OREANDA-NEWS. March 3, 2011. The UniCredit Venice Award fits perfectly into the context of our Group’s artistic engagement. In its inaugural year, this international contemporary art award is dedicated to artists from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) who are participating in the 54th Venice Biennale (June 4-November 27, 2011). For each CEE country at the Biennale, an artist or artists will be selected by the curatorial commission of that country’s national pavilion or by the curators associated with relevant collateral events. A panel of judges, consisting of the UniCredit for Art Scientific Commission, together with delegates from our Group’s top management, will select the winners based on the creativity and innovation of their work, as detailed in the official announcement of the competition.

The prize of €150,000 will be awarded to the best project submitted. The work, or the winning works, will become part of UniCredit’s collection and will then be loaned, free of charge, to a contemporary art museum in the home country of the winning artist (s) for public viewing.

The deadline for submission of applications is April 30, 2011. On May 16, a press release will announce a list of up to five finalists, and the winner(s) will be announced on June 4, 2011.

The CEE countries that have their own pavilions at the Biennale include Azerbaijan, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine. Countries represented by collateral events include Bulgaria and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

This will be an opportunity to promote a valuable project to our clients in every country in which we operate, and to foster important relationships in the world of art.

UniCredit’s engagement with culture has a long and distinguished history. For an international organization like ours, art is a language that seamlessly connects different places and cultures, providing valuable opportunities for engagement within the countries in which we live and work. Collaborating with young artists and tapping into their creativity generates the type of new energy and ideas that we consider essential to the sustainable development of our communities.