The Athens-based Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) has announced a three-year commitment of up to €30 million ($32.5 million) in support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC).

The center, which opened in 2017, is a safe, open, accessible, and environmentally sustainable public space envisioned and created by SNF. The new commitment, which will cover operating and programming costs, includes €10 million ($10.8 million) for the first year, €9 million ($9.8 million) each for the subsequent years, and up to €2 million ($2.2 million) as a matching gift for the maintenance of SNFCC facilities. With this most recent commitment, SNF has awarded a total of €641 million ($695 million) to the SNFCC, including support for its construction, operating costs, events, programming, and infrastructure. To date, more than 6,100 cultural and educational events and more than 16,100 sports activities have taken place at the center, with admission largely free due to support from SNF.

“We are particularly pleased that the Greek state also embraces and recognizes the value of the SNFCC, and that…the organization will continue to perform its important role as an evolving, sustainable, and universally accessible public space,” said SNF co-president Andreas Dracopoulos. “This collaboration reinvigorates the concept of public-private partnership in practice, which we believe will give the SNFCC the opportunity to keep on being a unique destination and integral part of everyday life for everyone, and to activate even more of its potential as a modern Agora in constant dialogue with the Greek and international community.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Sotirakos)