Iniva is the Institute of International Visual Art, a visual arts organisation based in London that collaborates with contemporary artists, curators and writers. Iniva runs the Stuart Hall Library, and is based in Pimlico, on the campus of Chelsea College of Arts.
Iniva was founded in 1994 with a remit to address an imbalance in the way culturally diverse artists and curators were being represented in the UK. Funded by Arts Council England and governed by a Board of Trustees, the institute has worked with artists, curators, creative producers, writers and the public to explore and reflect cultural diversity in the visual arts. Iniva and Autograph ABP partnered to build Rivington Place, a five-floor, visual arts centre in East London. The £5 million building was designed by architect David Adjaye and opened to the public on 5 October 2007. It was the first publicly funded, purpose-built international visual arts venue constructed in London since the Hayward Gallery opened more than 40 years earlier. Rivington Place housed two exhibition spaces and the Stuart Hall Library, established by Iniva, as well as art education and seminar rooms - plus the offices of Iniva and Autograph. Until 2008, cultural theorist and sociologist Stuart Hall was chair of Iniva and Autograph ABP. Iniva's first director was Gilane Tawadros, followed in 2005 by international curator Sebastian Lopez, then the curator and cultural historian Dr Gus Casely-Hayford, Tessa Jackson, former chief executive of the Scottish Arts Council, and, from 2015, Melanie Keen, who was a curator at Iniva from 1996-2003, and most recently a senior manager at Arts Council England. Its funding has been greatly reduced in recent years. When the Arts Council announced its new National Portfolio Organisation structure for arts funding in 2012, Iniva's funding was cut by 43.3%, and by a further 62.3% in 2015. In October 2018, Iniva and the Stuart Hall Library moved out of Rivington Place, to the Chelsea College of Arts in Pimlico.
Publishing
Iniva operated as an arts publishing house, often working in collaboration with larger publishers and producing books by writers such as the cultural theorist Kobena Mercer, curator and educator Sarat Maharaj, artist Sonia Boyce the art historian Guy Brett, and the art critic Jean Fisher.
Education and youth
Alongside its exhibitions and publications, the institute also runs a visual arts education programme, consisting of lectures, educational workshops and seminars. Based in the London borough of Westminster, the institute has developed a consistent strategy of working with young people, aimed at extending the field of arts education to include wider cultural objectives such as 'social inclusion' and personal development.
Governance
Iniva has charitable status under UK law and is governed by a Board of Trustees. Over the years board membership has included prominent figures in the world of ideas and the arts, including Stuart Hall, Yinka Shonibare, Sarat Maharaj, Henry Louis Gates, Jr, and Isaac Julien.
