Global initiative to foster creativity and innovation
The international creative think-tank BE OPEN Foundation continues to support cutting-edge educational initiatives in London. Partnering with the Mayor’s Fund for London and the Greater London Authority, the Foundation will be lending its expertise and support to ‘London Curriculum’ – a unique and ambitious project, set to revitalize teaching and learning across the city.
The initiative is supported by the BE OPEN foundation. Its aim is to introduce young people from disadvantaged areas of London to the fascinating world of astronomy. The project ‘Discovery within a Week’ brings together PHD astronomy students from UCL’s Physics and Astronomy department to mentor secondary school pupils and guide them through the materials and technology.
The current tour of the global design award established by BE OPEN Foundation has come to its completion – on April 28th, at the amazing Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery BE OPEN announced and awarded the main winner of YOUNG TALENT AWARD as well as the winner in the ‘Founder’s choice’ category.
The main prize of 16 000 Euro was awarded to the Otros Perez design studio based in Santiago de Chile. Founded and headed by Catalina and Jeronimo Perez the studio creates visual identities, graphics, communication strategies, websites, etc. The young designers have already cooperated with the Chilean Government, a number of Chilean universities and public organizations.
The jury of BE OPEN YOUNG TALENT AWARD has selected 10 candidates to enter the short-list of finalists. The main winner as well as the Founder’s choice winner will be announced at an awarding ceremony in Nottingham, UK, on April 28th, at the annual Cumulus conference. The online voting for the web choice winner will continue till May 15th.
The selected finalists are Sofia Drum Bento (USA), Jacque Kemp (USA), Natalie Mcqueen (USA), Catalina Perez (Chile), The Clocksmiths (Italy), Jenifer Wisler (USA), Pablo Gonzalez (Chile), Caroline Konarkowska (New Zealand), Passport Design Bureau (UK) and QQO (Italy).
The new tour of YOUNG TALENT AWARD – a grant by BE OPEN to support young professionals – presents the international jury, whose task will be to define the winner of a 16,000 Euro prize.
The award is a grant to support young designers’ day-to-day living expenses throughout a year, helping them develop their work at this critical early stage in their career. Described as an ‘incubator for young talent’, seeking out designers who have only recently completed their studies and are making their first steps in a design career, the award will allow the winner to continue working at their own pace, experiment with both practical and conceptual projects.
BE OPEN Foundation has joined forces with the Mayor’s Fund for London to help young unemployed Londoners play a greater part in the future of the capital – through the arts. Elena Baturina has supported the Mayor’s Fund for London initiative, providing a major boost to 17-24 year-olds across the city through arts-based employability programme Creativity Works.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson, Patron of the Mayor’s Fund for London, said: “To ensure London’s status as the indisputable global capital of culture and creativity, it is vital that young Londoners are equipped with the skills they need to enter this most dynamic of sectors. Creativity Works is an excellent way for youngsters to bridge the gap between their artistic talent and the immense opportunities available to them in our city, and having BE OPEN Foundation on board will help to make a real difference. It is fantastic to have supporters like this backing the Mayor’s Fund for London and I hope other individuals and organisations will get on board to help this great cause.”
BE OPEN presents the new tour of YOUNG TALENT AWARD – this year the initiative unites several continents under the topic of GRAPHIC DESIGN. The jurors and participants represent Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, Spain, UK, USA and New Zealand.
The candidates have presented their best works to the judgment of high-profile international jury, who are to select the long-list of 30 names. After that the jurors will vote to form the short-list, out of which three winners will be then defined:
Saatchi Gallery, London
13 January – 9 March 2015
In January 2016, an exhibition by Azeri and Russian artist Aidan Salakhova opened in Saatchi Gallery with support from international businesswoman and philanthropist Elena Baturina. Baturina, who is Russian but now resides in London, provided support to the ‘Revelations’ exhibition, which showcases the work Salakhova across painting, drawing, video and sculpture.
Aidan Salakhova is an artist based in Moscow and Carrara, Italy, who works in sculpture, painting, drawing and video. Revelations, curated by Jenny Christensson, will bring together new work, alongside works exhibited at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art in 2012.
The BE OPEN philanthropic foundation announces the completion of another stage of its global educational initiative within the Inside the Academy strand – the design and architecture institutions ranking system. It has conducted extensive research of the curricula of those institutions providing education in design and architecture in respect to two specific developing regions: South America and Asia.
The initiative was launched in 2013, when the foundation started developing the research methodology through analyzing secondary creative education across Europe, the results of that analysis were presented in September the same year. Switching from these most elaborate and “mature” educational systems to ones of South America and Asia, BE OPEN updated its methods to better fit their peculiarities – the dynamic growth, fast development and outstanding potential in the majority of business and public areas.
BE OPEN, the social and cultural foundation that supports creativity and innovation, has published a new rating to analyse policy, provision and excellence in arts teaching across secondary education in Europe.
The rating covers courses ranging from art to craft, design to film and writing to the performing arts in schools across the UK, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy and Spain
