Arts & Culture
Other Arts & Culture
Oxford University’s Bodleian Libraries, a recipient of the Blavatnik Honresfield Collection
EMPOWERING INSTITUTIONS TO PRESERVE OUR CULTURAL HERITAGE GLOBALLY
We back esteemed art and cultural establishments and initiatives that focus on promoting and preserving the rich cultural tapestry of our societies.
The Foundation’s support covers several initiatives, from awards ceremonies celebrating the finest non-fiction writing, to exhibiting contemporary couture pieces, and supporting the expansion, renovation, and continued work of world-renowned museums and libraries.
The Blavatnik Art, Film and Photography Galleries at the Imperial War Museum
Beneficiaries
Click the boxes below for more detail.
www.thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk
Baillie Gifford Prize
Baillie Gifford is the UK's premier prize for non-fiction books. The annual awards ceremony dinner and podcast on books chosen as Prize Finalists are sponsored by the Foundation.
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www.thebetterangelssociety.org
The Better Angels Society
The Foundation has provided $9 million to The Better Angels Society to support the work of renowned American documentarian Ken Burns and other American documentarians. Supported films include “The Vietnam War,” “The History of Country Music,” “The U.S. and the Holocaust,” “The American Revolution,” and “LBJ and the Great Society”.
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brucemuseum.org
The Bruce Museum
In 2023, a refurbished and expanded Bruce Museum reopened in Greenwich, Connecticut. The museum’s Blavatnik Family Gallery has been home to multiple popular exhibitions, including “Hockney/Origins” and “Connecticut Impressionism,” with many more rotating exhibits planned for the future.
More InformationBlavatnik Honresfield Library
In 2021, Foundation’s £7.5 million funds were matched by other organizations to reach the £15 million total needed to preserve the Library’s public ownership in the UK. The entire collection has now been distributed to a wide range of appropriate hosts, and collectively has been renamed the Blavatnik Honresfield Library in recognition of the donation.
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The Blavatnik Art, Film and Photography Galleries at the Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museum
The Blavatnik Art, Film and Photography Galleries at the Imperial War Museum opened in 2023, allowing the Museum to explore how artists, photographers and filmmakers bear witness to, document, and tell the story of conflict.
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The King’s Gallery displaying an Oscar de la Renta gown worn by Billie Eilish at Met Gala, among other outfits (Historic Royal Palaces/Oscar de la Renta Archive/PA)
Historic Royal Palaces
With support from the Foundation, Kensington Palace hosted the ‘Crown to Couture’ exhibition which opened April 2023, featuring a carefully curated selection of more than 200 pieces. The show merged celebrity culture with royal fashion, showing how the palace functioned as an early red carpet in the Georgian court. In 2025, Kensington Palace will host "Dress Codes", an exhibition displaying never-before-seen royal and court fashion treasures.
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Lambeth Bridge - Illuminated River. Photo by Paul Crawley
The Illuminated River Trust
In 2019, the Foundation joined three other sponsors to create the Trust for the night-time illumination of half the bridges over the River Thames in London over a ten-year period.
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Ethiopian writer and activist Befeqadu Hailu shares PEN Pinter Prize with Lemn Sissay
The PEN Pinter Prize
The Foundation has been the major funder of the PEN Pinter Prize, following its creation in 2009 in memory of Nobel Laureate playwright Harold Pinter. The Prize celebrates the world’s leading writers. It also promotes the defence of free speech and the rights of authors to speak out against oppression and bigotry, in the spirit which Pinter himself so strongly encouraged.
More Information
Photo by Joshua White, JWPictures/© Academy Museum Foundation.
Hollywoodland at The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
The Foundation is a sponsor of The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’ first permanent exhibit, "Hollywoodland: Jewish Founders and the Making of a Movie Capital". The exhibition tells the story of American filmmaking in the early 20th-century, highlighting the impact of Jewish filmmakers who established the studio system and transformed Los Angeles into a global epicenter of cinema.
More informartion
Kenwood House, English Heritage
"Heiress: Sargent’s American Portraits" at Kenwood House
English Heritage is a charity that cares for over 400 historic buildings, monuments, and sites across England, such as Stonehenge. It aims to preserve them and to share their stories with the public through access, conservation, and education. The Foundation is providing support to English Heritage for the exhibition "Heiress: Sargent’s American Portraits" at Kenwood House.
More Information
www.thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk
Baillie Gifford Prize
Baillie Gifford is the UK's premier prize for non-fiction books. The annual awards ceremony dinner and podcast on books chosen as Prize Finalists are sponsored by the Foundation.
More Information
www.thebetterangelssociety.org
The Better Angels Society
The Foundation has provided $9 million to The Better Angels Society to support the work of renowned American documentarian Ken Burns and other American documentarians. Supported films include “The Vietnam War,” “The History of Country Music,” “The U.S. and the Holocaust,” “The American Revolution,” and “LBJ and the Great Society”.
More Information
brucemuseum.org
The Bruce Museum
In 2023, a refurbished and expanded Bruce Museum reopened in Greenwich, Connecticut. The museum’s Blavatnik Family Gallery has been home to multiple popular exhibitions, including “Hockney/Origins” and “Connecticut Impressionism,” with many more rotating exhibits planned for the future.
More Information
Blavatnik Honresfield Library
In 2021, Foundation’s £7.5 million funds were matched by other organizations to reach the £15 million total needed to preserve the Library’s public ownership in the UK. The entire collection has now been distributed to a wide range of appropriate hosts, and collectively has been renamed the Blavatnik Honresfield Library in recognition of the donation.
More Information
The Blavatnik Art, Film and Photography Galleries at the Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museum
The Blavatnik Art, Film and Photography Galleries at the Imperial War Museum opened in 2023, allowing the Museum to explore how artists, photographers and filmmakers bear witness to, document, and tell the story of conflict.
More Information
The King’s Gallery displaying an Oscar de la Renta gown worn by Billie Eilish at Met Gala, among other outfits (Historic Royal Palaces/Oscar de la Renta Archive/PA)
Historic Royal Palaces
With support from the Foundation, Kensington Palace hosted the ‘Crown to Couture’ exhibition which opened April 2023, featuring a carefully curated selection of more than 200 pieces. The show merged celebrity culture with royal fashion, showing how the palace functioned as an early red carpet in the Georgian court. In 2025, Kensington Palace will host "Dress Codes", an exhibition displaying never-before-seen royal and court fashion treasures.
More Information
Lambeth Bridge - Illuminated River. Photo by Paul Crawley
The Illuminated River Trust
In 2019, the Foundation joined three other sponsors to create the Trust for the night-time illumination of half the bridges over the River Thames in London over a ten-year period.
More Information
Ethiopian writer and activist Befeqadu Hailu shares PEN Pinter Prize with Lemn Sissay
The PEN Pinter Prize
The Foundation has been the major funder of the PEN Pinter Prize, following its creation in 2009 in memory of Nobel Laureate playwright Harold Pinter. The Prize celebrates the world’s leading writers. It also promotes the defence of free speech and the rights of authors to speak out against oppression and bigotry, in the spirit which Pinter himself so strongly encouraged.
More Information
Photo by Joshua White, JWPictures/© Academy Museum Foundation.
Hollywoodland at The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
The Foundation is a sponsor of The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’ first permanent exhibit, "Hollywoodland: Jewish Founders and the Making of a Movie Capital". The exhibition tells the story of American filmmaking in the early 20th-century, highlighting the impact of Jewish filmmakers who established the studio system and transformed Los Angeles into a global epicenter of cinema.
More informartion
Kenwood House, English Heritage
"Heiress: Sargent’s American Portraits" at Kenwood House
English Heritage is a charity that cares for over 400 historic buildings, monuments, and sites across England, such as Stonehenge. It aims to preserve them and to share their stories with the public through access, conservation, and education. The Foundation is providing support to English Heritage for the exhibition "Heiress: Sargent’s American Portraits" at Kenwood House.
More InformationLearn More
Discover the cutting-edge science we fund
Providing many of the world's best researchers, scientists, and universities with support, and funding to discover breakthroughs that solve humankind's greatest challenges.
See how we support great cultural institutions around the world
The Foundation contributes to renowned institutions that showcase the breadth of arts and culture, including performance, exhibition and education.
Visit the Blavatnik Archive
The Blavatnik Archive is a nonprofit foundation dedicated to preserving and disseminating materials that contribute to the study of 20th-century Jewish and world history, with a special emphasis on World War I, World War II, and Soviet Russia.