Shortlist Announcement for the 2016 Achates Philanthropy Prize

Seven trailblazing first-time philanthropists supporting Northern Ballet, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Fruitmarket Gallery, The Yard Theatre, Theatre 503, Theatre Royal Stratford East and Turner Contemporary shortlisted for this year's inaugural cultural giving prize.

The Achates Philanthropy Prize is the first-ever annual prize created to celebrate a new generation of cultural philanthropists in the UK, and to inspire the next. Organisations across all artforms were invited to nominate an outstanding individual or trust who has given philanthropically towards their organisation for the first time within the last 12 months, at all levels of giving.

In a line-up that encompasses dance, theatre and visual arts, a shortlist of seven have been selected. They are:

Northern Ballet and Jessica Smallpiece
Royal Shakespeare Company and Dave Maclean
The Fruitmarket Gallery and Alexander & Miranda Leslie
The Yard Theatre and Francesco Curto
Theatre 503 and Ben Hall
Theatre Royal Stratford East and Nigel Farnall
Turner Contemporary and Jonathan Wilmot

Founder, Caroline McCormick: "We created the Achates Philanthropy Prize to encourage cultural organisations to think differently about their supporters and to celebrate some of the trailblazing first-time philanthropists who have supported their organisations within the past year. Cultural philanthropy is at a standstill in Britain, whilst the fundraising climate is becoming ever more competitive, and yet, the submissions we received paint an overwhelming picture of the deep passion for the arts felt across the country. I hope these annual awards will inspire the sector to engage more deliberately and consistently with people they don't yet know, to allow the industry to survive and thrive in decades to come".

The winner of the inaugural Achates Philanthropy Prize will be selected by an independent, all-female judging panel: Spektrix Managing Director, Libby Penn; Young Philanthropy champion, Aliceson Robinson; Rossella Traverso of BOP Consulting; Achates Philanthropy Director, Caroline McCormick. The winner will be announced on Monday 7 November at the annual Spektrix conference at the Lyric Hammersmith in London.

The award is a sculpture by renowned British artist, Peter Brooke-Ball MRBS, and the winning philanthropist will become custodian of the sculpture for one year, and their cultural organisation will receive a £5,000 donation from Achates Philanthropy.

Caroline McCormick established Achates Philanthropy in 2014 to help cultural organisations of all sizes to develop resilience and to achieve their goals. Prior to this, Caroline led the successful £70 million capital campaign to create the Darwin Centre at the Natural History Museum, and went on to become the first Director of PEN International, heading up 145 centres in 105 countries. She has worked with many of the UK's leading cultural organisations on projects including: the NT Future Campaign, as lead advisor; The Old Vic's endowment campaign; the development of the National Centre for Writing in Norwich; the relocation of Garsington Opera; the redevelopment of Cambridge Arts Theatre; the development of the Jerwood DanceHouse in Ipswich. Caroline is currently working with organisations including: Arts Council England, Roundhouse, Birmingham Symphony Hall, City of London Sinfonia, Talawa, New Walsall Art Gallery, The Syria Campaign, Drama Centre London, and the development of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Muta Maathai's House in Kenya, amongst many others.

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