Why 'Calliope'?

Margie MacKinnon

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“My interest in Florence began in 2011 when I took an extended holiday to study Italian and Renaissance art history at the British Institute of Florence. I fell in love with the city and, after my return to our home in London, contrived to go back to Florence as often as I could. Eventually, my husband and I found a small apartment in the ‘Oltrarno’, Florence’s artisan neighbourhood, which has become our cherished second home.  

 

In 2017, I came across Advancing Women Artists’ FirstLast campaign to raise funds and awareness for the restoration of Plautilla Nelli’s monumental sixteenth-century Last Supper. It seemed a wonderful opportunity to contribute to the rediscovery of one of Florence’s most important early female artists.  

My support for this cause led to a meeting with AWA’s then-director, Linda Falcone, and to a deeper involvement with the Nelli project and, eventually, a seat on the AWA Board of Directors.  

 

Active involvement with local organisations has been a vital part of our Florentine experience. We have been happy to support the British Institute of Florence, the Il Palmerino Cultural Association (former home of British writer Vernon Lee) and the Bertocchi/Colliva Foundation in nearby Monzuno. In July 2021, I joined the Board of Trustees of the Medici Archive Project, a historical research institute devoted to the study of the vast epistolary collection of the Medici Grand Dukes held in the State Archives of Florence.

 

As Londoners, we are interested in the historic ties between London and Florence, and the relationships – especially between female protagonists – that led to cultural exchanges. Calliope Arts is a natural extension of our desire to engage with cultural life in our two home cities and to forge connections between arts organisations in Florence and London.”

 

 

Wayne McArdle

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“My wife Margie and I are both lawyers by training. We met at a summer exchange programme for Canadian law students in Sherbrooke, Quebec some 40 years ago.  Coincidentally, our first joint philanthropic effort was in support of an art institution. We were part of a team of ten runners who ran relays continuously over 24 hours to raise money for the Art Gallery of Ontario.  

 

My law practice spanned 35 years. As well as working in private practice, I spent three years as Chief Counsel to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and travelled extensively in Russia and Eastern Europe. The final 18 years of my career were as a partner at the Los Angeles-based firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher where I balanced complex commercial transactions with pro bono work for large and small charitable organisations. One of these was Operosa, a classical music and opera festival that promotes young opera talent in the Balkan region. Another was The Akshaya Patra Foundation which provides hot meals to school children in India and combats holiday hunger in the UK.  

 

Retirement has afforded me the time to serve as Chair of the Board of Conduit Capital Partners, a leading environmental and social impact investment business.  I am also currently serving as Chair of the UK Foundation of my alma mater, the University of Western Ontario.

 

Forty years on, we are embarking on a new joint project with art at its centre and Florence at its heart.”