Contemporary Art

The ABLV Charitable Foundation is the co-founder of the initiative to build the privately funded Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art (LMCA) which is due to open its doors to the public in 2021. Under the auspices of the “Contemporary Art” field, the Foundation wishes to stimulate public interest in contemporary art, not only by challenging people to think and encouraging their appetite for learning, but also by getting them to look in the mirror, question the obvious and swap ideas and experiences, thus building a public audience for the future museum. In a similar vein, a further set priority in this field is the provision of direct support for contemporary art processes in Latvia, i.e. the organising of professional-level exhibitions of national importance, contemporary art theory and research work, as well as inter-disciplinary creative collaboration projects.

In order for the contemporary art museum to become a platform for a strong and internationally renowned community of Latvian artists, the ABLV Charitable Foundation is assiduously facilitating the formation of a professional art environment at every level. In this field, the Foundation has a long-standing collaboration with the Art Academy of Latvia, supporting postgraduates working on their graduation shows. Our Foundation was also the main supporter of the Latvian Pavilion at the 56th Venice Art Biennale. Moreover, under the auspices of the “Contemporary Art” field, the Foundation administers and supports the acquisition of works for the nascent LMCA collection. A logical continuation of this collaboration is the establishment of the Foundation of the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art (FLMCA) and the memorandum of intent signed on 30 October 2014 between the newly-established foundation and the LR Ministry of Culture regarding the construction of the museum.

During its operating history dating back to its establishment in 2006, ABLV Charitable Foundation has co-financed a total of over 90 contemporary art projects, equivalent to a total sum of EUR 741,243.

The “Contemporary Art” field is comprised of two programmes: “Support for Contemporary Art Exhibitions” and “Support for the Formation of the LMCA Collection”:

1. The objective of the “Support for Contemporary Art Exhibitions” programme is to award grants to professional-level exhibitions of national importance that encourage the development of cutting edge contemporary art in Latvia or provide coverage of research into the contemporary art scene;
2. The objective of the “Support for the Formation of the LMCA Collection” programme is to administer and support the purchase of works for the nascent Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art (LMCA), as well as to support events related to the promotion of this collection. 

Prospective inter-disciplinary art exhibition grant recipients can additionally apply for financial support for various educational projects if they are being organised under the auspices of exhibitions regarding which an application for support has been submitted in the grant competition. To receive more detailed information about this option, please click the link to “Educational Projects with Cultural Content”.