Photo: Christina Holka

From 1988-2006, Delfina Studio Trust provided free/subsidised studios for artists based in London alongside becoming the UK’s largest international artists residency space, nurturing a generation of highly acclaimed artists, including more than a dozen Turner Prize nominees such as Jane & Louise Wilson, Tacita Dean, Shirazeh Houshiary, Mark Titchner, Martin Creed, Michael Raedecker, Keith Tyson, Mark Wallinger, among many other acclaimed artists.

At the age of 80, Entrecanales established Delfina Foundation to focus on mutual artistic exchange with the Middle East & North Africa following many personal trips in the region. In the immediate post 9/11 period, she recognised a more apparent and more complicated gap between the East and West to which she responded with Delfina Foundation.

In many ways the work of Delfina Foundation continued of Entrecanales’ previous relationships with the region through Delfina Studio Trust residencies of artists such as Khalil Rabah, Susan Hefuna, Khosdrow Hassanzadeh, Haluk Akake, Farhad Moshiri, etc. Following five years with an exclusive focus on the Middle East, the foundation’s remit was expanded to include more international partnerships and to support artists from around the world.

Entrecanales was always interested in artists, as individuals, rather than as agents of change; yet, she firmly believed that they have the power to alter the way we see the world and perhaps each other. It is the personal rather than the professional connection to artists that mattered most to Entrecanales. She often said she “collected artists not art”. For this reason, she has been described as a sort of ‘international mother’ of the arts.

Delfina was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2012, the year of the Diamond Jubilee, and she was also the recipient The Prince of Wales Medal for Philanthropy in the Arts in 2013.

Delfina retired from the Board of Trustees in 2020. She passed away in April 2022.

Profiles

• Delfina Entrecanales: the patron who collects artists, not art, Financial Times, 2013.
• Delfina Entrecanales, la gran madrina del arte, El País, 2016.
• Artsnight, BBC2, 2015.
• Delfina, Latter-Day Medici, Modern Painters, Summer 1992

Further reading

Razwana has also substantial in-house experience having worked at Universal Pictures and also has first-hand industry experience in the production of documentary films. She is recognized by her clients for “that rare ability to combine an outstanding depth of knowledge of the legal intricacies of film finance with a practical and commercial view on what our requirements might be from an investment perspective.

Litigation Team, he was involved in the US Supreme Court Case of Hamdan v Rumsfeld which upheld the habeas corpus and fair trial rights of Guantanamo detainees.

Mark has written extensively on a wide variety of human rights and legal subjects and has made regular appearances in the international and national media on issues such as the abolition of the death penalty, journalistic freedom and Guantanamo Bay. In 2006 Mark was short-listed for Liberty’s prestigious Human Rights Lawyer of the Year.

He is the founder of Beyond Borders Scotland.

Over the years, Irene has also contributed to numerous contemporary art institutions and initiatives including Tate, where she is a member of its International Council, British Museum, the Museum of Cycladic Art, the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST) in Athens, the Greek Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, the Athens Biennale, and Documenta.  She was collector-in-residence at Delfina Foundation in 2018.

Irene’s ongoing contributions to cultural preservation and deep-rooted commitment to artistic dialogue, are reflected in the spirit of the recently established Irene Y. Panagopoulos Collection Space.  Since 2006, she has built this multifaceted art collection that highlights women creators, Greek diaspora artists, and cross-cultural exchanges in the Mediterranean region.

As the son of Delfina Foundation’s founder, Charles has been involved in the organisation since 2013.

Originally studying dentistry, Charles worked in the NHS for five years. Upon developing neurological problems, he turned to alternative medicine for personal reasons and then professionally. He qualified at the College of Homeopathy in 1988.

After many years of practice, Charles became interested in the research dimensions of homeopathy and now supports initiatives that interface between technology and homeopathy.

In 2024, Charles donated a significant gift to Delfina Foundation to kickstart its capital fundraising campaign A Home for Artists.