The Balnaves Foundation is supporting Australia’s representation at Venice Biennale for the second time. In 2007, the Foundation supported Callum Morton’s project at Palazzo Zenobio, Valhalla. Founded in 2006 by Neil Balnaves the Foundation disperses over $2 million per annum to organisations that aim to create a better Australia through education, medicine and the arts with a focus on young people, the disadvantaged and indigenous communities. The Foundation is Exhibition Patrons of Sculpture by the Sea and has a partnership with the Art Gallery of New South Wales through a programme of exhibitions of contemporary and historical sculpture. The Foundation is the principal donor of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art and also supports the McClelland Gallery & Sculpture Park in Melbourne. Assistance to the arts is also provided through Kaldor Art Projects and as a Major Partner of the Biennale of Sydney, Australia’s largest international art exhibition.
The Foundation helps to broaden community access to the arts by financing the Open House Program at the Sydney Opera House, which targets disadvantaged communities, and a free program for teenagers at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Generation Next. Support for medicine consists of grants with St Vincent’s Hospital, Northcott Disability Services, the Children’s Hospital at Westmead and a major grant of $500,000 to finance research into childhood cancer by young scientists at the Children's Cancer Institute of Australia. In 2008, Bond University was the recipient of a substantial grant that assisted to build a very successful state-of-the-art Multimedia Learning Centre for its students. In 2009, the Foundation will also award scholarships for Indigenous students to study medicine at the University of New South Wales. It also supports Indigenous arts through the grant made to Tjanpi Desert Weavers. www.balnavesfoundation.com | 
