A new site, a new international vision, new artistic encounters: the Pernod Ricard Foundation will continue to look outwards and work in the same spirit to bring the young French contemporary art scene to Paris and the world.
From 1 July 2020, the Ricard Foundation currently on rue Boissy d’Anglas will become the Pernod Ricard Foundation, a dynamic that will see it move in the autumn to a multidisciplinary art space at the Group’s new headquarters in the Saint-Lazare district at the heart of Paris. Open to its city and its neighbourhood, the Pernod Ricard Foundation will remain true to its principles of making art freely accessible to all on a human scale. Building on a heritage that dates back more than 20 years, the Pernod Ricard Foundation will continue its commitment to hosting challenging, multidisciplinary, uncompromising exhibitions, supporting up-and- coming artists to bring the next generation of French art to the capital and beyond. In this new space conceived as a life-size toolkit, thematic conferences, artistic encounters and art performances will enrich France’s young art scene. A fresh approach that extends equally to the annual ‘Prix de la Fondation’ prize, whose new modalities will be unveiled by Alexandre Ricard, the Group’s Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, on 15 September at the presentation ceremony of the 2019 Prix Ricard at the Centre Pompidou.
This transition takes place in the context of the strategy of acceleration that has been driving all the Group’s activities over the last several years. It seeks to give greater resonance to the work already achieved by the Ricard Foundation in anchoring it even more strongly in the local community, while allowing it to benefit from the support of the Group’s 73 international subsidiaries. The Foundation’s new space, designed by the NeM architecture studio and facing onto a large tree-lined pedestrian esplanade – the Cours Paul Ricard – will be located at the front of the Group’s new headquarters, a showcase of its values of openness and generosity. Including an auditorium seating 130, a 300-square-metre main exhibition hall, and a distinctive space that can be used for performances or one-off shows, the Foundation will also feature a café and bookshop in keeping with the Group’s core ethos of cultivating a mix of conviviality and creativity. With this renewed commitment to its charitable art foundation, Pernod Ricard reaffirms its belief that economic performance cannot be decoupled from social engagement, as the Group has shown during the Covid-19 crisis. This new chapter continues the longstanding artistic mission initiated by the company’s founder Paul Ricard.
Alexandre Ricard: “I am delighted that our unwavering commitment to young artists will now be led by a Foundation at the scale of our Group. This step is the continuation of a vision that began with my grandfather, a great friend to the arts and to artists, a vision that was long supported by the Ricard company. Like the Group itself, our mission of philanthropy is continually evolving to carry our ambition higher and further, without ever losing its original essence.”
Colette Barbier, current director of the Ricard Foundation and future director of the Pernod Ricard Foundation, explains: “Twenty is the age when everything is possible, any ambition can be realised. But now more than ever, artists remain at the core of our project. This new space will be an outstanding forum for cultural exchange, artistic performance and creative innovation: a place for artistic conviviality, encounters and sharing.”
(c) Alain Séchas