US Pavilion Pleads for Cash to Ship Alma Allen Sculptures Home

With less than a month before the 61st Venice Biennale closes on November 22, United States pavilion commissioner Jenni Parido has asked for additional donations to ship Alma Allen's sculptures out of Italy.

This week, the New York Times reviewed a letter by Parido, who founded the American Arts Conservancy (AAC) and commissioned Allen's exhibition in Venice. In the letter, she told potential donors that the nonprofit was "facing an urgent funding need associated with the final deinstallation and safe return of the artworks to the United States."

Who is paying for the pavilion?

The eleventh-hour fundraising drive follows the financial model Parido set for this year's Biennale presentation from the start.

After months of opacity surrounding the selection process and funding ventures for the pavilion, Parido told Hyperallergic in April that Allen's exhibition, Call Me the Breeze, received no "corporate or foundation funding." She said the show was facilitated through the "generous support of private citizens who believe in the importance of American artists and cultural exchange."

The AAC also ran an online donations portal ahead of the Biennale's opening in May, inviting small-dollar contributions toward the pavilion's costs.

The source article characterizes the AAC as a Trump administration-aligned arts nonprofit.

What does this change for the works?

The practical question is straightforward: without new donations, the deinstallation and transatlantic return of Allen's sculptures remains unfunded as the Biennale's closing date approaches.

The exhibition Call Me the Breeze filled the US Pavilion with a variety of Allen's sculptures, documented in exterior views of the building in Venice's Giardini.

The fundraising letter gives donors a narrow window. The Biennale closes on November 22, and deinstallation follows immediately, meaning the AAC must secure shipping funds within weeks if the works are to return to the United States on schedule.

For Allen, an artist whose national pavilion debut depended on private citizens rather than institutions, the final chapter of the exhibition now rests on the same model that mounted it.