Crespo Foundation

The Crespo Foundation is based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was established by the photographer, psychologist, and philanthropist Ulrike Crespo (1950–2019). As a charitable foundation, it supports artists and cultural institutions and develops its own operational programmes in the fields of art, education, and social affairs. A central aim of the foundation is to encourage people at decisive moments in their personal development and to support them in realising their potential.

In 2021, the Crespo Foundation launched an artist-in-residence programme at Glenkeen Garden, a 30-hectare estate located on Roaringwater Bay in West Cork, on the south coast of Ireland. Designed by Ulrike Crespo together with her partner Michael Satke, Glenkeen Garden is an inspiring landscape garden and park. The residency programme provides artists with time and space to reflect on nature and on humanity’s relationship to the environment in a period marked by ecological transformation, and is followed by an event and exhibition series, The Glenkeen Variations, in Frankfurt and across Ireland. 

Since 2024, the Crespo Foundation, together with the C/O Berlin Foundation, has also awarded the After Nature . Ulrike Crespo Photography Prize. The international prize, endowed with a total of €80,000, honours two artists each year whose work in photography and lens-based media explores new concepts of nature and reflects on the changing relationship between humans, technology, and the environment. The award includes an exhibition at C/O Berlin and at the Crespo Open Space in Frankfurt, as well as a joint publication, supporting artists whose projects engage with the ecological and social conditions of the Anthropocene.

The foundation also develops and supports a range of programmes that foster artistic development and cultural participation. These include the WORTMELDUNGEN Literaturpreis, a literature award recognising contemporary writers whose work engages critically with social and political issues, as well as initiatives in aesthetic education such as Das fliegende Künstlerzimmer (“The Flying Artist’s Room”), which brings artists into schools across Hessen to work collaboratively with young people.

All exhibitions and public events organised by the Crespo Foundation are free of charge.