The Foundation continues to improve the logistical framework and structure to carry out its mission.
During 2025 around 40 artists benefited from the residency programme and were exposed to the Foundation's international network. Residents donated works at the end of their programme, each donation adds to the narrative and legacy of the Villa Lena Foundation project. There were a mixture of mediums donated, including many works on paper, canvas and ceramics. Highlights include works by Megan Gabrielle Harris, Ruba Salameh, David Brooks and Lizzi Bougatsos and music performance by Caleb Moore.The donations will financially benefit the Foundation in due course when sold.
A particularly significant highlight of the year was a project initiated by visual artist David Brooks, whose practice explores the shifting boundaries between culture and ecology. During his residency, Brooks organised the burial of a time capsule in Toiano Vecchio on 10 July 2025. The capsule was filled with contributions from fellow residents artist, including drawings of rocks annotated with the GPS coordinates of the locations where they were made, Brooks’ bird-sighting checklist, menus and other memorabilia documenting life and artistic activity at Villa Lena during this period. The capsule is intended to remain sealed for 50 years and to be opened in July 2075, creating a unique long-term record of the Foundation’s creative community and its relationship with the surrounding landscape.
Workshop programming remained a central part of the residency experience, with approximately 60 workshops delivered in 2025. All residents contributed to a shared programme of sessions, fostering creative exchange, collaboration and engagement across disciplines.. Highlights included a natural ink making workshop led by Veronica Buitron, a colour plate making with ceramist Andrea Roman and writing sessions led by Becky Cooper, each offering to our creative community new approaches to material and collaboration. Throughout the year, residents also opened their studios for visits from local and international collectors, providing valuable exposure for their work and strengthening ties with the Foundation's wider network. Guests included talent agent Georg Rulffes, curator Iwona Blazwick and collector Umbreta Beretta.The programme's calendar was further marked by the Foundation's annual dinner, bringing together residents, alumni, collectors and friends of Villa Lena.
The Foundation’s partnership with Palazzo Strozzi in Florence continued in 2025. Throughout the year, Director Arturo Galansino and Head of Exhibitions Riccardo Lami visited Villa Lena to view the studios of the artists in residence as well as to attend the Foundation’s annual dinner.
With the focus of reaching and supporting artists from a number of backgrounds and in particular circumstances, the fourth year of collaboration with The Residency continued in 2025, a project conceived by Georgia Powell and Liza Shapiro (CURA Art) in 2020 with the aim to empower and champion equality in the Arts through patron-funded residencies.
In 2025 the Foundation renewed its commitment to supporting family residencies, offering places on the programme to artists as they navigate the balance between their creative practice and parenthood. Families taking part, live within the wider Villa Lena community alongside fellow residents, sharing in the daily life of the estate: this year the Foundation was pleased to host Veronica Buitron and Lena Rott together with their families as part of this continuing initiative.