After the earthquakes that struck Venezuela on June 24, the country’s creative community responded with moving force. Among those responses, artists and cultural managers Gabriela and Daniel Benaim are leading a digital benefit sale with a clear and urgent purpose: to help the affected arts community.
In just a few days, the call gathered donations of more than a hundred small-format works by Venezuelan artists.
“I feel enormous gratitude toward the artists. It moves my heart. It’s remarkable how they mobilized: I put up a post and that same day we had 50 works, and by the next day we had reached 100. It’s a beautiful empathy. It’s pure love,” said Gabriela Benaim.
The pieces and their prices will be shared in PDF catalogues that will circulate digitally. The process will move step by step, and these catalogues will begin to be released very soon. Benaim explained that they prefer the digital format because the works cannot be stored. Once a sale is made, they will arrange to ship the work to the buyer.
Where the funds go
The proceeds go toward meeting the most pressing needs of the Venezuelan artists affected by the disaster. The organization is working to channel the funds through a secure, transparent institutional route, so that every contribution reaches where it should. It is an effort designed for the long term, built calmly and in a structured way. For that reason, the specific use of the funds will be announced later on.
Made from love
With more than 25 years working alongside the artistic community, Gabriela Benaim stresses that the driving force behind this project is to stand by Venezuela’s artists, whom she considers her closest family. “This is being done from love. We are working to do things well, with patience and care. Right now we are drawing up the lists of artists affected by the earthquakes,” she explained.
At Arts Connection Foundation, we join in giving visibility to this gesture and, together with its promoters, we thank the generosity of every artist who opened their studio to lend a hand.