Hartwig Foundation Endowment to the Trust Fund Foundation Rijksakademie

The Trust Fund Foundation Rijksakademie and the Hartwig Foundation are proud to announce that a new endowment has been established by the Hartwig Foundation, which will contribute one million euros annually, with a rolling five-year commitment. This donation will unconditionally support the continuity and quality of the Rijksakademie’s work, while fully safeguarding its artistic autonomy. In addition, the Hartwig Foundation will invest in the sustainability of the building, with the aim to ensure that it will last for the next 50 years. We are enormously grateful for these investments and this acknowledgement of our achievements, which recognises the value of what the Rijksakademie does and means for artists and secures our work and the building for the future.

The Hartwig Foundation aims to (financially) support projects in the fields of art and culture, education, (medical) science and (medical) research as well as public benefit institutions, and furthermore everything that is directly or indirectly related to the foregoing or can be conducive to it, all in the broadest sense of the word, provided that it is in the public interest, and wishes to provide financial contributions in the form of donations to organisations that are committed to goals that fall within this purpose.

Along with funds received from the OCW, and Dutch and international trusts, foundations and private donors that contribute to the Rijksakademie through our Trust Fund, the donation enables the Rijksakademie to continue hosting up to 50 artists per year in our residency programme. With a focus on artistic development, residents will continue to be provided with a studio, a working budget and stipend, advice from art professionals, a research and production infrastructure consisting of several technical workshops led by specialists, a library and a historical and contemporary art collection. It also extends to our guest residents, tech fellows, and the public accessibility of our work through an annually changing public programme, Open Studios, lectures and events.

Rijksakademie director Emily Pethick: “This donation makes an enormous difference to the future of the Rijksakademie, not only in securing the opportunities that we enable for artists, but also in extending the possibilities of what we can realise in the forthcoming years. It underlines and enhances the importance of the Rijksakademie as a major contributor to the development of artists coming from all over the world, and how they in turn shape the Dutch and international art field more broadly.” 

The donation will start on the Rijksakademie’s birthday, 26 May 2025, which will mark its 155 years of existence.