Venice Biennale Challenges EU Funding Cut

The organizers of the Venice Biennale announced on Tuesday that they will contest the European Union's decision to withdraw a €2m ($2.3m) grant. The European Commission, acting through the European Education and Culture Executive Agency, canceled the funding after Russia reopened its national pavilion at the 2026 Biennale for the first time since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said projects financed by European taxpayers must uphold democratic values and freedom of expression, principles that he said are not respected in present-day Russia.

Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, president of the Biennale, defended the decision not to exclude Russia, arguing that the exhibition should remain a space for coexistence rather than censorship.

Organizers also stressed that the withdrawn grant was intended for projects in the festival's film section and was unrelated to Russia's participation. They said the loss of funding would neither affect the Biennale's budget nor disrupt its planned program.

Despite the controversy, the Russian pavilion has remained closed to visitors since it opened in May, with only video projections displayed on its exterior walls.

(Reuters, Max)