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Alexander S. Onassis Foundation

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The Alexander S. Onassis Foundation (Greek: Κοινωφελές Ίδρυμα Αλέξανδρος Σ. Ωνάσης), commonly known as Onassis Foundation (Greek: Ίδρυμα Ωνάση) is a public benefit foundation that was established in 1975 by Aristotle Onassis, in a gesture of honoring his son’s memory, Alexander,[1] ordered in his handwritten will that 45% of all business profits should be returned to Greek society through public benefit actions.[2][3]

The Vaduz headquarters

Onassis Foundation is managed by a 15-member Board of Directors. The original members of the BoD, appointed in 1975 by Aristotle Onassis in his will (life members), were his trusted executives and business associates, among them Nikos Kokkinis, Michael Dologlou, Stelios Papadimitriou, Paul Ioannidis, Apostolos Zambelas, Creon Brown, etc. Through time, renowned executives were added, such as Theodoros Gavriilidis.[4][5][6][7] The Business Foundation is based in Vaduz, Liechtenstein and the Public Benefit Foundation in Athens, Greece.[2][3]

Board’s first president was Christina Onassis, until her death in 1988.[8] She was succeeded by Stelios Papadimitriou, a trusted lawyer of Aristotle Onassis, executor of Onassis’ will, and head of his shipping business before his death. Stelios Papadimitriou died in 2005.[9] Anthony S. Papadimitriou serves as the current president.[10]

The foundation is one of the largest in Europe, using its assets to create scholarship and prize programs, build the $75 million Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center in Athens (designed by London-based hospital architect Llewelyn Davies), endow Greek studies chairs at universities, and support other projects.[8]

Activities edit

The Onassis Foundation is active in the fields of health, education, and culture, fostering a continuous connection with Greece and contemporary Greek culture.

Health Sector edit

In 1992, the foundation constructed and donated to the Greek State the fully equipped Onassis Cardiac Surgery Centre (OCSC). Close to it, the Onassis National Transplant Centre (ONTC), a fully digitized hospital with cutting edge equipment and hybrid operating suites, is under construction and is expected to be delivered to the Greek State c.  2025.[11][12] In 2018, Onassis Foundation completed the reconstruction of the Melanoma and Skin Cancer Center at the Andreas Syngros Hospital in Athens.[13]

Moreover, the foundation provided financial support to organizations such as ELPIDA and the Hellenic Society for the Protection and Rehabilitation of Disabled Children (ELEPAP).[14][15] In 2020, it implemented donations related to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece. In this framework, 13.5 million protective masks were donated.[16] Other donations in the health sector include the delivery of the Department of Pharmacology at the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

In 2021, the foundation delivered to the Greek state a study for the development of a national plan for organ donation and transplantation.[17]

Education Sector edit

Scholarships edit

Since 1978, the Onassis Foundation has awarded scholarships annually to Greeks for doctoral and postgraduate studies in Greece and internationally and to foreigners for postgraduate studies and research in Greece.

Nowadays particular emphasis is given on fields such as robotics, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and bio-innovation, among others.[18]

Since the program’s establishment, more than 7,600 scholarships have been awarded to scientists, artists, and researchers. Among them are the current artistic director of the Athens and Epidaurus Festival, Katerina Evangelatos,[19]  director Tassos Boulmetis,[20] vocalist and theatre actor Mario Frangoulis,[21] violinist Leonidas Kavakos,[22] ex minister and current Head of the Bank of Greece Yannis Stournaras.

Educational Programs edit

Since 2010, the Onassis Foundation has implemented a series of educational programs for children, adolescents, schools, adults, and teachers. Through creative music courses, digital applications for children, research seminars for teachers, dance lessons for seniors, and mixed groups of people with and without disabilities, among others, the Onassis Foundation's objective is the achievement of an open society, equal access to education, and an enduring and collective curiosity, as well as the strengthening of culture, not only on the stage, on screen, and in the visual arts, but also through education for all, giving priority to new technologies.[23][24]

In addition, from 2019 to 2023, the Onassis Foundation, together with Eurohoops and Nike, supported the AntetokounBros Academy, the public benefit program of the Antetokounmpo brothers.[25]

Special Education edit

Since 2013, the Onassis Foundation has been organizing nationwide workshops and educational activities of musical and artistic content for children with either motor difficulties or autism spectrum disorder (ASD).[26][27]

Partnerships with universities edit

The Onassis Foundation also aims to promote Greek culture abroad. In this framework, it has formerly organized lectures in the USA and Canada, as well as a series of eighteen exhibitions in a specially configured space in the Olympic Tower in New York. It has also financially supported university chairs, departments, curricula, and even classical primary and secondary schools worldwide, where courses in Greek culture are taught. Overall, it has supported about 100 educational institutions in 40 countries.[28] Some of these universities include the University of Cambridge (Newnham College, Faculty of Classics), the New School, and the Bayes Business School.[29][30]

Moreover, since 2001, Onassis Foundation has been organizing annual scientific seminar lectures in collaboration with the Foundation for Research and Technology―Hellas (FORTH) in Heraklion, Crete, covering the fields of Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, and Mathematics.

Onassis Library edit

The Onassis Library is housed in a neoclassical building of the early 20th century, designed by the architect Anastasios Metaxas, at 56 Amalias Avenue in Plaka. Since its restoration in 1991 by Vassilis Tseghis, the library is open to the public and researchers.[31][32]

Inside the Onassis Library and among its collections are artworks by Greek artists, as well as objects from Aristotle Onassis' office in Monte Carlo and his yacht, Christina (currently known as Christina O).

The Onassis Library houses three collections: the Hellenic Library, which includes Greek books from  15th century by secular authors and Church figures, as well as works from the Italian Renaissance era to the late years of the Modern Greek Enlightenment; the Travel Accounts Collection, with more than 2,500 foreign books of travelers from Western Europe dating back to the 16th century; and the Cavafy Archive. These collections bring together rare editions from the 15th century to the present. Among the Library's exhibits is a surviving copy of Rigas Velestinlis' Charta (Map of Greece).[33][34][35]

The Cavafy Archive edit

The Foundation acquired[36] the Cavafy Archive in 2012 aiming to protect, disseminate, and support the international character of C. P. Cavafy's poetry. The archive includes manuscripts, texts, articles, studies, and other material relating to Cavafy and his work.

In November 2023, the Onassis Foundation inaugurated a new building on Frynichou Street in Plaka, which houses the poet's literary and personal archive,[37] enriching the collections of the Onassis Library with 966 books included in its library, as well as a collection of personal objects and works of art.

The objective of the Foundation behind the Cavafy Archive is to render it fully accessible to the public—as a fully recorded, cataloged, digitized, and enriched entity— that will enhance research and ensure its multiple, multi-functional, and multi-faceted use by researchers and the broader public. In this direction, more than 2,000 documents that pertain to the work of C. P. Cavafy were digitized and are accessible as open archives to all.[38] [39]

Onassis Awards edit

Beginning in 1978, the Foundation has established the International Awards, which are handed out to individuals and organizations whose services in the fields of culture, social contribution, and the environment are deemed valuable. Nowadays, the Foundation offers the Onassis International Prize for Shipping, Trade, and Finance in partnership with Bayes Business School, University of London, and the City of London.[40] The institution has awarded eminent personalities from all over the world, including Simone Weil, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Elizabeth Taylor,  Dolly Goulandris, and Eugene Fama.[41][42][43]

Cultural Sector edit

The Onassis Foundation’s cultural contribution, entitled as Onassis Culture and with Onassis Stegi as its physical hub, includes performances, exhibitions, lectures, book publications, and online actions related to contemporary society, its needs, and the issues that concern it.[44]

Onassis Stegi edit

Onassis Stegi (formerly known as the Onassis Cultural Center) is the center of the Foundation's cultural activities. Its mission is to disseminate modern Greek culture in Greece and abroad through theater, dance, and music productions, as well as videos, films, discussions, and artworks. Onassis Stegi's artistic programming addresses issues of democracy, social and environmental justice, racial and gender equality, and LGBTI+ rights.[45]

Other projects in the public space edit

The Foundation's cultural contribution also includes organizing contemporary digital art exhibitions (Plásmata) and contemporary art festivals in public spaces, such as Pedion tou Areos Park in Athens and the city of Ioannina.[46] Moreover, the Foundation has undertaken the creation or restoration of cultural spaces, such as "The Madra" on Dionysiou Areopagitou Street, the Matala Arcade on Patision Street, and the Onassis Ready space, in the premises of a former factory within the boundaries of Agios Ioannis Rentis.[47][48][49][50]

Actions and Restoration Projects edit

Maintenance, restoration, and construction projects of cultural and art spaces

The Acropolis of Athens edit

At the invitation of the Greek government in 2020, the Onassis Foundation undertook the costs of the new lighting design and construction, the installation of a new elevator, and the restoration of disability routes in the Acropolis monument area.[51][52]

Other edit

Onassis USA edit

The Onassis USA was founded in October 2000 and it is based in the Olympic Tower on Fifth Avenue, New York. The same building also houses ONX Studio, a hybrid production studio and exhibition space for artists working with augmented reality (XR) and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. The space is an extension of the Digital and Innovation program of the Onassis Foundation in Athens.

The Onassis USA aims to highlight Greek culture and foster bilateral cultural relations through partnerships with major cultural and educational organizations in Greece and the United States.[57][58] From 2020 to 2022, the Onassis USA also maintained operations through its subsidiary branch in Los Angeles (Onassis LA, aka OLA House), with Paul Holdengräber as its Founding Executive Director, mainly during COVID-19 pandemic.[59]

The Foundation also supports artistic and educational activities that showcase the culture of Greece in the United States, as well as notable translation and educational material donation initiatives.

References and sources edit

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