leverage - aventis foundation · new talents and the “kulturmut” crowdfunding campaign, were...

Annual Report 2015

av en t i s f o un dat i o n | an n ua l r e por t 2 0 15 2

Leverage

editorial

Let us be frank about money for a second. We’re looking back on a rather vol-atile year in stock exchange, and pension funds hardly yield any profit these days. The long-lasting and quite extreme period of low interest rates means headaches for foundations like us, who gain their resources on the capital mar-ket and depend on securities income. Required by law to keep our foundation’s basic assets “undiminished”, we are limited to investing in low-risk asset class-es only – relatively stable government bonds, for example. However, when the international financial policy leads to negative returns for these usually reliable bonds, this requirement becomes an absurd rule.

Naturally, the Aventis Foundation has always engaged in other forms of in-vestment like shares and corporate loans. And naturally, this has always meant bigger return opportunities – and bigger risks of loss as well as higher personal risks for the members of the foundation committees responsible for the invest-ment decisions. But without these forms of investment, it would be impossible to achieve real – inflation-adjusted – capital preservation and gain sufficient resources to fulfil the foundation’s goals.

The Aventis Foundation managed to live up to the transparency standards for non-profit organizations at a very early stage and has been publishing statistics on capital, sponsorship volume and administrative expenses for years. Like that, last year’s fully disclosed annual report stated € 68.4 million worth of total assets and a total sponsorship volume of € 2.3 million. Since its establishment in 1996, the foundation achieved an annual average ROI of around 5 %, which could be used to finance € 2 million worth of expenditures in accordance with its statute and € 0.4 million worth of administrative expenses – and to always preserve its “real” capital.


Several years of high returns are needed to make up for the declines caused by the market crashes of 2002, 2008 and 2011. We were able to achieve an annual 8.5 % in the last four years, but figures like these are always fugitive. We will have to prepare for much more modest rates in the years to come.

But after all of this, we are still a funding foundation that can react flexibly to a given situation. Since we are not carrying out the projects ourselves, our fixed costs remain relatively low, and the sponsoring budget can always be planned and adapted in the medium run. Yet we strive to avoid unnecessary oscillations and to work and promote with the greatest possible continuity.

We know from our very own experience that in Art and Culture, there are far more ideas, talents, capacities and fundi than resources to make all of this potential unfold – and resources eventually mean: money. Which is why we concentrate our efforts on finding the projects that deserve to be supported, instead of claiming the right to contribute with our own project ideas etc. We rather try to help reap the potential that is already there, and, ideally, create some leverage. This leverage can be even stronger if several foundations partner up to work together, and digital formats like crowdfunding allow for additional options, stronger civil participation and new levels of transparency in sponsor-ing and financing cultural projects.

editorial


In 2015, the Aventis Foundation supported a total of 55 cultural projects and 11 science

or research projects and donated a total of € 2.3 million of funds.

Visual Arts and Culture

For the selection of the cultural projects to be sponsored, the Aventis Foundation focuses

on projects for young and talented people and regional projects in the Rhine-Main area

and Berlin. We promote both cultural institutions that are designing new concepts and

trying to establish these on a long-term basis, as well as individual cultural events and

projects, provided their professional and artistic level is high and they are trying to find

new, experimental forms of representation and mediation.

· The two cultural series of the Aventis Foundation, “eXperimente” for the promotion of

new talents and the “kulturMut” crowdfunding campaign, were continued successfully in

2015.

· The “Digitorial”, a virtual online guide to the Monet Exhibition at Frankfurt’s renowned

Städel Museum promoted exclusively by the Aventis Foundation, was a huge success

and received 260.000 visits as well as the 2015 Grimme Award for ‘Culture and

Entertainment’.

· For the first time, the Aventis Foundation supported the Junge Norddeutsche

Philharmonie and their innovative concert project hosted at the Arena Berlin.

· The “Stockhausen Festival”at Munich’s musica viva festival was sponsored by the

Aventis Foundation and centred around a performance of all piano pieces created by the

famous composer, a world premiere.

· The Aventis Foundation also sponsored “Acht Betrachtungen” (“Eight Observations”),

an interactive art project created by the Literaturhaus Frankfurt and the Museum für

Moderne Kunst (Museum for Modern Art) that brought together writers and the general

audience to reflect on contemporary artworks.

· The Aventis Foundation engaged in a three-year-partnership to sponsor the theatre series

“Schauspiel Frankfurt International”, that in mid-April saw the premiere of a production

created by the Franco-Canadian choreographer Dave St-Pierre dealing with Shakespeare’s

epic tragedy “Macbeth”.

key points 2015


Education and Science

The Aventis Foundation promotes education and science projects, focusing on the disci-

plines of chemistry and biology and their links to medicine.

· The University of Heidelberg/Mannheim and the German Institute for Cancer Research in

Heidelberg have created the Aventis Foundation Chair for Vascular Biology and Tumour

Angiogenesis which serves research and teaching on blood vessels with a special focus

on their role in the growth of tumours. The Aventis Foundation has supported the Chair

since it was created in 2005 and will continue to do so for a total period of ten years.

· Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Paul Ehrlich’s death, the Medical History Museum

of Berlin’s Charité hospital and the Historic Museum of Frankfurt have cooperated to

host the exposition “Arsen und Spitzenforschung” (Arsenic and Cutting-Edge Research)

honouring the groundbreaking works of the Nobel Prize winner and chemotherapy

pioneer. The Aventis Foundation was one of the main sponsors for the expositions in

Berlin and Frankfurt.

· To make a contribution in the current and pressing European refugee crisis, the Aventis

Foundation has just recently decided to support the “Academic Welcome Program”

at the Goethe University of Frankfurt. The programme was designed to help qualified

migrants gain access to academic education and improve their integration in Germany.

· The Hoechst Award for University Teachers and the Hoechst Scholarship for

PhD students are funded by the Aventis Foundation and were again granted to an

outstanding habilitated academic and a PhD student in 2015. The thematic focus of

both annual scholarships is on the field of biochemistry.

· The Raymond Barre Visiting Chair at the Goethe University Frankfurt is a programme

supported by the Aventis Foundation, according to which each year a prominent French-

speaking economist is invited to the Frankfurt Campus to hold lectures and seminars. In

2015, the scholarship was given to Stanford University’s Pascaline Dupas.

· The Aventis Foundation is one of the sponsors of the Robert Koch Foundation in Bonn

and again contributed to the funding of academic awards and scholarships in 2015.

key points 2015


PROMOTION SERIES

eXperimente & kulturMut


eXperimente - A cultural Initiative of the Aventis Foundation

Tell me what you seeIn 2015, the Aventis Foundation supported six projects within the context of its sponsor-

ship programme “eXperimente”. For 2016, four further cultural institutions were grant-

ed a total of € 150,000.

The “eXperimente” programme of the Aventis Foundation supports cultural projects

in the Rhine-Main area that promote new talent. Among these are initiatives aimed at

introducing children and teenagers to cultural topics, making them care for culture and

offering inspiration and opportunities for the development of their personal identity.

The programme also includes projects designed to provide professional education and

training in music, the performing and visual arts, and literature.

The sponsorship programme “eXperimente” was founded in 2006 on occasion of the

tenth anniversary of the Aventis Foundation and has so far supported 58 projects with a

total sum of approximately € 2.4 million. By providing assistance and funding, the foun-

dation has supported museums and galleries, exhibition and event venues, stages and

theatres, other cultural institutions, clubs and initiatives. Many new talents and young

artists received the chance to develop abilities, realise creative projects and make their

mark. Numerous children and teenagers were introduced to music and the arts. The

experience gained from model projects has led to new priorities. This has led to struc-

tural changes and a broader, more widely accessible cultural programme, which is the

ultimate aim of “eXperimente”.

promotion series – experimente


An open stage for young performance artistsFrom mid-October to early December 2015, young artists from the German state of Hessen developed the programme “studio NAXOS” at the Naxoshalle in Frankfurt. The programme covered a wide range of diverse artistic expressions like spoken theatre, performance, new music, installations and discus-sion events – and was sponsored by the Aventis Foundation as part of its cultural initiative “eXper-imente”. “studio NAXOS” offered a professional platform for the region’s young and aspiring talents and their independent and free productions.

Body SoundsIn early May 2015, Frankfurt’s Museum for Modern Art presented the music performance “Anatomical Orchestra – Composition for 13 Ears”. Czech artist Eva Kotátková had developed the piece with stu-dents at a special school for children with hearing difficulties in Frankfurt. The composition was part of the art education programme “MMK Young Collabo-rations” promoted by the Aventis Foundation as part of its cultural initiative “eXperimente”. The young students created drawings of hybrid creatures combining features of music instruments, humans and animals. For every one of these “instruments”, the artist created a sculpture that would embody the adolescents’ descriptions, voices and stories. The results are multisensory installations that chal-lenge the audience’s eyes and ears and gain their emotional depth through the children’s candour and authenticity.

The Nature of ThingsIn June 2015, the German Design Museum hosted the first workshop in the series “MINT macht Design – Design macht Mint” (MINT does Design – Design does Mint), which was sponsored by the Aventis Foundation as part of its “eXperimente” initiative. The concept was developed for schools in Frankfurt and Berlin and focuses on linking ‘design‘ and the German “MINT” school disciplines math, information technology, natural science and technology. The idea is to familiarize young students with the engineer-ing skills flowing into the development of common everyday items and objects, and the workshops are given by renowned design specialists. They offer a platform for young people to develop and realize their ideas and learn about the attractiveness of the MINT professions.

eXperimente - A cultural Initiative of the Aventis Foundation

promotion series – experimente


kulturMut – A Crowdfunding Initiative of the Aventis Foundation

Connecting Crowdfunding and Cultural PromotionThe Aventis Foundation and the crowdfunding platform Startnext jointly developed and

realised the pilot project “kulturMut” in 2013. 2015 saw the third successful crowdfund-

ing campaign and a spectacular finale in November. During the previous four weeks,

25 cultural projects from the Rhine-Main area had been campaigning to make people

financially support their ideas and concepts. After this fundraising period, 20 of these

projects could be fully financed and realized. The Aventis Foundation is proud to have

been one of the sponsors.

The soliciting projects managed to mobilize 4.000 supporters who donated a total of

€ 108,000 to the crowdfunding accounts, and the Aventis Foundation contributed anoth-

er € 200,000. The money was used to support those projects that had been most success-

ful during the crowdfunding campaign but failed to gather the necessary resources on

their own. The missing funds were given to them by the Foundation as prize money ac-

cording to how the projects had ranked in the crowdfunding votings. With 6,000 visitors

and 15,000 clicks on the campaign website, the “kulturMut” initiative became a power-

ful advertising tool for the creative and cultural landscape of the entire region. And we

have not even mentioned the thousands of clicks on the 25 project websites.

The fact that the interest among creators of art and culture was equally strong in the

third consecutive year of “kulturMut” shows that the crowdfunding initiative is on its

way to establish itself as a new and promising project financing option. The applications

covered a wide and diverse range of ideas from disciplines like visual and fine arts, mu-

sic, theatre, film festivals, dance, literature and expositions.

promotion series – kulturmut



Borderless – Cultural DiversityThe “Borderless” fashion fair promoted young fashion makers whose collections are modern interpretations of traditional stiles from countries and cultures around the globe. The one-day event featured fashion shows, workshops, international food and music and served as a platform for 40 cre-ative minds from Frankfurt and the rest of Germany. The designers presented a diverse range of fashion concepts – from New African Fashion and collec-tions inspired by traditional Russian and Japanese couture to Hijab fashion and hip hop clothing – suc-cessfully illustrating how migration and integration can enrich cultures and their expressions.

Forum for Digital Art and CultureAnother project co-financed by the Aventis Founda-tion through its crowdfunding initiative “kulturMut” was “Node 15”, an international festival for digital art and culture hosted in April 2015 at the Mouson-turm and the contiguous Naxoshalle in Frankfurt/Main. The festival mainly dealt with the question of how forms of physical expression and digital technology influence each other. The exposition at Naxoshalle featured speeches, workshops, audiovi-sual performances and interactive installations.

From the Animation Stand to RealityIn July 2015, the German Film Museum organised the “Summer Games”, a three-day-workshop where young people could (inter)actively engage with computer games and playfully enhance their media competences. They could programme games, pro-duce movies and work out like super heroes. By pro-viding this platform for digital learning, the German Film Museum made a contribution to the public discourse on computer games and their importance as a defining medium of our younger generations. It was made possible through the support of the Aventis Foundation and its “kulturMut “ crowdfund-ing campaign.




Women and the Great WarIn April 2015, the main library of the Frankfurt public library gave the stage to women who had translated their mothers’ narratives on WWI into passionate appeals for peace. The theatre instal-lation had been awarded and sponsored by the “kulturMut” crowdfunding initiative and was accom-panied by a virtual dialogue featuring quotes from famous female war witnesses. After the premiere in Frankfurt, the installation could be seen at different venues all across Germany.

The Museum of Applied Arts – a Place of RefugeBetween autumn 2014 and summer 2015, the Museum of Applied Arts in Frankfurt became the production site for the Graphic Novel “2048. When It All Began” created by Frankfurt-based illustrator and filmmaker Daniel Hartlaub. The “kulturMut” crowdfunding initiative co-financed the truly inter-active creation process: The museum itself became the main story location, the museum exhibits turned into requisites and museum visitors were integrated into Hartlaub’s fictitious universe. The museum audience and the funding crowd where also invited to actively engage in the further devel-opment of the plot.

Audiowalk from Frankfurt to BeirutThe “kulturMut” initiative also awarded and sup-ported the artist collective “ongoing project” and its project “My Imaginary Cities”, which premiered in late March. Starting at the Mousonturm in Frankfurt, the audio-guided walk took visitors on a late-night-stroll with headphones and an mp3 play-er. Stories and memories narrated by blind and visually impaired people from Frankfurt and Beirut guided participants from station to station, creating an entirely new urban space. The narrative collision of Frankfurt and Beirut produced an imaginary third city, whose juxtapositions only made the traumata of the two cities more visible and palpable. After the presentation in Frankfurt, an Arabic version was shown in Beirut.



partner project focus place homepage

Internationale Ensemble Modem Akademie

Concert format CARTE BLANCHE eXperimente 2015 Frankfurt/Main

www.internationale-em- akademie.de

Stiftung Lesen Respekt, Respekt – workshop about respect towards others for young people

eXperimente 2015 Frankfurt/Main

www.stiftunglesen.de

Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste Städelschule Frankfurt/Main „Pure Fiction" Creative Writing Class

“Pure Fiction” Creative Writing Class eXperimente 2015 Frankfurt/Main

www.staedelschule.de

University for Music and Performing Arts Frankfurt/Main

Re-VERB* - A self-produced ‘physiodrama’


www.hfmdk-frankfurt.info

Studio naxos Open production location and stage for young artists at Naxosalle


www.studionaxos.de

Foundation German Design Museum

Workshop module “MINT does Design- Design does MINT”


www.deutschesdesignmuseum.de

Walter Vorjohann Places of Absence – Frankfurt Großmarkthalle (wholesale market)

kulturMut 2014/15 Frankfurt/Main

www.startnext.com/ ort-der-abwesenheit

Büro Schwarzburg, Martin Schmitz-Kuhl

BOOKSTER, Frankfurt as the city of books, the future of the book


www.startnext.com/bookster

NODE - Forum for Digital Arts NODE 15 Forum for Digital Arts, Frankfurt – exposition and speeches


www.startnext.com/ nodeforum15

Nippon Connection e.V. 15th Nippon Connection Film Festival – Anniversary


www.startnext.com/ nipponconnection15

Haike Rausch Book project “We graciously interfere with your perception”


www.startnext.com/431art

Tanja Sester CARLO MAGNO – Charlemagne as an opera hero


www.startnext.com/carlomagno

Steffen Lars Popp DIE TRÄUME VON UNS – the documentary theatre of the future


www.startnext.com/ dietraeumevonuns

Rheingauer Film-Symponiker e.V.

Premiere of the Rheingau film symphony orchestra


www.startnext.com/ rheingauer-film-symphoniker

Stefan Pitsch Digital Retro Park – museum project kulturMut 2014/15 Frankfurt/Main

www.startnext.com/ digital-retro-park

Tom Kornis Die Goethe Dramatonie – poetry turned into music


www.startnext.com/ die-goethe-dramatonie

Nicolai Bernstein The Melting Pot - Performance kulturMut 2014/15 Frankfurt/Main

www.startnext.com/ the-melting-pot

Lennart Scheuren Campfire Concerts kulturMut 2014/15 Frankfurt/Main

www.startnext.com/ lagerfeuerkonzerte

Internationales Chor Forum e.V.

The Gates of Jerusalem – project for young musicians


www.startnext.com/ die-tore-jerusalems

German Film Institute – DIF e.V.

SummerGames – Workshops at the German Film Museum


www.startnext.com/ summergames

Daniel Hartlaub 2048 – When it All Began – A Graphic Novel


www.startnext.com/2048

project summary – experimente & kulturmut



Griet Newiger-Addy Borderless – Global Fashion Market in Frankfurt


www.startnext.com/borderless

Barbara Englert Women and the Great War – exposition kulturMut 2014/15 Frankfurt/Main

www.startnext.com/ der-grosse-krieg-und-die-frauen

Triada Kovalenko My Imaginary Cities – Audio-guided city walk


www.startnext.com/ my-imaginary-cities

EULENGASSE e.V. TAUSCH! Contemporary Art Fair – ROT #02 Magazine


www.startnext.com/rot02

Vladimir Soltan Uladzimir Soltan – Debut Concert: new clarinet concerts


www.startnext.com/ soltans-debuetalbum

Noémi Nagy ZWEI FÜR VIER – flute quartet from Mainz


www.startnext.com/ zwei-fuer-vier

vkunst frankfurt Vkunst Frankfurt 2015 – media art kulturMut 2014/15 Frankfurt/Main

www.startnext.com/vkunst

project summary – experimente & kulturmut


selected projects 2015

Arts & Culture


Culture Rhine-Main

Literary Narratives inspired by ImagesIn late October 2015, a lecture by Lars Brandt and Jan Brandt inaugurated the event se-

ries “Acht Betrachtungen” (Eight Observations) that was organized for the second time

by the Literaturhaus Frankfurt and the Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt (Museum

for Modern Art), and sponsored by the Aventis Foundation. Eight German-speaking

authors had visited the MMK, picked an artwork from the collection and written a text

to it that was now presented to the public right next to the artwork in question. Lars

Brand, for instance, had Francis Bacon’s “Nude” from 1960 brought up from the depot

and planted his observations about Bacon, his life and work into the mind of his text’s

protagonist, a painter who turns out to be an art forger.

In this event series, image meets text and observation meets contact, and authors meet

their audience in an interesting and intense dialogue. Another idea was to promote the

future literary generation and invite mainly young authors. At the end of the series, all

texts will be published in an anthology volume.

selected projects 2015 – arts and culture


Musica Viva – A Concert Series presented by the Bayrischer Rundfunk

“musica viva” and the piano works of Karlheinz Stockhausen

In late October, the Bayrischer Rundfunk (Bavarian Radio) presented the concert series

“musica viva” in Munich. Part of it was the “Stockhausen Festival” with a total of seven

shows: a reinterpretation of Stockhausen’s entire piano work by Pierre-Laurent Aimard,

and a world premiere sponsored by the Aventis Foundation.

The piano works by Stockhausen are seen by many as visionary milestones of piano

literature. The concerts were given on three nights as solo or duet piano performances

and in some cases accompanied by drums and electronic music. The piano also plays a

central part in Stockhausen’s Hymn (Third Region) for electronic music and orchestra.

The symphony orchestra of the Bayrische Rundfunk, directed by Peter Eötvös, per-

formed this 42-minute-piece in two concerts, and demonstrated how Stockhausen, the

avant-gardist, has become a classic of music history. The two-hour electronic original

version was presented as a special performance during the festival’s “Electronic Night”.

For the first time, the festival also featured a comprehensive academy programme

oriented towards the younger generation of composers and music performers. Piano,

conducting and orchestra classes could be offered through collaborations with Munich’s

University for Music and Theatre, the Peter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation

and the Bavarian State Youth Orchestra.



Junge Deutsche Philharmonie (Young German Philharmonic Orchestra)

The Search for Meaning

Between September and October the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie played its annual

tour, sponsored by the Aventis Foundation as part of its continuous talent develop-

ment programme, making appearances at major concert halls in Germany, Slovenia

and Austria. The tour kicked off in Bamberg, followed by a concert at the Alte Oper in

Frankfurt and performances in Ljubljana, Maribor and Vienna. The last stop of the tour

was a concert at the Berliner Philharmonie that was also broadcasted live in the Digital

Concert Hall.

The Junge Deutsche Philharmonie devoted two of its works to the search for meaning,

structure and depth in great compositions – and created an extraordinary experience for

the audience. Sofia Gubaidalina’s concert for viola and orchestra from 1997 explores the

mysterious, enigmatic and yet inspiring sound of the viola that takes the listener from

delicate tones to opulent sonority. Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9 in d minor merges

the spiritual and the mundane, conferring a remote and almost metaphysical expression

to the music. The symphony, one of Bruckner’s later works, takes harsh contrasts and

abrupt changes to an exciting extreme.

The tour was Jonathan Nott’s debut as the orchestra project’s first conductor and artis-

tic consultant. It was also the beginning of a sponsoring partnership with the Bamberg

Symphony Orchestra that has Nott as its chief conductor.



Culture Berlin

International Choreographers in Berlin

Once again, Germany’s biggest festival for contemporary dance “Tanz im August”

brought world-class dance companies, innovative choreographers and exciting dance

formats to Berlin. It was the second time that the Aventis Foundation could proudly

promote one of the most important dance festivals in Europe. 18 productions could be

seen in 60 performances on 8 locations all over Berlin, featuring famous companies and

renowned choreographers as much as young and aspiring talents from more than 20

countries.

With Finnin Virve Sutinen in his second year as artistic director, this year’s focus lay on

Asia and the interdisciplinary exchange with visual arts. The festival also concentrated

on premieres, co-productions and new projects from Berlin artists. As the leading venue

for contemporary dance, “Hebbel am Ufer” once again hosted a colourful and diverse

festival line-up, ranging from famous guest appearances to small productions from

young choreographers.

The festival also had a highly interactive approach: Visitors could participate in sev-

eral personal meetings and talks and attend workshops for hands-on experiences of

choreographic styles, forms of physical expression and dance aesthetics. At the end of

the festival, a symposium provided a platform for an open debate on artistic dance, art

production and culture politics in Berlin.



Culture Berlin

111 Musicians and one DJ

In a wonderful concert at the event location Arena Berlin, the Junge Norddeutsche

Philharmonie (Young South German Philharmonic Orchestra) successfully built a bridge

between the symphonies created by Bernstein and Strawinsky and the electronic sounds

produced by young and aspiring DJ Julian Maier-Hauff. This entirely new and innova-

tive concert format sponsored by the Aventis Foundation created a space in which the

predominantly young audience could find access to the interpretation of classical music,

that had also traded the traditional concert hall for the industrial architecture of a 1920’s

production hall usually used for festivals and parties.

With young Alexander Shelley as chief conductor, the orchestra created a programme

that seamlessly merged classical music and the tonal language of party-compatible

electronic DJ sets capturing the symphonic vibes of the orchestra. The night opened with

the contagious rhythms and catchy melodies of Leonard Bernsteins’s “West Side Story”.

For his spatial music performance “Meeresbrandung” (Sea Surf), Sven Daigger made his

orchestra musicians spread across the room to produce a wave-like sound, filling the en-

tire space with acoustic music that was then picked up by the electronic sounds. For the

grand finale the musicians played Igor Stravinsky’s “Firebird” suite until the DJ joined

in on the growing dynamics for a smooth transition to the following after show party at

Arena Club.

The special stage design with protruding elements and different levels, the seating and

light design and the dimmed lighting created an environment that further helped im-

merse the audience in the atmosphere.



Städel Museum Frankfurt

Monet Digitorial – An Online Record

When the exposition “Monet and the Birth of Impressionism” at the Städel Museum

Frankfurt ended in June 2015, it was the most successful special exhibition in its 200

years of history. The accompanying “Digitorial”, sponsored by the Aventis Foundation,

was just as successful: Visitors could download the innovative info tool on their smart-

phone, tablet or desktop PC and learn about the exposition before going to the museum.

With 260,000 hits, the preparatory online course, the first one of its kind to be offered by

the Städel Museum for any of its expositions, turned out to be extremely popular. Still

in June 2015, the Digitorial “Monet and the Birth of Impressionism” was awarded with

the Grimme Online Award 2015 in the category ‘Culture and Entertainment’. The Jury

honoured the high quality content, the elegant design and the creative use of digital

technology that playfully directed the user’s attention to the most important details.

The Aventis Foundation engaged in a three-year-partnership as the main sponsor for

this innovative and unconventional form of art presentation and mediation. The Digi-

torial will be available for expositions at the Städel Museum, the Schirn Kunsthalle and

the sculpture collection at Liebieghaus and add a mobile and interactive medium to the

existing offer of catalogues, guided tours and audio-guides. And the multimedia pre-

sentations will be available online even after the respective expositions at www.monet.

staedelmuseum.de.



Frankfurt Theatre

Impulses for the Frankfurt Theatre

The Aventis Foundation engaged in a three-year-partnership to sponsor the theatre

series “Schauspiel Frankfurt International”, that in mid-April saw the premiere of a pro-

duction created by Franco-Canadian choreographer Dave St-Pierre dealing with Shake-

speare’s epic tragedy “Macbeth”.

Currently one of the most demanded representatives of movement or motion theatre,

St-Pierre and eight members of his ensemble embarked on a journey to explore the dark

desires and emotional depths of the characters in Shakespeare’s entirely sinister tragedy.

The results of this journey are exciting visual scenes and atmospheric choreographies

that combine dancing and acting and create tension by breaking with formal habits and

the creative trespassing of limits and barriers.

Through this sponsorship, the Aventis Foundation promotes the continuing cooperation

between the Frankfurt Theatre and directors and artists of European and international

importance. Artists from other disciplines are also given a platform to experiment with a

wider range of expressive forms. Later on, the productions produced in and for Frank-

furt will also be staged at other internationally renowned theatre venues.


22av en t i s f o un dat i o n | an n ua l r e por t 2 0 1 5


BR musica viva Stockhausen Festival Arts & Culture Munich www.br-musica-viva.com

Literaturhaus Frankfurt Acht Betrachtungen II(Eight Observations II)

Arts & Culture Frankfurt/Main

www.literaturhaus-frankfurt.de

Musikfest Berlin Karlheinz Stockhausen’s “Michael’s Journey around the World”

Arts & Culture Berlin www.berlinerfestspiele.de/musikfestberlin

World Doctors Orchestra Promotion of the 2015 tour to Dresden and Berlin

Arts & Culture Berlin www.world-doctors-orchestra.org

Radial Stiftung Radiale Nacht feat. Theodor Currentzis and Patricia Kopatchinskaja

Arts & Culture Berlin www.radialstiftung.de

Städel Museum Digitorial – multimedia preparatory webinar for expositions


www.staedelmuseum.de

Hospizverein-Lebensbrücke e.V.

Expansion construction works Arts & Culture Flörsheim/ Main

www.hospizverein- lebensbruecke.de

University of Bayreuth Performance of Roald Hoffman’s “Was Euch gehört” at the International Theatre Frankfurt


www.uni-bayreuth.de

Young North German Philharmonic Orchestra

summer project 111 musicians – concert in Berlin

Arts & Culture Berlin www.junge-norddeutsche.de

Textxtnd Music theatre production Arts & Culture Frankfurt/Main

www.textxtnd.de

Oper Frankfurt Promotion of world and national premieres for the seasons 2016/2017 – 2018/2019


www.oper-frankfurt.de

Deutsche Oper Berlin Season promotion Young German Opera 2015/16 – 2017/18

Arts & Culture Berlin www.deutscheoperberlin.de

Peña la Buleria e.V. Anniversary concert Arts & Culture Rüssels-heim

www.la-buleria.de

Akademie der Künste Sponsorship for the academy’s Circle of Friends

Arts & Culture Berlin www.adk.de

Alte Oper Frankfurt Project series “New Ways to Theatre” and performances


www.alteoper.de

Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben

Promoting outstanding young music newcomers

Arts & Culture Hamburg www.deutsche-stiftung- musikleben.de

Ensemble Modern One-year-sponsorship for a seat in the orchestra


www.ensemble-modern.com

HAU Hebbel am Ufer TANZ Festival, August 2015 Arts & Culture Berlin www.hebbel-am-ufer.de

University for Music and Performing Arts, Frankfurt

Foundation professorship for New Music, Frankfurt


www.hfmdk-frankfurt.info

Jiri Vincenc Slavicek Catalogue of works for Jiri Vincec Slavicek


Young German Philharmonic Orchestra

Concert Series “Sinnsuche” Arts & Culture Berlin www.jdph.de

Kulturkreis der Deutschen Wirtschaft

Bronnbach Scholarship for the promotion of cultural competences for future leaders

Arts & Culture Berlin www.bronnbacher-stipendium.de

Martin-Gropius-Bau Model project for cultural education – MGB2 Kunst

Arts & Culture Berlin www.berlinerfestspiele.de

project summary – arts & culture

23av en t i s f o un dat i o n | jah r e sb e r i c h t 2 0 1 5


Orchestra Academy Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Training for future orchestra musicians Arts & Culture Berlin www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/akademie

Partner für Kammermusik e.V.

Sunday Concerts at Bode Museum and Spiegelsaal Ballhaus Berlin

Arts & Culture Berlin www.sonntagskonzerte.de

Städtische Bühnen Frankfurt Sponsorship Frankfurt International Theatre for the seasons 2014/2015 – 2016/2017


www.buehnen-frankfurt.de

Verein Musikfreizeit-Kammermusik e.V.

Promotion for the development of the Colourstrings children’s orchestra

Arts & Culture Schries-heim

www.musikfreizeit- kammermusik.de

project summary – arts & culture


selected projects 2015

Education & Science


Historical Museum, Frankfurt / Charité Medical History Museum

The Pacemaker of a New Medicine

In late October, the Historical Museum in Frankfurt/Main inaugurated the exposition

“Arsen und Spitzenforschung” (Arsen and Cutting-Edge Research) to commemorate the

100th anniversary of the death of Paul Ehrlich. Illustrating Paul Ehrlich’s life and work

in Berlin and Frankfurt, it documents the scientific, medical and economic importance

of the groundbreaking biochemical research emerging towards the beginning of the 20th

century. The exposition, coordinated and realized in cooperation with the Medical History

Museum of Berlin’s Charité Hospital, could already be seen in Berlin between April and

September. The Aventis Foundation was the main sponsor for this medical history project

at both locations in Frankfurt in Berlin.

Paul Ehrlich’s interdisciplinary works between chemistry, biology and medicine made

him the founder of chemotherapy and lead to the development of the first antidotes

against diphtheria and syphilis, followed by many other pharmaceuticals directly attack-

ing the cause of disease. Furthermore, the partnership between scientists like Paul Ehrlich

and young entrepreneurs like the paint factory Hoechst paved the way for the large-scale

manufacturing of systematically developed and specifically acting therapeutics.

The exposition also shows the important role of Frankfurt’s civil society for Paul Ehrlich’s

career. When he and his Institute for State-approved Serum-Testing, today the Paul-Eh-

rlich-Institute, moved from Frankfurt to Berlin in 1899, he found supporters in the Jewish

bourgeoisie. Thanks to a donation, he could build the Georg-Speyer-Haus, become its

director and dedicate his time to chemotherapy research. Due to discrimination – Eh-

rlich was Jewish himself – the Nobel Prize winner had to wait until his last year in life

to receive full professorship for pharmacology at the University of Frankfurt, which had

recently been founded by the citizens of Frankfurt.

selected projects 2015 – education & science


Helping Refugees

Study Programmes for Qualified Refugees

Through its “Academic Welcome Program for highly qualified refugees”, Frankfurt’s

Goethe University tries to promote the integration process for political refugees in

Germany. By facilitating access to academic education, academic infrastructure and

professional networks, the university wants to provide orientation and participation for

refugees who have gained an academic degree or studied at a university. The Aventis

Foundation is sponsoring this programme to help overcome the current and ever-press-

ing refugee crisis. Based on its long-term partnership with the Goethe University, the

foundation could spontaneously and unbureaucratically become one of the main spon-

sors for the initiative that had already run up. The extraordinary commitment of both

the university and its students makes it possible to use the foundation funds efficiently

and to the direct benefit of those who need them. The resources help finance language

courses that qualify for university studies, the expansion of the language lab and the

extension of human resources for the programme administration. They were also used

to subsidise individual travel expenses to provide access to the university services.

The Academic Welcome Program also promotes the student initiative “aeWorldwide”.

For more than two years, students of the Goethe University have been working vol-

untarily to organise projects for highly qualified refugees. For example, refugees and

students help each other in so-called “tandem” language partnerships, and individual

consultation hours are offered to provide competent advice on university matters.



Hoechst Scholarship for PhD Students

Searching for antibacterial natural materialsThe 2015 Hoechst scholarship for PhD students was given to Martin Klapper, born 1991,

for his outstanding achievement and university degree in chemical biology. The scholar-

ship is granted once a year, sponsored by the scholarship fund of the German Chemical

Industry Association (VCI) in cooperation with the Aventis Foundation.

In his doctoral thesis, supervised by Dr. Pierre Stallforth of the Leibniz Institute for Nat-

ural Product Research who also works as an infection biologist in Jena, Martin Klapper

identified certain natural products and explored their role in the interaction with cellular

organisms without a nucleus. His model organisms were social amoebae living in the

soil as unicellular organisms that subsist on soil bacteria in times of nutrition shortage.

To defend their organisms in this interaction, some bacteria produce specific antibodies,

and to be immune against these, the amoebae may be producing antibacterial agents.

Natural products like these, emerging in the ecological environment of such preda-

tor-prey relationships, could be highly useful for the development of antibiotics or cures

against cancer.



Hoechst Award for University Teachers

Making messenger RNA visible in the cells

The 2015 Hoechst Award for University Teachers was given to Prof. Dr. Andrea Rent-

meister, born 1977. The prize is granted once a year and sponsored by the scholarship

fund of the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI) in cooperation with the Aven-

tis Foundation. The grant funds are used to support the research work of junior scien-

tists and young researchers with outstanding qualifications.

Andrea Rentmeister was given full professorship for biological chemistry at the Uni-

versity of Münster in 2013, and since 2012 she has been the head of an Emmy Noether

junior research group. In her research, she mainly focuses on the development of new

methods for the selective marking of biomolecules – especially in the messenger RNA of

living cells. Through protein engineering, she artificially produces changes on a molec-

ular level that allow her to mark these cellular molecules. They are usually very difficult

to identify and the markers make it easier to examine them in more detail or to observe

them through a microscope. These methods can help to understand the learning and

regeneration of nerve cells at the molecular level.

The Hoechst Award for University Teachers is mainly given to researchers in the fields

of chemistry and biology. The financial resources are provided by the Aventis Founda-

tion. The scholarship fund of the Chemical Industry Association is responsible for nomi-

nating the candidates, choosing the winners and organizing the award ceremonies.



Raymond Barre Visiting Chair, University of Frankfurt

Visiting Chair for Development Economy

In 2015, Stanford University’s Pascaline Dupas was appointed Raymond Barre Visiting

Professor by the department of Economics at the Goethe University in Frankfurt. The

Aventis Foundation engaged in a five-year-partnership with the Goethe University and

has been sponsoring the visiting chair since 2011.

Pascaline Dupas studied at the Ecole Normale Supérieure and the Paris-Jourdan Science

Economiques DELTA. Following her lectureships at Dartmouth College and the Univer-

sity of Los Angeles, she has been a professor at Stanford University since 2011. In her

research she mainly focuses on topics related to development economy, analysing the

role that healthcare systems, bureaucratic structures, education politics and individual

savings behaviour can have on economic development. She has already published her

results in a number of internationally renowned journals and in 2015, she was nominat-

ed best young economist in France by the prestigious national newspaper Le Monde.

Every year, one French-speaking economist can be invited to hold seminars and lectures

at the campus in Frankfurt – thanks to the joint funding efforts of the Franco-German

Society (DFG) and the Aventis Foundation. Both students and teachers are given the

opportunity to gain insight into leading current research works and at the same time

improve their skills in French technical terminology.




Goethe University Frankfurt/Main

Rolf Sammet Visiting Chair at Goethe University

Science Frankfurt/Main

www.uni-frankfurt.de


Raymond Barre Visiting Chair 2015 at Goethe University for Pascaline Dupas




Autumn Meeting “A Magic Dwells in Each Beginning”




Academic Welcome Program – Refugee Aid



Historical Museum Frankfurt Exposition commemorating the 100th anniversary of Paul Ehrlich’s death in Berlin and Frankfurt/Main


www.historisches- museum-frankfurt.de

Robert Koch Foundation e.V. Postdoctoral Scholarships Science Berlin www.robert-koch-stiftung.de

Hoechst Award for University Teachers

Award for Dr. Frédéric Laquai, cooperation with the Chemical Industry fund


www.vci.de/fonds/stipendien

Hoechst Scholarship for PhD Students

Award for Julia Kurth, cooperation with the Chemical Industry fund


www.vci.de/fonds/stipendien

Commission for the History of Parliamentarianism

Research Project: Editing the correspondence between Ludwig Börne and Jeanette Wohl (1818-1830) in 4 volumes

Science Berlin www.kgparl.de

Mannheim Medical School Endowment Professorship at the Medical Faculty, research focus “Vascular Biology and Tumour Angiogenesis”

Science Heidelberg/Mannheim

www.umm.de

ISIS Université Louis Pasteur Symposium Strasbourg “Supramolecular Chemistry”

Science Strasburg www.isis.unistra.fr

project summary – education & science


In 2015, the Aventis Foundation spent approximately € 2.4 million on expenditures in

accordance with its statute. This includes future sponsoring amounts for which a bind-

ing commitment has already been made in 2015.

Payments to project partners amounted to € 2 million in 2015, excluding € 302,000 worth

of indirect expenses for funding projects. The administration of the foundation includ-

ing costs for asset management amounted to € 429,000 in 2015 (€ 472,000 in 2014). At the

end of 2015, project liabilities amounted to € 1.8 million (€ 1.7 million in 2014), mostly

for visiting chairs, scholarship programmes and the sponsorship series eXperimente and

kulturMut.

The Aventis Foundation has spent € 36 million on expenditures in accordance with its

statute from its foundation date in October 1996 to the end of 2015. The average spend-

ing was approx. € 1.9 million per year. Together with the health programme TB Free, this

amounts to a total sponsorship volume of € 50.6 million. The costs for administration

during the corresponding period amounted to an average of € 411,000 per year.

Administration

Funding Aventis FoundationIn € millions

Spending on activities conforming to the Articles of Association

annual accounts – facts and f igures 2015


An Independent, Sponsoring-only FoundationThe Aventis Foundation is a sponsoring foundation financed through the proceeds of

its foundation capital. In 2015, the basic assets of the Aventis Foundation made up an

unchanged € 53 million and the special assets of the Rolf Sammet Fund were at € 0.5

million (€ 0.5 million). The annual accounts for 2015 show total assets of € 60.9 million

(€ 58.8 million).

Balance Sheet in €

AssetsIntangible fixed assets 10,007

52,278

Property, plant and equipment 27,097 39,121

Financial assets 56,852,928 46,657,587

Inventories 13,397 0

Receivables and other assets 610,655 659,155

Bank balances 1,298,703 13,580,316

Accruals and deferrals 0 820

Total 58,812,787 60,989,277

LiabilitiesFoundation capital (incl. reserves) 56,423,644

58,527,458

Special assets (Rolf Sammet Fund) 504,210 503,428

Provisions 63,440 57,061

Liabilities (incl. Project funding commitments) 1,821,493 1,901,330

Total 58,812,787 60,989,277

20152014



On the accounting date at the end of 2015, the Aventis Foundation had at its disposal

financial assets and credits with banks of € 60.2 million (€ 58.1 million). The market

value of the assets and credits amounted to € 68.1 million (€ 68.1 million) on the account-

ing day. 49 % of the assets consisted of bonds, bond certificates, fixed-interest loans and

real estate. Another 31 % is made up of shares, equity funds and certificates. Liquidity

amounted to 20 %.

AuditThe PSP Peters Schönberger GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, Munich, was

appointed auditor for the year 2015. The auditor carried out the annual accounts au-

dit according to § 317 HGB and § 12 para. 2 StifG Hessen as well as according to the

German guidelines for correct annual accounts by the Institute of Auditors (Institut

der Wirtschaftsprüfer). No objection to the annual accounts has been raised.

Allocation of assets according to categoriesAs of December 31, 2015

Fixed-income securities 37 %

Shares and Certificates31 %

Loans9 %

Liquidity20 %

Real estate fund3 %



Advisory BoardThe advisory board advises and oversees the foundation, decides on the promotion

focus and sets the guidelines for the investment of assets. The members of the advisory

board in 2015 were:

Prof. Dr. Günther Wess (Chairman)

Prof. Dr. Rudi Balling

Prof. Dr. Dr. Dr. h.c. Uwe Bicker

Dr. Hariolf Kottmann

Dr. Heinz-Werner Meier

Prof. Dr. Werner Müller-Esterl

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Klaus Pohle

RA Joachim Schwind, LL.M.

Executive BoardThe Executive Board is responsible for the operative management of the Aventis

Foundation. The members of the Executive Board are:

Dieter Kohl (Chairman)

Eugen Müller (Executive Director)

commit tees


Klaus Pohle

Heinz-Werner Meier

Meeting of the advisory board in Berlin, October 2015

Günther Wess

Werner Müller-Esterl, Uwe Bicker

commit tees


Klaus Pohle, Dieter Kohl

Rudi Balling

Günther Wess, Eugen Müller

Dieter Kohl

commit tees


contact

Frankfurt OfficeAventis Foundation

Industriepark Höchst

D-65926 Frankfurt/Main

phone: +49 69 305 7256

fax: +49 69 305 805 54

email: [email protected]

Berlin OfficeAventis Foundation

Rungestraße 17

D-10179 Berlin

phone: +49 30 5562 8277

fax: +49 30 5506 0169

email: [email protected]


p. 8 studioNAXOS – Volker Muth

p. 8 Deutsches Design Museum – Jason Sellers

p. 8 Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt – Thomas Schröder

p. 10 Borderless – Aventis Foundation

p. 10 Deutsches Filmmuseum Frankfurt – Deutsches Filminstitut Frankfurt

p. 10 Node 15 – Node, Jessica Schäfer

p. 11 Der große Krieg und die Frauen – be-frankfurt

p. 11 My Imaginary Cities – ongoing project, Daniel Kovalenko

p. 11 Daniel Hartlaub, Museum Angewandte Kunst Frankfurt – Aventis Foundation

p. 15 Literaturhaus Frankfurt – Aventis Foundation

p. 16 musica viva, Bayrischer Rundfunk – Astrid Ackermann

p. 17 Junge Deutsche Philharmonie – Achim Reissner

p. 18 Tanz im August – Andreas Endemann

p. 19 Junge Norddeutsche Philharmonie – Moritz Tschermak

p. 20 Städel Museum Frankfurt – Katrin Binner

p. 21 Schauspiel Frankfurt – Birgit Hupfeld

p. 25 Historisches Museum Frankfurt – UB der HU zu Berlin

p. 26 Academic Welcome Program – Hoffmann, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt

p. 27 Hoechst Doktorandenstipendium – Martin Klapper

p. 28 Hoechst Dozentenpreis – Andrea Rentmeister

p. 29 Goethe-Universität Frankfurt – Pascaline Dupas

p. 35 Kuratorium der Aventis Foundation – Jens Rötzsch

p. 36 Kuratorium der Aventis Foundation – Jens Rötzsch

pictures

Aventis FoundationIndustriepark Höchst65926 Frankfurt/Main

www.aventis-foundation.org

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