Positive View Photography Charity Launches In London

The Positive View Foundation has announced its official launch with forthcoming exhibition programme. The Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation taking a unique philanthropic approach towards contemporary photography. Staging world class events and exhibitions, the Foundation furthermore exists to provide photography grants to charities working with disadvantaged young people.

The Foundation is also distinct in being the only charity in the UK that promotes, supports and provides grants exclusively to those organisations which use training in the photographic arts as a means of transforming the lives of disadvantaged young people.

Many of these have minimal or no qualifications, and lack the necessary skills for sustained employment. But photography is a highly flexible tool that crosses cultural and linguistic barriers and can be adapted to all abilities. Photographic training courses help these individuals find confidence in their voices, whilst acquiring the motivation, self-confidence and skills they need to change their lives.

The “Grants Programme” will be launched in 2014 and funded as follows:

The majority of signed works included in our exhibitions will have been donated by the photographers, or their archives and galleries. These photographs will be sold at the Foundation’s annual gala auction, which will be hosted by Christie’s, London. 100 per cent of proceeds will be donated to the Positive View Foundation to fund its charitable grants.

The Foundation is pleased to announce London’s Somerset House as its official Gallery Partner. The Positive View Foundation will hold its major exhibitions across the arts spaces throughout Somerset House, including the new East Wing galleries.

For each exhibition held at Somerset House, the Positive View Foundation will organise workshops within the exhibition space through which they can work directly with disadvantaged individuals through their partner organisations. Groups will be invited to attend dedicated tours hosted by the Curator of the exhibition and individuals will be able to book time slots to be part of small tours. Schools situated throughout lower income boroughs of London will also have the opportunity of enjoying this unique insight.

To celebrate its launch on Monday 16 April, the Foundation will hold a silent auction of works by some of the world’s most celebrated photographers. Works have been donated to the Foundation by galleries including HackelBury Gallery and Flowers East. Rankin is also donating a sitting for the auction, which will offer the opportunity of being captured by the celebrated photographer in his London studio. All proceeds raised through the auction will be given directly to the Positive View Foundation for use in their grants programme.

 Future events include:
• Henri Cartier-Bresson from 8 November 2012 – 27 January 2013, Somerset House.
• Landmark: Fields of Change from 14 March – 28 April 2013, Somerset House.
• The Foundation’s first Annual Patrons’ Dinner, in September 2012 hosted by Patrons of the Positive View Foundation Lady Foster and Sir David Tang. 
• Annual Photography Symposium in May 2013. The symposium will take the form of a three-day international summit held in collaboration with The Todi Circle, an invitation-only ‘brainstorming’ centre at Todi Castle, near Todi in Umbria.

The organisation has a refreshingly different attitude to philanthropy, the Positive View Foundation has created and launched a new approach to the visual arts. On the one hand, they will regularly stage important international events which showcase contemporary photography. Diana, Princess of Wales, was that project’s Royal Patron. And in 2010, when the concept was revisited, her son Prince William became Royal Patron in his turn. On this occasion, through media partnerships and a charity auction at Christie’s, over £500,000 was raised to fund an innovative photography project at Crisis, the UK’s leading homeless charity. Photo: ‘Man with Bandage, 1968’ by ©Fred Herzog

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