As part of a webinar focused on the role of theatres and theatre academies in the public space, we tried to speak not only about the current situation in selected theatre academies in Poland, Hungary, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, but to think together about important aspects of institutional politics in a European context, and also in terms of the interconnectedness of these academies. We identified the following common themes as key: deep care for the quality of relationships and institutions; the assumption of personal responsibility; the creation of alliances and networks; new possibilities for leadership and the use of initiatives from all levels of the institution; reducing the difference between proclamations and performativity; transparency and the willingness to take action in public. A discussion on theatre as a cultural institution, with Alice Koubová, lecturer and researcher at the Institute of Philosophy at the Czech Academy of Sciences.