Spanning dance, theatre, music, film, architecture, visual arts and literature, the Festival will be presented to the public from 26 to 28 May.
It will showcase a generation of outstanding international artists who have advanced their work with the support of Rolex.
A special pre-festival programme will also be offered from 22 to 25 May, dedicated to the people of Athens and organised to engage Greek artists, arts professionals, and young people.
The Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative sees younger artists of exceptional promise – the protégés – given the rare opportunity to spend significant periods of time in creative exchange with world-renowned artists in their particular field – the mentors – on a one-to-one basis.
“Over two decades, a remarkable artistic community has been built, encouraging an international dialogue across cultures and disciplines that helps the Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative realise its main objective: the transmission of knowledge to new generations of artists on a global scale,” Rolex said in a statement announcing the Arts Festival.
“The Athens event is both a true manifestation and celebration of this life-changing programme.”
During the Rolex Arts Festival, multidisciplinary performances, exhibitions, readings, screenings, installations and discussions will share the achievements and ongoing creative relationships of more than 60 Rolex protégés and mentors.
It will fill stages, galleries and public spaces at nine venues in Athens – the cradle of arts and learning – for a full week in spring 2023 with more than 30 performances and events.
An eight-member Greek Advisory Committee has provided counsel and assistance in organising all aspects of the Rolex Arts Festival, which is being curated by independent arts advisor and programmer Emma Gladstone OBE, former Artistic Programmer at Sadler’s Wells in London and former Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Dance Umbrella.
“There is astonishing generosity in the range of work that the Rolex fellows will be showing the people of Athens – a generosity matched by the invaluable relationships that the mentors formed with these fellows, and by the contributions of Rolex in initiating and supporting this special endeavour,” Gladstone said.
“To honour this generosity across the 20 years of the Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, the Rolex Arts Festival will highlight three broad themes: the relationship of sharing at the core of the programme, the impact of this sharing on the fellows, and the ongoing artistic legacy that the fellows are now creating around the world.”
