The Ibero-American Patronage Awards, a social initiative promoted by Wealth Advisory Services, with the collaboration of BROSETA, the object of which are to enhance the promotion of patronage and art collecting, have been held for the second time, recognizing the efforts in the promotion of art and collectibles of Elena Foster and Barbara Garza.

Elena Foster, Spanish patron of the year, has been recognized for her role at the forefront of Ivorypress, a publishing house founded in 1996 and focused on the creation and production of artist’s books. Among the most relevant projects, Ivorypress has created the Chair of Contemporary Art at the University of Oxford and has curated international exhibitions such as “C on Cities” (10th Venice Architecture Biennale, 2006), “Blood on Paper” (Victoria Albert Museum, London 2008) and “Real Venice” (Somerset House, London, 2012).

For her part, Barbara Garza, President of the Committee for the Development of the FEMSA collection, has been recognized as Latin American Patron of the year. The FEMSA collection has been recognized as one of the most important corporate art collections in Latin America. It has more than 1,200 works that illustrate the evolution, diversity and richness of Latin American art of the 20th and 21st centuries with a special emphasis on Mexican art.

The awards they received were two works by the Madrid artist Manuel Moreno, presented to the winners by the artists Cristina Iglesias and Soledad Sevilla.

The awards jury was made up of important personalities from the cultural world such as Carmen Iglesias (President of the Academy of History), Charo Izquierdo (journalist), Javier Nadal (President of the Spanish Association of Foundations), Carmen Posadas (National Prize for Literature), Carmen Reviriego (President of Wealth Advisory Services), Miguel Zugaza (Prado Museum Director) and Patrick Charpenel (Mexican Prix Montblanc of Culture Arts Patronage).

Among those attending the ceremony were Cristina Cifuentes, President of the Community of Madrid; Carmen Reviriego, President of the Ibero-American Prize of Patronage; the Ambassador of Mexico in Spain Roberta Lajous; the architect Sir Norman Foster; the collector and patron Plácido Arango; the collector and patron Patty Phelps de Cisneros; Mayte Spínola, President of the Group ‘Pro art and culture’ and winner of the 1st Prize of Ibero-American Patronage, and Manuel Broseta and Luis Trigo, President and Partner of BROSETA respectively, among with other many personalities from the world of culture and business.