Paloma Botín
Paloma Botín-Sanz de Sautuola has been a supporter of CIMAM since 2012.
Her passion for art emerged at an early age, combining studies in Art History and Russian Philology. She graduated with degrees in both disciplines from Wellesley College, Massachusetts (USA), in 1985, following a study residency in Moscow in 1984. Between 1985 and 1986, she continued her training by completing Sotheby's Works of Art Course in London.
Her early connection with the Russian cultural world led her to play the leading female role in a nine-hour Soviet-Spanish television adaptation of Don Quixote, filmed between 1984 and 1985 in Georgia and Moscow (USSR), as well as at various locations in La Mancha, Spain. In 1988, she coordinated Sotheby's first auction of Soviet Contemporary Art in Moscow.
From 1990 to 1992, she served as a volunteer and advisor to the International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR) in New York. Between 1992 and 2003, she headed the Fine Art Department at Nordstern Fine Art Insurance and subsequently at AXA Art. She is currently the founder and owner of Es Arte Deleitosa S.L., a company specialising in art advisory and fine art insurance.
She serves as a Trustee and member of the Art Advisory Committee of the Botín Foundation, is an Art Advisor to Santander Group, and is a member of the International Council of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, the Tate International Council, the International Board of Trustees of the Museo Nacional del Prado, and CIMAM.
December 2020
What is your activity's nature, and through what actions and projects are you linked to the world of culture and art?
Core to the mission and activity of Fundación Botín is art in all its forms. The foundation has supported emerging talents in all creative fields since its founding, with a specific focus on visual arts since the early 1990s.
To date, the most important project of the foundation is Centro Botín. Inaugurated in June 2017, the Renzo Piano-designed building houses the art and culture programs of the foundation, as well as education and interpretation programs and related workshops. Its purpose is to generate social development and wealth, making the most of the potential of the arts, to foster creativity.
What are your company's values, mission, and vision, and at what level does modern and contemporary art intervene as a channel or platform to communicate your value proposition?
Fundación Botín was established in 1964 by Marcelino Botín Sanz de Sautuola and his wife, Carmen Yllera, to promote social growth in Cantabria. Its mission is to contribute to the overall development of society, detecting and supporting the creative talent within it and exploring new ways of generating cultural, social, and economic wealth.
Fundación Botín organizes programs in the realms of art and culture, education, science, and rural development. It has also created a Trends Observatory to gain in-depth knowledge of society and discover key factors to help generate wealth and guide development, which also drives talent detection and development programs in the social and public sectors.
What is your mission to support the art sector and contemporary art museums in particular, and what results would you like to see your contribution achieve in the future?
The visual arts program of Fundación Botín is predicated by the will to support the professional growth of emerging artists, and to provide the public with exhibitions and publications of the utmost quality, primarily in the field of Modern and Contemporary art. It has also presented regularly exhibitions dedicated to ancient art to the exploration of specific aspects of art history.
Launched in 1992, the foundation’s Visual Arts Grant program aims at supporting artists in the production of a new project or a professional training project abroad. Up to 8 grants are awarded each year by a professional jury composed of two artists and two other art professionals. The work produced by grantees during the course of the grant period is then exhibited at Centro Botín and eventually acquired for the Fundación Botín collection.
Since 1993, Fundación Botín also invites - at least once a year - an artist of international repute to direct a Visual Arts Workshop in Santander. The 10-day event brings together a roster of 15 young artists from all over the world, selected by the workshop director. The foundation also invites that same artist to present her/his work at Centro Botín, and acquires work for its collection.
Which of CIMAM´s projects are most suited to developing your action plan to support the sector of museums and collections of modern and contemporary art?
Professional gatherings are essential for the dissemination of knowledge and to foster partnerships, which are increasingly important to carry out ambitious projects and disseminate the work of artists from all cultural backgrounds around the world. In that sense, the Annual Conference is key.
The role of CIMAM in establishing guidelines and its capacity of watchdog is also essential to guarantee that institutions worldwide abide by operating principles of the highest standards.
The recent development of the webinars series has also proved excellent and truly inspiring.