2018 recipients named for Arts Patronage Award

The Montblanc Cultural Foundation revealed the 17 recipients of its 2018 Arts Patronage Award on April 26 in Munich where Jürgen Wesseler, represented by his son, recieved the award for Germany. The globally-renowned Montblanc Arts Patronage Award recognizes outstanding patrons of the arts in 17 countries across the world through supporting their respective philanthropic activities. The awardees have been selected by the Foundation’s Curatorium consisting of Anne Barlow (Director, Tate St. Ives), Sunjung Kim (Director, Gwangju Biennale), Jean de Loisy (President, Palais de Tokyo), Franklin Sirmans (Director, Perez Art Museum), Jochen Volz (Director, Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paolo), and the Foundation’s Chairmen, Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath.

The winning patrons were nominated by 50 internationally established cultural figures around the world. As part of the award, they each receive a donation of EUR 15,000 from the Montblanc Cultural Foundation towards their non-profit organizations and projects.

In commenting about this year’s awards, Montblanc Cultural Foundation Chairmen Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath said: “The Arts Patronage Award is the Foundation’s way of acknowledging the essential role that patrons play in advancing various aspects of the arts world. In publicly recognizing the remarkable achievements of this year’s patrons we hope to broaden the support for each of their unique projects.”

“Through their generous support, these modern day patrons continue to make a measurable impact on both artistic communities and society more broadly, by enriching minds and inspiring audiences with fresh creative perspectives,” explains Vincent Montalescot, Board Member of the Montblanc Cultural Foundation. “The continuing support that committed and passionate individuals like these honourees provide to the arts is incredibly important, and essential to nurturing thriving arts scenes both locally and internationally.”

The recipients of the 2018 Montblanc Arts Patronage Award are:

Monica Nador (Brazil): founder of JAMAC – Jardim Miriam Arte Clube in 2003, a nonprofit open studio and art centre in the southern outskirts of São Paolo dedicated to the local community as a response to the lack of art-dedicated spaces in the area.

Juan Yarur (Chile): president of FAMA (Foundation AMA), which since 2002 has been providing artists and art historians with exchange opportunities abroad through collaborations with international institutions.

Shum Chiu Hung (China): founder of the Times Museum in Guangzhou in 2003 as a space dedicated to the research and presentation of contemporary art, and the promotion of local, public and interdisciplinary artistic practices through exhibitions, residencies, and community engagement projects.

Sandra Hegedüs (France): founder of SAM Art Projects in 2009, which through an annual contemporary art prize, artist residencies in Paris, and by giving support to various other projects initiates dialogue between cultural practitioners of the Northern hemisphere and their Southern counterparts.

Jürgen Wesseler (Germany): founder of Kabinett für aktuelle Kunst (Cabinet for Contemporary Arts) in 1967 in Bremerhaven, which has shaped the landscape of the contemporary art scene through pioneering exhibitions for some of the most seminal artists of the last 50 years.

Iordanis Kerenidis and Piergiorgio Pepe (Greece): founders of Phenomenon, a contemporary art festival on the island of Anafi in 2015 consisting of art exhibitions, residency programs, lectures, film screenings, and other cultural activities.

Claire Hsu and Johnson Chong (Hong Kong): founders of AAA Asia Art Archive, which since 2000 has been providing researchers with opportunities to document and disseminate the multiple recent histories of art in Asia through residencies, research and educational programs, publications, and institutional collaborations.

Anna d’Amelio Carbone & Fabiana Marenghi Vaselli Bond (Italy): directors of the Fondazione Memmo in Rome which since its founding in 2002 has been facilitating a dialogue around the arts through exhibitions, performances, residencies, talks, conferences, workshops and arts publications.

Yoshihisa Nakano (Japan): director of Terrada Soko (Warehouse Terrada), which since 1950 has been a leading arts complex providing exhibition spaces, artist studios, and an art conservation program in collaboration with the University of Yokohama.

Choi Yun-Jung (Korea): director of Paradise Culture Foundation in Seoul, which since its founding in 1998, and its 2016 ZIP contemporary art space has been a leading supporter of exhibitions, residencies and exchange programs.

Zaza and Philippe Jabre (Lebanon): philanthropists who over several decades have been supporting various nonprofit arts organizations in Lebanon and beyond such as Ashkal Alwan and the Beirut Art Center, educational scholarships, as well as a major endowment to the art history program at the American University of Beirut.

Yoshua Okon (Mexico): founders of SOMA in 2009 as an organization dedicated to cultural exchange and arts pedagogy through its various academic, residency and public programs, promoting the professional development of emerging artists.

Asya Filippova (Russia): founder of Fabrika Center for Creative Industries in 2005, which supports the activities of independent artists and creatives, as well as commissions and produces a wide range of artistic projects.

José Maria Lafuente (Spain): founder of the Lafuente Archive in Cantabria and Madrid in 2002, which provides access to around 120 000 documents and 2000 works of art specializing in the history of 20th century art in Europe, Latin America and the United States, with particular emphasis on Spain.

Hubert Looser (Switzerland): philanthropist and collector who over five decades has been introducing important art movements and artists to new audiences years before assuming public recognition. Most recently, his patronage culminated in a permanent loan of a large portion of his contemporary art collection to the Kunsthaus in Zurich.

Catherine Petitgas (UK): philanthropist and chair of the Franco-British charity Fluxus Art Projects, which since 2010 has been supporting contemporary artists from both countries at the point when they start to emerge from their national scene and need support to exhibit overseas.

Laura Donnelley (USA): founder and principal patron of Art Matters which since 1985 has supported groundbreaking experimentation in art, by giving over 300 grants to US artists for fellowships and collaborative projects across a diverse range of media.

About the Montblanc Cultural Foundation
The Montblanc Cultural Foundation, based in Hamburg, was founded in 1992 with a mission to promote innovative thinking through supporting the arts worldwide. Amongst the core initiatives of the Foundation is the Montblanc Arts Patronage Award, which has to date contributed more than 5 million EUR in prize money to over 280 art patrons and their organizations across the globe. Since 2002, the Foundation has also supported more than 170 artists to produce of new artworks for the Montblanc Art Collection through its Artist Commission Program.

For more information:
Montblanc Cultural Foundation
Stephanie Radl / Tobias Woischke
Hellgrundweg 100
22525 Hamburg
Germany