Formation May 2009 | Director Nonna Materkova | |
Type Nonprofit organization art gallery think tank Headquarters 22 Calvert Avenue
Shoreditch
London
E2 7JP
United Kingdom Website calvert22foundation.org | ||
Calvert 22 Foundation is a non-profit UK registered charity created in 2009 by Russian-born, London-based economist Nonna Materkova. The mission of Calvert 22 Foundation is to create projects and partnerships focused on the contemporary art and culture of Russia and Eastern Europe through activity in four areas: art, culture, research and learning.
History
The foundation’s first initiative was Calvert 22 Gallery, a not-for-profit space dedicated to the contemporary art of Russia and Eastern Europe.
Set across two floors of a converted warehouse, the gallery’s name was derived from its address on Calvert Avenue in Shoreditch, East London.
Since its launch, Calvert 22 Gallery has staged exhibitions with internationally significant artists including Sanja Iveković, Alexander Brodsky, Neue Slowenische Kunst, and Olga Chernysheva.
In 2012, the foundation established a long-term learning partnership with Smolny College, the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences at St Petersburg State University. The partnership enables students and lecturers to broaden their knowledge through a range of exchange programmes, visits and conferences, involving leading educational institutions such as the Royal College of Art, the University of Edinburgh and the Courtauld Institute.
In 2013, the foundation launched The Calvert Journal, an online guide to the creativity of modern Russia. Delivered daily through a mix of reportage, comment and photography, the website is produced by an editorial team in London working with a network of contributors stationed across Russia.
2013 also saw the creation of Calvert Forum, a creative industries think tank generating a programme of talks and reports to research the role of creative enterprise on economic and social development in Russia and Eastern Europe.