A $25 million gift from the Blavatnik Family Foundation is supporting USC School of Cinematic Arts’ planned Blavatnik Center for Virtual Production in University Park. The proposed 20,000-square-foot facility at 625 W. 32nd Street would replace a surface parking lot between the Cinematic Arts Center and the Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts. Plans call for two stages with wraparound LED walls, performance-capture, camera-tracking and lighting systems, along with classrooms and labs equipped for 3D design. Designed by Bastien and Associates, the contemporary two-story building would feature painted plaster and metal finishes, with courtyards connecting it to neighboring facilities. The project remains subject to City of Los Angeles approvals, but would further expand USC’s capacity to educate students in emerging production technologies.
On September 9, 2026, 2,977 lights rose above New York Harbor and assembled into the Twin Towers at full architectural scale. Created ahead of the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the public artwork honored each life lost and offered a shared moment of remembrance, reflection and unity. Developed in collaboration with members of the 9/11 family, survivor and first-responder communities, 2,977 Lights Over New York Harbor began as a spiraling helix before forming the towers in the night sky. The installation was conceived in dialogue with the iconic "Tribute in Light" and accompanied by reflective musical works from Philip Glass, John Adams, and Max Richter. The project was produced by Addison Mehr and Sky Elements and made possible entirely through private philanthropy and in-kind contributions. Major support came from the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund, 9/11 family members and the Blavatnik Family Foundation, with additional support from Pershing Square Philanthropies. Sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, the installation was presented as a gift to New York City and to everyone whose life has been affected by September 11.
The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction unveiled its 2026 longlist today, Thursday 3rd September, featuring 13 remarkable books showcasing that all the best stories are true. This year’s longlist brings together vivid biographies and revelatory true stories, including of major literary figure James Baldwin, romance novelist and socialite Barbara Cartland, and eighteenth-century naturalist and explorer George Forster. Readers are also taken from the ancient world through the life of Alexander the Great to the famed Parisian Hôtel Lutetia during its wartime transformation. Other subjects include a range of historical investigations and first-hand accounts that illuminate conflict, power and identity, from Berlin during the Second World War, revolution in Syria and art, survival and resistance in wartime Ukraine, to espionage in Cold War Iran and the geopolitical mystery of Nord Stream. The longlist also explores the high-profile investigation surrounding French film icon Alain Delon, the tragic story of London teenager Zac Brettler, and offers an intimate portrait of Putin's Russia. The winner will be announced on Wednesday 4 November at an award ceremony at BMA House, generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation.
The documentary film, Noga, will receive a free open-air screening in Kyiv on August 30 as part of the 17th Odesa International Film Festival. Directed by Jono and Benji Bergmann, executive produced by Len Blavatnik and supported by the Foundation, Noga follows Israeli musician Noga Erez and her partner and collaborator, Ori Rousso, over five years of creative work, international touring, and personal change. The October 7 attacks and the war that followed alter the course of the story, bringing questions of identity, artistic responsibility, and public pressure to the fore. The Kyiv presentation follows the film’s June 2026 world premiere at the Tribeca Festival and subsequent festival screenings in Munich, Jerusalem, and San Francisco.
Time Out has highlighted Becoming America: How Science Shaped a Nation, a major free exhibition supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation, opening at London’s Science Museum on October 23, 2026, to mark 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Spanning four decisive decades from the 1760s to the first U.S. presidency in the 1790s, the exhibition explores how science and technology shaped the land, peoples, and emerging identity of the United States. More than 100 maps, paintings, scientific instruments, and artifacts will illuminate the knowledge and experiences of Anglo-American colonists, Indigenous Americans, and enslaved and free people of African descent. Highlights include a rare surviving 1776 print of the Declaration, objects associated with King George III and George Washington, and Benjamin Franklin’s pioneering chart of the Gulf Stream.
Emily Blavatnik and Laila Blavatnik will serve as Gala Grand Chairs of American Ballet Theatre’s 2026 Fall Gala, joining fellow mother-and-daughter pairs in support of the Company and its artists. The event, taking place October 29 at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, will honor acclaimed stage and screen artist Cynthia Erivo for her contributions to the performing arts and her ability to connect audiences through storytelling across disciplines. Titled Angels and Demons, the one-night-only program will be curated by ABT Artistic Director Susan Jaffe and will explore its celestial and mischievous theme through dance. The evening will feature excerpts from Coppélia, Swan Lake, La Sylphide, and Sylvia, followed by dinner and dancing on the theater’s Promenade. Proceeds will support ABT’s productions, new works, dancer training, education initiatives, and community engagement programs.
A New York Times feature examines the remarkable wartime history preserved at Trent Park House of Secrets, now open to the public as a museum. During the Second World War, British intelligence secretly monitored captured senior German officers at the North London estate, gathering critical information about Nazi weapons programs, military strategy, and the Holocaust. The operation relied on approximately 40 listeners, many of them German Jewish refugees, who recorded and transcribed conversations from concealed rooms beneath the mansion. The museum brings this history to life by recreating both Trent Park’s elegant reception rooms and the discreet underground spaces where the intelligence team worked. Its opening follows a decade-long effort to save the house and ensure that the contributions of the listeners receive wider recognition. The Blavatnik Family Foundation is proud to support Trent Park House of Secrets in preserving this important history and making it accessible to future generations.
City Parks Foundation will honor Joe Killian and Alex Blavatnik at its 2026 dinner and concert benefit on September 10 at Rumsey Playfield, SummerStage’s flagship venue in Central Park. Killian, who founded SummerStage in 1986, will receive the SummerStage Icon Award in recognition of his vision to bring free performing arts programming to New Yorkers. Alex Blavatnik, chairman of Access Industries and senior advisor to the Blavatnik Family Foundation, will receive the City Parks Foundation Icon Award. The award recognizes his and the Foundation’s longstanding support for preserving cultural history and making it freely accessible to the public. Preservation Hall Jazz Band will perform at the benefit, with additional guests to be announced. The event coincides with SummerStage’s 40th anniversary and celebrates City Parks Foundation’s continuing role in presenting free music, art, and culture across New York City.
The documentary Noga, which premiered at the 2026 Tribeca Festival, follows Israeli musician Noga Erez at a defining moment in her life and career. Directed by Jono and Benji Bergmann, the film traces Erez’s work and relationship with her partner and collaborator, Ori Rousso, as they record, tour, and build an international audience. The October 7 attacks and the war in Gaza transform the course of the film, bringing grief, uncertainty, online abuse, cultural boycotts, and pressure to take public positions into their creative and personal lives. Even as those pressures intensify, Erez and Rousso continue making music and performing, using their work to process events around them while sustaining a demanding partnership. Supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation, with Leonard Blavatnik serving as Executive Producer, Noga examines the intertwined questions of art, politics, identity, and responsibility.
Providing many of the world's best researchers, scientists, and universities with support, and funding to discover breakthroughs that solve humankind's greatest challenges.
The Foundation contributes to renowned institutions that showcase the breadth of arts and culture, including performance, exhibition and education.
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.
