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Arts & Culture
September 17, 2025
Blitz: Iconic Nightclub that Made the New Romantics Famous Celebrated in Groundbreaking Show

Supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation, one of London’s most beloved and historic nightclubs is to be celebrated in a major new exhibition at the Design Museum. Blitz: The Club That Shaped The 80s will showcase the venue’s impact on popular culture during its short lifespan and reveal intimate details about some of the famous faces who partied there. The club, in Covent Garden, only existed for 18 months, from 1979 until late 1980, yet helped shape popular culture for a decade, from fashion to music, film to art and design. The Blitz launched in 1979, just as punk was coming to an end and Margaret Thatcher was coming to power. An emerging group dubbed the “new romantics”, made up of young creatives with big ideas, would meet up every Tuesday at the Blitz wine bar in Covent Garden, sowing the seeds of what became a club night for a “daring, restless new generation”. The exhibition will run from September 20, 2025, until March 29, 2026.

Arts & Culture
September 17, 2025
V&A Opens David Bowie Centre

Dr Tristram Hunt, Director of the V&A, said: “One of the greatest performers, musicians, artists and innovators of all time, David Bowie’s impact continues to reverberate nearly a decade after his death – while his influence on design and visual culture and his inspiration on creatives today is unmatched. We are thrilled to care for Bowie’s incredible archive, revealing new insights into his creativity and legacy, and open it up for everyone at V&A East Storehouse, in dialogue with the V&A’s collection spanning 5,000 years of art, design, and performance. My deepest thanks go to the David Bowie Estate, Blavatnik Family Foundation and Warner Music Group – without their extreme generosity, this wouldn’t have been possible.” Sir Leonard Blavatnik, founder of the Blavatnik Family Foundation, said: “We’re proud to support the David Bowie Centre at V&A East Storehouse, honouring a timeless cultural icon.”

Arts & Culture
September 13, 2025
The V&A’s Bowie Centre is a Thoroughly Bowie-esque Act of Reinvention

In 2023, the museum announced its acquisition of the 90,000 items in the archive. It also revealed plans to establish a David Bowie Centre in which to keep and display them. In the museum’s discreet phrasing, the venture was made possible “through the generosity of the David Bowie Estate, the Blavatnik Family Foundation and Warner Music Group”. (Warner Music, which owns the rights to Bowie’s recorded music catalogue, and the charitable foundation set up by Leonard Blavatnik, the business tycoon whose company owns most of Warner, donated £10mn.)

Arts & Culture
September 4, 2025
The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction Announces 2025 Longlist

The longlist for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, which celebrates the best in non-fiction writing, is announced today, Thursday 4 September. The prize recognises and rewards the best of non-fiction and is open to authors of any nationality. It covers all non-fiction in the areas of current affairs, history, politics, science, sport, travel, biography, autobiography and the arts. The winning author will receive £50,000, with the other shortlisted authors (to be announced Thursday 2 October) receiving £5,000, bringing the total prize value to £75,000. The announcement of the six books shortlisted for this year’s prize will take place on Thursday 2 October. An event celebrating the shortlist will take place at the Cheltenham Literature Festival on 14 October. The winner will be announced on Tuesday 4 November at an award ceremony at BMA House, generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. The announcement will also be livestreamed across the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction social channels. The Baillie Gifford Prize Read Smart podcast, generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation, is available on iTunes, Spotify, SoundCloud and Entale.

Arts & Culture
September 4, 2025
A Night in Old Vienna with Phoenix Chamber Ensemble: Blavatnik Chamber Music Series at CJH – In-Person Program and Live on YouTube

Join Phoenix Chamber Ensemble pianists Vassa Shevel and Inessa Zaretsky and guest artists Anna Elashvili (violin) and Aaron Wolff (cello) for an evening of Mozart and Schubert. Founded in 2005 by pianists Vassa Shevel and Inessa Zaretsky, and celebrating their 20th anniversary this year, the Phoenix Chamber Ensemble has become a vital part of the New York classical community, presenting more than 70 public concerts at the Center for Jewish History. Made possible by the Stravinsky Institute Foundation through the generous support of the Blavatnik Family Foundation.

Arts & Culture
September 3, 2025
Leandro Erlich – “Concrete Coral,” the Installation for The ReefLine, the Underwater Sculpture Park Off Miami Beach

The ReefLine, a 501(c)(3) non-profit initiative founded by Cultural Placemaker Ximena Caminos, will unveil its first installation this September, marking the launch of a groundbreaking public underwater sculpture park along a seven-mile trail, ideal for snorkeling against the backdrop of a hybrid coral reef off the coast of Miami Beach. Conceived as a visionary intersection of art, science, and regenerative climate technology, The ReefLine aims to restore a vital section of the Florida Reef Tract, the third-largest coral reef system in the world, while promoting biodiversity, protecting the coastline from erosion and sea level rise, and raising awareness of marine conservation through large-scale, site-specific artworks. Key project partners include the Blavatnik Family Foundation, the City of Miami Beach, the Global Fund for Coral Reefs, the Knight Foundation, MadCo, the Miami-Dade County Risk and Resilience Tech Hub, OMA, the University of New Hampshire, and Vicat.

Arts & Culture
August 23, 2025
David Bowie Unseen: Inside His Archive of 90,000 Personal Treasures

To-do lists, costumes, even menus — they were all precious to the star. As the V&A opens the David Bowie Centre, what does his collection reveal about this meticulous curator? “We’re showing the letter from his father, alongside one of the first rejection letters he received from Apple Records,” says Madeleine Haddon, curator of the David Bowie archive. This vast collection of more than 90,000 items has been acquired by the Foundation and Warner Music Group and bequeathed to the V&A East Storehouse, a new permanent home in East London for the Victoria and Albert Museum’s collections, which is free to visit. The David Bowie Centre opens at V&A East Storehouse on September 13.

Arts & Culture
August 20, 2025
Kate Moss Announced for New BBC Podcast on the “Artistic Evolution” of David Bowie

The BBC has announced a new David Bowie podcast featuring fresh interviews with friends and admirers, including Boy George, Chrissie Hynde, Dave Gahan, Elton John, Goldie, Iggy Pop, and Robbie Williams. As NME notes, the launch coincides with the opening of the David Bowie Centre at the V&A East Storehouse in London.

Arts & Culture
August 7, 2025
Ken Burns to Headline 2026 Gettysburg Film Festival

In the town synonymous with American history, the 2026 Gettysburg Film Festival will honor the birth of the United States. From April 2–4, 2026, this one-of-a-kind event will feature a powerful lineup of films, speakers, and conversations exploring the American Revolution, the nation’s founding, and the ties between 1776 and 1863. Presented by Gettysburg History, the festival is made possible with support from key partners including the American Battlefield Trust, The Better Angels Society, and local collaborators such as The Gettysburg Film Commission, Destination Gettysburg, and the Dobbin House Tavern.

Arts & Culture
July 24, 2025
Inside V&A East Storehouse: Tim Reeve on London’s New Museum

Go behind-the-scenes of the V&A’s bold new museum with this in-depth interview with the man who made it a reality. Here I speak to the V&A's Deputy Director Tim Reeve about creating London's V&A East Storehouse, its groundbreaking approach to museum access, and what we can expect from the upcoming David Bowie Centre. What can people expect from the David Bowie Centre later this year? The David Bowie Centre will be a free to access home for David Bowie’s Archive, recently acquired by the V&A through the generosity of the David Bowie Estate, the Blavatnik Family Foundation and Warner Music Group. It’s part of the wider V&A East Storehouse experience, and is designed to unpack what an archive is, and to give a rotating look at some of the 90,000+ items from David Bowie’s archive.

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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.

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