The much-delayed reopening of the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens hit another roadblock when the Stavros Niarchos Foundation withdrew a €3m grant last month because some of its terms and deadlines were not met “within the predetermined timeframe of one year”, according to a spokeswoman for the foundation. The museum’s building in the former Fix brewery has been complete since February 2014, but remains closed to the public because key studies have not been submitted for approval to Greece’s Council of Museums.
Immediately following the withdrawal of the sponsorship, Greece’s Culture Minister Aristides Baltas met with representatives of the museum and the foundation to assure them that the state would do its part to meet certain conditions of the donation in time for the museum to apply for a new grant next year. The government recently approved the museum’s annual budget of €420,000 and the hiring of new staff.
In a statement, the museum says that “after several months of stagnation” the institution “is currently in a very creative phase” and plans to submit a request for a new donation to ensure that it opens “as soon as possible”. A spokeswoman for the Stavros Niarchos Foundation confirms that it “is willing to reevaluate a grant request anytime in the future”.
The museum, co-funded by the Greek government and the European Regional Development Fund, will house around 450 works by 100 artists from 1960 to the present.
