PREFACE
In 1964 artists Virginio Ferrari and Marisa Boccaccini married and in 1966 immigrated to Chicago from Verona, Italy. Through their companionship they raised a family of three sons, Alberto, Fabio and Marco, and created a home in Chicago’s southside neighborhood of Hyde Park. Their home bridged two cultures and embraced the values of art in their day-to-day lives. Virginio’s sculptures sustained the family and Marisa’s creativity nourished the family, establishing art as a way of living. Continuing this tradition, the three sons have ventured into their own art practices in the visual, performance and literary arts. The Virginio Ferrari Foundation was formed to hold the creative energy of Marisa and Virginio’s union and reflect it with New Ideas, New Ways, New Means and New Spaces.
The Virginio Ferrari Foundation is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization founded by the Ferrari family. The Foundation is organized and operated exclusively for charitable and educational purposes in accord with Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (or the corresponding provision of any future United State Internal Revenue law and referred to below as the “Code”).
More specifically, the VFF is organized to maintain, preserve and advance the understanding and appreciation of Virginio Ferrari’s art and legacy, by providing access to his artwork, archive and resources and by developing educational and scholarly programs and community-based art initiatives.
Virginio Ferrari Foundation
5429 S. East View Park, Apt. 3
Chicago, Illinois 60615
Employer Identification Number: 82-2221098
Director: Marco G. Ferrari, 773-230-1106, marco@ferraristudios.com
https://ferrarifoundation.org/
VFF CURRENT GOAL 2024
– In 2003 Virginio Ferrari shipped over 200 artworks to his native home town of Verona, Italy for his major retrospective art exhibit titled, “Virginio Ferrari: Ombre della sera; 1959-2003” (PDF), at the Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea-Palazzo Forti.
– After 20 years of being on display in Verona and later in Tuscany we are now preparing to pack and ship the artworks back to Chicago to establish an art space/gallery in the proximity of Virginio’s home in Hyde Park, Chicago.
– The Clinton Family Fund has generously established a $40k matching grant for the purpose of covering the expenses of organizing, packing, shipping, and the rental of a space to house the artworks in Chicago (Hyde Park vicinity).
– The purpose of this fundraiser is to introduce the VFF to Virginio Ferrari’s art supporter’s and gather donations that will help match the funding support from the Clinton Family Fund. These funds would in turn assist us in beginning a five-year cycle of activity through the following ways:
- Packing 200 artworks in Italy (July 2024) and shipping two 20’ containers back to Chicago by September 2024.
- Locating and securing the rental of a studio space (approx. 1000 sq. ft.) in the Hyde Park vicinity that would receive the artworks and function as a studio to preserve and display Ferrari’s sculptures and archive, while providing a physical space to organize the foundation’s programming (community art/film workshops, artist talks and public art project activities).
- Guaranteeing the preservation of Virginio’s work as the VFF looks for other civic opportunities for the donation of his work in the coming five years, while bringing cultural vitality to the south side area as a space that seeks to promote contemporary art and its relation to the environment.
- This five-year programming cycle would then give the VFF the ability to establish itself as an active cultural nonprofit art organization. And would in turn give the foundation the experience to then apply for additional city, state and national funding opportunities along with yearly fundraising campaigns that would cover additional administrative costs (such as management, grant writing and internships, and operational costs).
DONATIONS TO MATCH THE $40K CLINTON FAMILY FUND
I) As a token of recognition with a $1000 and above donation you will receive:
- An acknowledgement of your support on the VFF’s website. https://ferrarifoundation.org/
- The Virginio Ferrari: Full Circle 1957–2017 limited edition monograph art book ($150 market value). https://virginiof
errari.com/monograph/ (612-pages, hard bound, with dimensions of 12.5” x 11.5”, includes over 800 images covering all major national/international and public/private Virginio Ferrari artworks from 1957-2016)
II) As a token of recognition with a $1500 and above donation you will receive:
An acknowledgement of your support on the VFF’s website. https://ferrarifoundation.org/- The Virginio Ferrari: Full Circle 1957–2017 limited edition monograph art book.https://virginioferrari.com/monograph/
- The order of a V. Ferrari “sun” necklace medallion (1”x1”, silver), which will be delivered to you by summer 2024.
III) As a token of recognition with a $3000 and above donation you will receive:
- An acknowledgement of your support on the VFF’s website. https://ferrarifoundation.org/
- The Virginio Ferrari: Full Circle 1957–2017 limited edition monograph art book ($150 market value). https://virginioferrari.com/monograph/
- The order of a prototype model (3.5”x 4”, bronze) of “Being Born”, Chicago’s iconic public sculpture, which will be delivered to you by summer 2024.
This event has been graciously supported by co-founding board members Anna & Mark Siegler, Ingrid & Manfred Raiser and Claudie & Sandro Miller.
VFF MISSION
The Ferrari Arts Foundation is a creative home and laboratory for artists, where inspiring encounters between artists, their projects, and the public can occur.
The interaction between artist, public, and our shared spaces is at the heart of our model. We view audiences as vital, active participants in the creative life of each project; at our kitchen table, we take a holistic approach to advancing inquiry, the exchange of provocative ideas, and creative experimentation within a humanistic environment.
As a result, boundaries dissolve—between artists and scholars, as well as among members of our communities—as we foster new works into public consciousness and engage in transformative dialogues.
VFF VISION
In the Ferrari Arts Foundation, we view art as a vehicle for igniting inquiry and imagination: for exploring the relationship between form and content; for illuminating the psychological parallels between the individual and the collective; for examining our place in today’s social, political, cultural, and natural environments; and for celebrating the power of the unique voice.
We hold the role of the artist in today’s society as essential and recognize that it can be lonely work. We nurture artists’ perseverance, support the evolution of their skills as they pose vital questions, and wholeheartedly affirm all those courageous enough to grapple with the questions that follow.
Because there is a deepening divide between art, the public, and our shared spaces, our aim is to bring them into communion with one another—to curate interactions so that these relationships can be bridged, dialogues can be inspired, and new insights can be formed around the central question: how can art bring healing and wholeness for all?
