PRO ARTE Foundation

The PRO ARTE Foundation (Петербургский благотворительный фонд культуры и искусства «ПРО АРТЕ») is a non-commercial, non-state cultural organization founded in 1999 in St. Petersburg, Russia. It describes itself as a charitable foundation for culture and art, and its main areas of work are visual arts, museum affairs and inclusion. Its registered office is at 6 Rubinsteina Street, St. Petersburg, and it maintains an official website at proarte.ru. The foundation is best known as an organizer and co-producer of cultural projects rather than as a commercial brand. It organizes exhibitions, festivals, inclusive theatre performances, laboratories, lectures, seminars, conferences and concerts, and runs educational programmes for young artists, journalists and designers. Many of its projects are created in partnership with major Russian cultural institutions, including the State Hermitage Museum, the G. A. Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theatre, the Museum of the History of St. Petersburg, the Russian Ethnographic Museum, the New Stage of the Alexandrinsky Theatre and St. Petersburg State University. PRO ARTE initiated and organized two large St. Petersburg museum festivals: "Contemporary Art in a Traditional Museum" (2000–2019) and the St. Petersburg Biennale of Museum Design (2014–2018). According to its Wikipedia entry, around 100 St. Petersburg museums and more than 250 artists and designers from 20 countries took part in these festivals. Since 2011 the foundation has actively developed inclusive programmes involving people with visual impairments, notably "Visible Things" (Зримые вещи) and "Not in Vain" (Не зря). In 2017 the project "Music for All" (Музыка для всех), featuring blind musicians, won the Russian State Prize for Contemporary Art "Innovation" in the "Educational Project" category. In 2021 the foundation itself became a laureate of the "Innovation" State Prize for Contemporary Art in the category "For Support of Contemporary Art in Russia", and it entered a ranking of art-support foundations as a top-20 fundraising NGO specializing in charitable support for culture and art. In 2022 it donated around 5,000 publications on culture and art to St. Petersburg libraries under its "Books as Gifts" (Книги в дар) charity campaign. Since 2022 it has organized the V. Yu. Matveyev "Artful Word" (Искусный глагол) professional skills competition for journalists and bloggers in the cultural sphere; the competition was created in 2015 on the initiative of the Yekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts, with the State Hermitage, the Vladimir Potanin Charitable Foundation and the Yekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts as founders. In 2023 the foundation was included in the Directory of Russian Charitable Foundations, a special project of TASS and the Vladimir Potanin Charitable Foundation, and it donated folding orientation canes and other materials to the St. Petersburg Centre for Medical and Social Rehabilitation of the Visually Impaired. In 2024 it again entered a ranking of charitable organizations by partnership potential as a top-20 fundraising NGO specializing in charitable support for culture and art. The foundation's team is led by director Elena Kolovskaya, with Tatiana Bykovskaya as deputy director and several programme coordinators. Its partners include the State Hermitage (Mikhail Piotrovsky), the Mikhail Prokhorov Charitable Foundation (Irina Prokhorova), the Vladimir Potanin Charitable Foundation (Oksana Oracheva), the architectural studio "Studio 44" (Nikita Yavein) and the Gatchina Museum-Reserve (Vasily Pankratov).

The PRO ARTE Foundation was created in 1999 in St. Petersburg as a non-commercial, non-state cultural organization. From its founding it has operated as a charitable foundation for culture and art, with main areas of work in visual arts, museum affairs and inclusion. Its registered address is 6 Rubinsteina Street, St. Petersburg. In 2000 the foundation launched the festival "Contemporary Art in a Traditional Museum", which it ran until 2019. The festival became one of its signature projects, bringing contemporary art into established museum settings. In 2014 it added the St. Petersburg Biennale of Museum Design, held until 2018. According to its Wikipedia entry, around 100 St. Petersburg museums and more than 250 artists and designers from 20 countries took part in these two festivals. From 2011 the foundation actively developed inclusive programmes involving people with visual impairments, notably "Visible Things" (Зримые вещи) and "Not in Vain" (Не зря). In 2017 the project "Music for All" (Музыка для всех), featuring blind musicians, won the State Prize for Contemporary Art "Innovation" in the "Educational Project" category. In 2020 the foundation entered a ranking of art-support foundations as a top-5 fundraising NGO specializing in charitable support for culture and art. In 2021 it became a laureate of the "Innovation" State Prize for Contemporary Art in the category "For Support of Contemporary Art in Russia", and also entered a ranking of art-support foundations as a top-20 fundraising NGO. In 2022 it donated around 5,000 publications on culture and art to St. Petersburg libraries under its "Books as Gifts" (Книги в дар) charity campaign, and since 2022 it has organized the V. Yu. Matveyev "Artful Word" (Искусный глагол) professional skills competition for journalists and bloggers in the cultural sphere; the competition was created in 2015 on the initiative of the Yekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts, with the State Hermitage, the Vladimir Potanin Charitable Foundation and the Yekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts as founders. In 2023 the foundation was included in the Directory of Russian Charitable Foundations, a special project of TASS and the Vladimir Potanin Charitable Foundation, and it donated folding orientation canes and other materials to the St. Petersburg Centre for Medical and Social Rehabilitation of the Visually Impaired. In 2024 it again entered a ranking of charitable organizations by partnership potential as a top-20 fundraising NGO specializing in charitable support for culture and art. Throughout its history the foundation has created many projects in partnership with the State Hermitage Museum, the G. A. Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theatre, the Museum of the History of St. Petersburg, the Russian Ethnographic Museum, the New Stage of the Alexandrinsky Theatre and St. Petersburg State University. Its current team is led by director Elena Kolovskaya, with Tatiana Bykovskaya as deputy director and several programme coordinators. Its partners include the State Hermitage (Mikhail Piotrovsky), the Mikhail Prokhorov Charitable Foundation (Irina Prokhorova), the Vladimir Potanin Charitable Foundation (Oksana Oracheva), the architectural studio "Studio 44" (Nikita Yavein) and the Gatchina Museum-Reserve (Vasily Pankratov).

• 2024

  Foundation entered a ranking of charitable organizations by partnership potential as a top-20 fundraising NGO.

• 2023

  Foundation included in the Directory of Russian Charitable Foundations; donated folding orientation canes to the St. Petersburg Centre for Medical and Social Rehabilitation of the Visually Impaired.

• 2022

  Foundation donated around 5,000 publications to St. Petersburg libraries under its "Books as Gifts" campaign; began organizing the "Artful Word" competition.

• 2021

  Foundation became a laureate of the "Innovation" State Prize for Contemporary Art in the category "For Support of Contemporary Art in Russia".

• 2020

  Foundation entered a ranking of art-support foundations as a top-5 fundraising NGO.

• 2017

  Project "Music for All" won the State Prize for Contemporary Art "Innovation" in the "Educational Project" category.

• 2015

  "Artful Word" competition created on the initiative of the Yekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts.

• 2014

  St. Petersburg Biennale of Museum Design launched (held until 2018).

• 2011

  Foundation began actively developing inclusive programmes involving people with visual impairments.

• 2000

  Festival "Contemporary Art in a Traditional Museum" launched (held until 2019).

• 1999

  Foundation created in St. Petersburg as a non-commercial, non-state cultural organization.

Non-commercial charitable foundation for culture and art, focused on visual arts, museum affairs and inclusion, working in partnership with leading Russian museums, theatres and universities.

• Festival "Contemporary Art in a Traditional Museum"

  Museum festival held from 2000 to 2019.

• St. Petersburg Biennale of Museum Design

  Museum design biennale held from 2014 to 2018.

• Inclusive laboratory "Not in Vain" (НЕ ЗРЯ)

  Inclusive programme involving people with visual impairments.

• Inclusive programme "Visible Things" (Зримые вещи)

  Inclusive programme involving people with visual impairments.

• Project "Music for All" (Музыка для всех)

  Project with blind musicians; won the "Innovation" prize in 2017.

• "Artful Word" competition named after V. Yu. Matveyev

  Professional skills competition for journalists and bloggers in the cultural sphere, organized by the foundation since 2022.

• "Books as Gifts" charity campaign

  Charity campaign under which around 5,000 publications were donated to St. Petersburg libraries in 2022.

1. 1Фонд «ПРО АРТЕ» — official websiteproarte.ru
2. 2О ПРО АРТЕ — official websiteproarte.ru
3. 3О ПРО АРТЕ — official websiteproarte.ru
4. 4Команда — official websiteproarte.ru
5. 5Про Арте — Wikipedia (Russian)ru.wikipedia.org
6. 6Wikidata Q4379462wikidata.org