ERSTE Foundation

We believe…
that culture is a central part of our identity. Every society needs culture: as a laboratory in which the past is considered, the present criticised and the future imagined. Culture strengthens the complex identities in Eastern Europe’s societies. We therefore want to explore important artistic practices in the recent Eastern European past. The cultural heritage of dissident history must be secured and made accessible to an international audience. Artists need (free) spaces for their production, theorists need international recognition; and both, work and interpretation, should be accessible.
 
ERSTE Foundation is the main shareholder of Erste Group. It secures the independent future of one of the largest financial services providers in Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe. As a private Austrian savings banks foundation, the foundation is committed to serve the common good. Parts of its dividends are reinvested into the region in which Erste Group operates. ERSTE Foundation is a creative workshop for ideas and innovation, a lab for topics of the future which increases its effectiveness through the strategic cooperation with networks.