EU Agency Halts Venice Biennale Funding Over Russia’s Return

The European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) has decided to terminate its current €2 million ($2.2 million) grant to the Fondazione La Biennale di Venezia after the Russian pavilion resumed operations for the first time since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The decision followed a legal assessment and came on the recommendation of the European Commission, according to Ukrainska Pravda citing Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier.

“Cultural events, funded by European taxpayers’ money, should safeguard democratic values, foster open dialogue, diversity and freedom of expression – values which are not respected in today’s Russia,” Regnier said.

The Venice Biennale remains among the world’s largest contemporary art exhibitions and is held every two years in Venice, Italy’s canal city, running this edition from May 9 to Nov. 22.

The decision to terminate funding

The funding cancellation procedure was initiated by the European Commission after Biennale Foundation President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco confirmed that the Russian pavilion would reopen during this year’s exhibition. 

Shortly after the invasion began, organizers barred Russian government authorities from participating, and the artists and curators at the Russian pavilion withdrew from the Biennale on their own in protest. Russia had been excluded from the program ever since, and the recent decision to allow its involvement again has sparked outrage from both the Italian government and the EU.

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The Commission initially gave the Biennale Foundation 30 days to either abandon its plans or provide substantial arguments to halt the grant cancellation process. The EU later requested additional clarification on the true nature of Russia’s participation in the event, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

More than 20 European countries called for Russia to be banned from the exhibition, while Ukraine urged organizers to reconsider and expressed hope that they would maintain the principled stance they had shown between 2022 and 2024.

According to leaked documents from an inspection by the Italian culture ministry, Biennale organizers argued that Russia has owned the Venice pavilion since 1914 and cannot be barred from using it. 

The international jury resigns

In May, AFP reported that the international jury of the 61st Venice Biennale resigned after saying it would not award prizes to countries led by figures subject to International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants – namely Russia and Israel.

Following the jury’s resignation, organizers postponed the award ceremony to the exhibition’s last day. The Biennale said it would award two prizes by public vote, one of which any national participant – including Russia – could win. 

“La Biennale seeks to be, and must remain, a place of truce in the name of art, culture, and artistic freedom,” reads a statement from their foundation, which cited the “principle of inclusion and equal treatment.”

Ukrainian art manager Katya Taylor described the move “unprecedented,” criticizing both the Biennale organizers and Italian authorities for allowing Russia’s participation under the guise of inclusivity and artistic neutrality. 

Protests mark the opening

On the opening days, the Ukrainian feminist collective Femen and the Russian protest punk band Pussy Riot staged a bare-breasted demonstration outside the Russian pavilion – the first time the two groups held a joint protest.

“We are here to remind that the only Russian culture, the only Russian art today is blood,” Femen activist Inna Shevchenko told reporters. 

Meanwhile, Latvia’s national pavilion launched its own protest against Russia with its exhibition “Untamed Assembly: Backstage of Utopia,” alongside an international campaign titled “Death in Venice” calling on artists and visitors to publicly oppose Russia’s presence at the exhibition.

“The participation of the aggressor state normalizes its actions at a time when Ukrainian cultural heritage is being deliberately destroyed and lives are being lost,” the Latvian Pavilion team said.

Sanctions and earlier warnings

In April, Ukraine sanctioned five Russian cultural figures accused of promoting Kremlin narratives at international events, including the Venice Biennale. Among those sanctioned were Russian pavilion commissioner Anastasia Karneeva and Kremlin cultural envoy Mikhail Shvydkoi.

Ukrainian authorities said Russia’s participation in international cultural events is being used to legitimize its aggression and spread propaganda narratives, while Kyiv said it would share the sanctions list with international partners.

Later that month, a Commission spokesperson confirmed a formal warning letter had been sent to the Biennale’s organizers, stating that the €2 million ( $2.2 million) grant could be “suspended or terminated,” if the Biennale’s reply was not satisfactory.

More than 6,000 artists, academics, curators, journalists and political figures signed an open letter urging the Biennale’s leadership to “address the implications” of allowing Russia to participate.

Shvydkoi dismissed the funding threat as “further proof that Russian culture is not isolated,” adding that “attempts to silence it – undertaken over the last four years by Western political elites – have failed.”