The Art Institutions of the 21st Century (AI21C) Foundation is a registered charity active since 2015, operating globally with its headquarters in London.
Its aim is to identify factors that affect the stability of today’s Contemporary Art institutions, in order to contribute to their sustainability in the fast-moving political, economic, and aesthetic conditions. We use the term ‘institutions’ to refer to cultural entities that are both instigators of change and recipients of transformation: public and private museums, commercial galleries, nonprofits, educational centres, project spaces, artists’ studios or estates, art schools, and biennials.
At its core, the Foundation supports research centred around the role, meaning and functioning of (visual) art institutions. Periodically, we publish reports, essays and forecasts, which are the product of long-term, thematic research projects, addressing, among others, public funding and business models in the new art economy, the future of philanthropy, technological impact, and ever-evolving audience engagement.
Our programmes encompass talks, seminars, symposia, lectures and workshops, frequently in cooperation with museums, galleries, universities, and other key stakeholders of the arts ecosystem.
We are strongly committed to the sharing of knowledge and research output with our community of institutions, artists, art professionals and academics to help them harness best practices and cooperation from both public and private sectors in taking on today’s challenges. the foundation makes its material freely and openly available to professionals and the public, both as a report to be shared with 3rd parties or quoted/referenced in research and articles. The material however may not be reproduced in whole or in part, including illustrations in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publishers.