Calvert 22 Foundation was a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

UK registered charity created in 2009 by Russian-born, London-based economist Nonna Materkova. Calvert 22 Foundation focused on the contemporary culture and creativity of the 29 countries of the New East (

eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

, the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

and

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the fo ...

) through education, events, exhibitions, research, and online content in ''The Calvert Journal''. Since the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. A ...

, it ceased operations until further notice.

Mission

Calvert 22 Foundation's mission was to build opportunities for emerging creative talent in the New East by supporting and showcasing the contemporary culture and creative economy of the region and deepening knowledge through in-depth research and analysis.

Activities

The foundation's first initiative was Calvert 22 Gallery in London (since 2016 called Calvert 22 Space). The not-for-profit hosted events, talks, screenings and exhibitions on history, photography, film, music, architecture, literature and contemporary art of the region. It was also the foundation's headquarters. Set across two floors on a converted warehouse, the gallery's name was derived from its address on Calvert Avenue in

Shoreditch Shoreditch is a district in the East End of London in England, and forms the southern part of the London Borough of Hackney. Neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets are also perceived as part of the area. In the 16th century, Shoreditch was an imp ...

, East London, which is historically connected to immigrants from Eastern Europe. The foundation partnered and collaborated with other cultural institutions—

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It ...

, State

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the larges ...

, the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

The Photographers' Gallery The Photographers' Gallery was founded in London by Sue Davies opening on 14 January 1971, as the first public gallery in the United Kingdom devoted solely to photography. It is also home to the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize, established ...

, the

Science Museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in ...

, the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

, the

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhib ...

, London Fashion Week, London Book Festival, the London Festival of Architecture and the

London Design Festival London Design Festival is a citywide design event that takes place over nine days every September across London. It was conceived by Sir John Sorrell and Ben Evans CBE in 2003 and celebrated its 20th edition in September 2022. In an article by ...

among others. From its early years, Calvert 22 Foundation worked closely with universities in the UK and internationally, including the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, University College London, and the Royal College of Art. In 2012, the foundation established a partnership with Smolny College (the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences of St Petersburg State University) to enable student and lecturer exchange programmes, visits, and conferences. 2013 saw the creation of Calvert Forum, a creative industries think tank generating forums, talks and reports researching the role of creative enterprise on economic and social development in the New East region. In 2016, the Calvert 22 Foundation launched its long-term collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers (now

PwC PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounti ...

) to develop and publish the Creative Capital Index. In May 2016, the foundation established the New East Photo Prize, for "representations of the social, cultural and physical landscape of the New East and other perspectives on that region," and presented the prize's inaugural exhibition from November to December 2016. In 2017, Calvert 22 Foundation dedicated a year-long season of events, art and digital content to marking the centenary of the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...

entitled ''The Future Remains: Revisiting Revolution'' in partnership with St Petersburg's

. The New East Travel Guide is the foundation's

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...

, "that connects city travellers to the creative and cultural side of the New East". Locations currently included are

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents i ...

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzan is the capital city, capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and t ...

Voronezh Voronezh ( rus, links=no, Воро́неж, p=vɐˈronʲɪʂ}) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on ...

and

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...

. In 2022, the Calvert 22 Foundation announced the closure of operations, and the ceasing of its publication The Calvert Journal, citing the safety of their staff and colleagues amid threats to media freedom in Russia. Later that year, Russia designated Calvert 22 Foundation as an " undesirable organisation".

Calvert 22 Space

Since its opening in 2009, Calvert 22 Space staged exhibitions of over 1,500 artists and photographers from the New East. They included Sanja Iveković, Alexander Brodsky,

Neue Slowenische Kunst Neue Slowenische Kunst (; NSK; German: "New Slovenian Art") is a political art collective that formed in Slovenia in 1984, when the Socialist Republic of Slovenia was part of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. NSK's name was chosen to refl ...

, and

Olga Chernysheva Olga Chernysheva (born 1962 in Moscow, Russia) is a contemporary artist who lives and works in Moscow. Her work spans film, photography, drawing and object-based mediums, where she draws on quotidian moments and marginal spaces from everyday life ...

. Curators of exhibitions included David Stork, David Elliot, Kate Bush, Isaac Julian, Mark Nash, Joseph Backstein and Yara Bubnova. Calvert 22 Space was home to the Calvert 22 Bookshop and the Calvert 22 Café, which hosted pop-ups, supper clubs and book launches. The photography exhibition, ''Close and Far'', held at Calvert 22 Space was named by ''The Guardian'' as one of the 10 best photography exhibitions in the world in 2014. Calvert 22 Space closed in December 2018 moving most of its activities online. The foundation continued to hold events and exhibitions with partner institutions in the UK and internationally.

''The Calvert Journal''

In 2013, the foundation launched ''The Calvert Journal'', a digital magazine of contemporary New East culture, including art, film, architecture, design, fashion and avant-garde culture. It was updated daily with reportage, comment and photography, by an editorial team in London and a network of contributors in the New East. Initially launched with a Russian focus, ''The Calvert Journal'' since broadened its scope to include all 29 countries in the New East region.

References

External links

*
''The Calvert Journal''

Calvert Forum
{{Coord missing, London Cultural charities based in the United Kingdom Art museums and galleries in London Foreign charities operating in Russia Non-profit organisations based in the United Kingdom Tourist attractions in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Art galleries in London 2009 establishments in England 2022 disestablishments in England Undesirable organizations in Russia