competition proceedings were published on the website of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage on November 25, 2025. After holding two meetings, held on October 8 and October 30 of this year, the competition committee recommended the reappointment of Prof. Boleslaw Stelmach as director of the institution.
Doubts about the regulations of the competition for NIAiU Director
The competition regulations provided for two modes of voting. According to § 2(9) of the Regulations of the Commission's work, its members were to vote for each candidate, while § 2(10) stipulated that each person on the commission could cast one vote for the candidate of his or her choice.
Questioning the contradictory assumptions of the regulations of the competition for the post of Director of the National Institute of Architecture and Urbanism, Malgorzata Tomczak, editor-in-chief of the Architektura & Biznes publishing house, sent a press inquiry to Marta Cienkowska, Minister of Culture and National Heritage, with a formal objection to the conduct of the competition and a request to clarify the inaccuracies regarding the voting formula:
press inquiry to Marta Cienkowska, Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, regarding the regulations of the competition for the Director of the National Institute of Architecture and Urbanism
Competition for Director of NIAiU annulled
In response to an inquiry sent by the editor-in-chief of Architektura & Biznes magazine and portal, Piotr Jędrzejowski, spokesman for the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, provided information on the cancellation of the competition for the position of Director of the National Institute of Architecture and Urban Planning:
§ "Paragraph 2(9) of the Regulations on the work of the Commission sets forth the general rules for voting during the deliberations of the Competition Commission, according to which the members of the Commission cast one vote for each candidate ('for', 'against' or 'abstain'). This is the basic mode of voting. The mode described in § 2, paragraph 10, according to the intention of the competition organizer, applies only in the event that during the first vote two candidates would obtain an equal, absolute majority of votes. In that case, a second vote would be held for the candidates who obtained an equal absolute majority of votes in the first vote, and only in that case would the members of the Commission have one vote for a particular candidate. However, the provisions of § 2 (9) and (10) of the Regulations may cause discrepancies in interpretation. In addition, § 9(10) erroneously refers to § 6(2), which could also raise reasonable doubt. Due to the identified possibility of interpretation doubts of the provisions of the Regulations, the Minister Marta Cienkowska decided to cancel the competition for the candidate for the director of the National Institute of Architecture and Urbanism, appointing Mr. Boleslaw Stelmach as acting director, in accordance with Article 16a of the aforementioned Law on the Organization and Operation of Cultural Activities.
During the second meeting of the Commission to recommend a person for the position of Director of the National Institute of Architecture and Urbanism, taking place on October 30, 2025, 5 candidates were voted for. Individual persons received the following numbers of votes:
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Monika Boncza-Tomaszewska: 0 "yes" votes, 7 "no" votes and 2 "abstain" votes.
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Wioletta Jaskólska: 0 "yes" votes, 8 "no" votes and 1 "abstain" vote
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Kacper Kępiński: 5 "yes" votes, 2 "no" votes and 2 "abstain" votes
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Monika Konrad: 1 "yes" vote, 7 "no" votes and 1 "abstain" vote
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Boleslaw Stelmach: 6 "yes" votes, 2 "no" votes and 1 "abstain" vote
When is the next competition for the Director of the National Institute of Architecture and Urbanism?
According to a communiqué provided by a spokesman for the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Prof. Boleslaw Stelmach will be the acting Director of the National Institute of Architecture and Urbanism. In accordance with the quoted law, another competition will be announced for the position:
Until the appointment of a director selected in accordance with the provisions of Art. 15 or Art. 16, or until the management of a cultural institution is entrusted to a natural or legal person in accordance with the provisions of Art. 15a, the organizer may entrust the duties of the director to a designated person for a period not exceeding the end of the artistic season following the season during which the director was dismissed or the act of his appointment expired - in the case of an artistic institution, and for a period not exceeding one year - in the case of a cultural institution other than an artistic institution.
