The ECF Princess Margriet Awards 2015

Yesterday, Tuesday March 31, Princess Margriet and Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands, along with Princess Astrid of Belgium and her daughter-in-law Princess Elisabetta, attended the ECF Princess Margriet Awards 2015 at the Bozar Center for Fine Arts in Brussels.

The laureates of the 7th edition of the awards were the Athens Biennale from Greece and the Visual Culture Research Center from Ukraine.

The Athens Biennale is a contemporary art exhibition held every two years in Athens, Greece. The latest exhibition took place in 2013 and it was organized in the form of an agora, a place that in the classic times was the center of business, politics and economies. The Athens Biennale is organized by the Athens Biennale Non-Profit Organization and it was founded in November 2005 by Xenia Kalpaktsoglou, Poka-Yio, and Augustine Zenakos.

The Visual Culture Research Center is a platform for interaction between the academic, artistic and activist communities. It’s an independent non-governmental organization and it was founded in 2008.

Princess Margriet presented the awards while Princess Laurentien, as President of the EFC, held a speech.

The Princess began her speech saying that, “The power and relevance of culture for an inclusive and democratic Europe has of course always been the raison d’être of the European Cultural Foundation”. Princess Laurentien praised the winners because “they have maintained their work with great courage and skill in the face of personal and collective tragedy”, she also said that the initiatives of both organizations “stand out for their own quality, dedication and vision”. The Princess defined the laureates “change-makers for their communities, positively transforming the quality of public life, from the grassroots to the institutional level”.

The ECF Princess Margriet Awards is given every year to European artists, intellectuals and activists. The European Cultural Foundation (ECF) was set up in Geneva in 1954.

Princess Laurentien is currently the President of ECF and Extraordinary Member of the Board since 2007, when she succeeded Princess Margriet. The EFC Princess Margriet Award was established in 2008 in honour of the organisation’s former President, Princess Margriet, in partnership with the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Filed under Austria-Hungary, Belgium, The Netherlands
Tagged Archduchess Elisabetta of Austria-Este, Awards, Culture, Exhibition, House of Austria-Este, Princess Astrid of Belgium, Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands, Princess Margriet of the Netherlands.