The Centre

Foundation

The Helga de Alvear Foundation is an independently run, non-profit, arts organization, established on the 29th of November, 2006. It was founded in response to Helga de Alvear’s wish to share her collection with the public and thanks also to the intent of several public institutions in Extremadura to provide Caceres with a centre for research, promotion and education in the field of contemporary visual arts.

In this manner Helga de Alvear, the Regional Government of Extremadura, the Provincial Council of Cáceres, Cáceres City Council, the university of Extremadura and the Caja de Extremadura savings bank embarked upon one of the most important cultural endeavours ever undertaken in the region. It will allow for a network of exhibition infrastructures catering to contemporary art to be consolidated in Extremadura. This project offers the public not just one of the best international art collections to be found in Spain, but also a platform for research, promotion and education of contemporary visual arts.

Objectives

Some time ago, Helga de Alvear decided to share her collection with the world and to turn it into the frame of reference for a project intended to promote, produce, investigate and educate the public about the contemporary visual arts. The initiative was favourably received by the Council of Extremadura and, in accordance with other institutions representing the Autonomous Community, the Town Hall and the Provincial Council of Cáceres, as well as the University and the Caja de Ahorros de Extremadura, the Helga de Alvear Foundation was created in 2006 with the following aims, included in its statutes (in Spanish):

To disseminate the works comprising the Helga de Alvear collection through exhibitions, exchanges, publications and computer-based media.
To promote, encourage and research into the production of contemporary visual arts in all of their related aspects.
To establish the criteria according to which the Cáceres Visual Arts Centre operates as well as to manage it and programme its activities.
To conserve the works in the collection and to add to them according to principles based on universality and openness to experimentation and to the most significant range of languages used in art at each moment.

The Cáceres Visual Arts Centre, run by the Helga de Alvear Foundation, is the space in which these actions will take place with two aims in mind: to become an internationally recognised centre and to do so in a way that fully involves everyone through contemplation, criticism, education and creative attitude.

Governing Committees

Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees is the highest committee for governing representing and managingthe Helga de Alvear Foundationwhose main objective is to ensure that the aims of the foundation are fulfilled. At present the Board consists of eleven members, which includes representatives of the Centre’s founding institutions, both private and public: the Council of Extremadura, the Provincial Council of Cáceres, the City Council of Cáceres, the University of Extremadura and the Caja de Extremadura, as well as other members who are private individuals.

President
Trinidad Nogales Basarrate
Minister of Culture and Tourism of the Council of Extremadura

Vice President
Helga de Alvear

Members
Laureano León Rodríguez
President of the Provincial Council of Cáceres

Elena Nevado del Campo
Mayor-President of the City Council of Cáceres

Segundo Píriz Durán
Lord Rector at the University of Extremadura

Víctor Bravo Cañadas
President of Caja Extremadura

José Jiménez

José María Viñuela Díaz

María del Pilar Merino Muñoz
General Director of Cultural Heritage at the Education and Culture Ministry of the Council of Extremadura

Secretary
Rafael Fuster Tozer

Executive Committee

A permanent body, delegated by the Board of Trustees, responsible for the day-to-day management of the Helga de Alvear Foundation.

President
Helga de Alvear

Members
José María Viñuela Díaz
María del Pilar Merino Muñoz

Secretary
Rafael Fuster Tozer

Technical Staff

Coordination
María Jesús Ávila

Research
Roberto Díaz

Administration
Ángela Sánchez

Maintenance
Carlos Rodríguez Baena