Annual programme 2025
Art and Culture

Art & Culture

Literature, music and the visual arts

When promoting literature, music and the visual arts, the Krupp Foundation focuses on long-term projects, such as the promotion of young artists as part of the “Catalogues for Young Artists” and “Contemporary German Photography” programmes. The “Museum Curators for Photography” scholarship programme supports the field of photography in a museum setting.

The Foundation deliberately limits itself to select areas in which it wishes to achieve a sustainable impact. This also includes the financing of the new building of the Folkwang Museum and the many years of support for the Kulturstiftung Ruhr.

Folkwang Museum

In 2006, the Foundation decided to make the new building of the Museum Folkwang possible for the city of Essen as its sole sponsor. The architect of the museum is David Chipperfield. The new building of the Folkwang Museum was opened in January 2010. From 2015 until 2021 the Foundation has provided free admission to the permanent collection of the Folkwang Museum.

Scholarship programme “Contemporary German Photography”

The scholarship programme is expected to be offered again in summer 2026.

The Krupp Foundation has been awarding scholarships for contemporary German photography (Zeitgenössische deutsche Fotografie) in co-operation with the Photographic Collection at the Folkwang Museum since 1982. The funding is aimed at photographers (without age limit) who would like to develop a photographic project over a longer period of time independently of a commissioned work. The call for applications is neither restricted thematically nor assigned to a specific area of photographic practice.

With this open funding programme, the Foundation aims to promote a contemporary artistic exploration of photographic perspectives and modes of representation. The Photographic Collection at the Folkwang Museum is in charge of this funding programme.

Scholarship programme “Museum Curators for Photography”

The scholarship programme is expected to be offered again in autumn 2026.

The Krupp Foundation launched the scholarship programme “Museum Curators for Photography” (Museumskurator*innen für Fotografie) in 1999. Every two years, three scholarship recipients receive two years of museum-specific training as well as the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the museum and scientific environment of the field of photography.

With this programme, the Krupp Foundation aims to sustainably support young curators in the field of photography and provide new impetus to the training of museum curators.

Thomas Mann Fellowships

The programme „Thomas Mann Fellowships“ is currently not being offered.

Pacific Palisades, near Los Angeles, is famous as the spiritual and intellectual centre of German exile in the USA. Among many others, Thomas Mann and his family found a new home here for many years. Their former home was acquired by the Federal Foreign Office for the Federal Republic of Germany in November 2016 in order to preserve it in memory of the time of exile from Germany and to develop it into a meeting place for transatlantic discourse. At the heart of the institution’s programme are the “Thomas Mann Fellowships”, whose participants – renowned academics, intellectuals and artists – are to initiate debates regarding fundamental topics of the present and the future on both sides of the Atlantic during their stays at this historic location. The residency programme is funded by the German government, the Krupp Foundation and other foundations.

“Catalogues for Young Artists” award

The exhibition and catalogue award will be offered in spring 2025.

The Krupp Foundation set up the “Catalogues for Young Artists” programme (Kataloge für junge Künstler*innen) in 1982. With this programme, the Foundation aims to enable promising young artists to have their own catalogue. At the same time, exhibition organisers are to be encouraged to develop new and innovative exhibition concepts.

Every two years, three catalogues and the corresponding exhibitions are funded. The next call for applications will take place in spring 2025.

Kulturstiftung Ruhr

“Giving new impetus to cultural life in the Ruhr region and setting standards and goals” – this is the aim of the Kulturstiftung Ruhr, which Berthold Beitz personally founded in 1984, according to its statutes. It also organises the visitor service for Villa Hügel and the park.

The Kulturstiftung Ruhr is based at Villa Hügel, the former home of the Krupp family. On the initiative of Alfried Krupp, Villa Hügel has been the venue for important art and cultural history exhibitions since 1953.

“150 years of Villa Hügel – 150 projects for the Ruhr region” funding programme

Brave not perfect, “Bude inklusiv”, “Kleiner Bahnhof”, Requiem for a Car, “Experiment Glück”, “Uni trifft Gesellschaft”, Kick it like friends…. These are seven of the “150 projects for the Ruhr region” – a unique funding programme of the Krupp Foundation. 

To express its solidarity with the city of Essen, the Ruhr region and its population, the Foundation launched the “150 projects for the Ruhr region” funding programme, endowed with EUR 1.5 million, to mark the 150th anniversary of Villa Hügel in 2023. The goal: To strengthen the Ruhr region and to support the diversity of topics.

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