The Arts Benefit From Swarovski Foundation's Latest Grant Announcement
Great news for arts and charitable institution across the world as yesterday Swarovski Foundation, chaired by Nadja Swarovski has announced its latest round of grants in the fields of culture and creativity, wellbeing, and environment. The announcement comes hot on the heels of International Day of Charity, which took place on Sept 5th.
The Swarovski Foundation was set up in 2013 to pursue charitable goals to honour the philanthropic spirit of Daniel Swarovski, who founded the crystal business in 1895. Since then, five generations of the Swarovski family have reinforced the company’s commitment to philanthropy and charitable giving. The Swarovski Foundation’s mission is to build on this heritage by supporting charitable initiatives and organisations working in three areas.
Fostering Creativity and Culture by promoting the arts, advancing education, supporting cultural institutions and innovative projects with cutting edge talent; Promoting Wellbeing, supporting initiatives on women’s empowerment, access to health and education and assisting the advancement and development of young people and communities; and Conserving Natural Resources through water sustainability and environmental projects to promote the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment.
The full list of grants is as follows:
The New Design Museum, UK
The Swarovski Foundation Centre for Learning is at the heart of the development of the new Design Museum in Kensington, London, opening in November. Providing state of the art facilities for education and access, fully funded by the Swarovski Foundation, the new Centre for Learning will be open to members of the community, schools, further education and professionals for a wide range of learning programmes provided by the Design Museum’s expert team.
Burgtheater, Austria
Support for youth tickets and theatre club scholarships of the Burgtheater in Vienna, to promote access to education, arts and culture amongst children and young people aged 10 – 18 years from disadvantaged backgrounds. The project includes 600 tickets for selected productions, at least 15 scholarships for theatre clubs, behind the scenes tours and an introduction to the plays.
Central Saint Martins, UK (continuing programme)
Swarovski launched a scholarship programme at Central Saint Martins in 2011 to build on existing support programmes for emerging design talent at the college. Since 2014 the scholarship has been under the auspices of the Swarovski Foundation.
Free Arts NYC, USA
The Swarovski Foundation is supporting Free Arts’ re-launch of their Teen Internship programme, offering young people the opportunity to engage in real-world work experience in the arts and cultural sectors. The programme uses a combination of arts and mentoring to enable disadvantaged young people to build pathways into creative careers, drawn from communities in Brooklyn, The Bronx and Manhattan.
MiniMed, Austria
Support for a lecture series to educate on and raise awareness of preventive healthcare issues and ultimately improve health literacy in Austria, especially within the vulnerable target group of women aged 55+.
Moorfields Eye Charity, Ghana
The Swarovski Foundation has partnered with Moorfields Eye Charity to tackle the epidemic of avoidable blindness in West Africa, providing essential equipment to a new stand-alone eye centre and surgical training facility at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Ghana. This will enable the hospital to train new healthcare workers to deliver sight-saving care to people in West Africa and will directly address diabetic retinopathy, the leading cause of avoidable blindness, which affects over 54,000 people in the area.
Salzburg Festival, Austria
Support of the Salzburg Festival, to offer more than 3,000 tickets for opera, drama and concert performances to young people under the age of 27. The festival aims to encourage young people with limited financial means to enjoy the arts, to strengthen the enjoyment and understanding of music and theatre, and to build audiences for the future.
Teach For All in Austria, Thailand and America – New York
(continuing programme)
The Swarovski Foundation is a long-term supporter of Teach For All global networks, expanding educational opportunity around the world and focusing on the leadership necessary for change. In addition to the Foundation’s existing relationships with Teach For Austria and Teach For Thailand, the Foundation is now supporting Teach For America – New York to recruit, develop and support talented fellows to teach in the New York public schools reaching 400 students that need them most.
University College London, The Bartlett, UK
Support for a student’s full MSc Social Development Practice scholarship course at University College London (UCL). This course explores the processes of social change, mobilization and development that can generate greater equity and well-being for people with diverse identities living in cities of the Global South. Through participating on the course, the Swarovski Foundation Scholar will gain the practical skills and theoretical understanding needed to address the challenges and complexities of the field.
University of Cambridge, UK
Swarovski Foundation is supporting an outstanding student on the Masters course in Engineering for Sustainable Development. The Swarovski Foundation Scholar is part of a truly international group, who will tackle the issues facing our ever-changing world and take back to their home countries some lasting solutions.
WaterAid, Ethiopia (continuing programme)
WaterAid works with partners in Africa, Asia, Central America and the Pacific to deal with the long-term challenges of overcoming water scarcity, a key area of focus for the Swarovski Foundation. The Foundation supports projects in the Chelia and Toke Kutaye Districts in Ethiopia, providing access to water and improved sanitation systems, while educating local farmers on water usage.
Women for Women, Nigeria (continuing programme)
Women for Women International aims to give women in conflict-affected countries access to knowledge and economic resources, so they can lead the change towards peaceful societies. Over the three-year partnership, the Swarovski Foundation support will enable about 500 women in Nigeria to participate in a year-long holistic training programme in Nigeria, whereby women will learn about their rights, managing their finances, improving their and their families’ health and wellbeing, and building social networks and emotional support. They will also learn vocational and business skills to access livelihoods and break free from poverty.
For more information on the work of the Swarovski Foundation, visit their website here http://www.swarovskifoundation.org/
IMAGE: New Design Museum
