Global perspectives are shifting. So, when it comes to creatives, are you an innovator? If you answered ‘yes’, look no further. Unveiled earlier this morning, the Chanel Culture Fund for global game-changers is a new programme aiming to support trailblazers in music, dance, performance and visual arts.
Open to innovators of all ages, genders and nationalities, Chanel wants to champion your voice as a creative making moves for fresh perspectives and greater representation in culture and society. With equality at its core, this is a two-part initiative to give cutting-edge creatives visibility. It reaffirms the brand’s commitment to the freedom of creation and human potential during this obscure moment in time, where the arts act as a catalyst for providing inspiration and innovative mindsets to the world.
At the fore is the Chanel Next Prize. Here, creatives will go head-to-head in a battle where ten contestants will be awarded a whopping €100,000 each to honour their efforts (cha-ching!). Along with the significant funding, frontrunners will be granted access to an expertly curated mentorship and networking community. Chanel is also committing to a series of long-term partnerships that expand upon the Parisian House’s culture-rich history. The resulting projects are intended to foreground missing narratives, foster collaboration across disciplines, and help propel transformative ideas that benefit culture and society.
For example, at The National Portrait Gallery, Flavia Frigeri and a team have been enlisted to augment the representation of women on display in the Collection and at the Gallery when it reopens in 2023. Called Reframing Narratives: Women in Portraiture, it’s intended to help drive forward transformative ideas. Elsewhere at The Underground Museum, Chanel has initiated The Noah Davis Prize from which three ingenious curators will be awarded a fellowship. At The Centre Pompidou in Paris, a multi-year programming initiative aiming to invent new ecologies for sustainable cities and communities will give designers, artists, and scientists the chance to combine forces.
For enterprising Russian female artists navigating theatre, music, dance and film, GES-2 and Chanel want to prompt new perspectives. The initiative coincides with the 2021 opening of the central Moscow former power station-turned new urban space for contemporary culture. “The Culture Fund represents Chanel’s belief in the central importance of individual creativity in driving innovation,” says Yana Peel, global head of arts & culture at Chanel. “At a time when we are navigating our way through complex new environments around the world, we know that artists generate transformative ideas that help us envision the way forward. Chanel has always championed the vitality and advancement of the arts, and we now expand that tradition through the Fund with a focus on supporting cultural innovators and pathbreakers who are mapping out what’s next.”
Photograph taken from Issue 66 of 10 Magazine, shot by Megan Winestone and styled by Tara St Hill.
