Upė Foundation is a London-based platform that draws currents between global and Baltic art communities through curatorial support, research and commissioning, amplifying adventurous ideas, underexplored perspectives and long-term exchanges across geographies.


Upė Foundation is pleased to join Frieze and the Czernecki Educational Foundation in supporting the Frieze Curator Travel Grant 2026, an initiative offering six emerging and mid-career curators across the Baltic region and Poland travel support, accommodation, VIP access to Frieze London and Frieze Masters, and the opportunity to participate in a funded curatorial visit to London during the fair, taking place from Tuesday 13 to Saturday 17 October 2026.
Frieze is a leading global contemporary art organisation, founded in 1991 with the launch of frieze magazine, and now encompassing art fairs, publications and digital platforms. The Czernecki Educational Foundation supports the arts and humanities in Central and Eastern Europe and fosters international exchange of ideas.
Together with Frieze, Upė Foundation and the Czernecki Educational Foundation share a commitment to enabling meaningful opportunities for curators from their regions to engage with the global contemporary art world.
The selected curators will receive:
- A grant covering the cost of travel from the Baltic region or Poland to London;
- Accommodation in London from Tuesday 13 to Saturday 17 October;
- VIP access to Frieze London and Frieze Masters;
- A 4-day itinerary of panel discussions, museum and gallery visits;
- Opportunities to connect with leading figures in the global art world.
The selection panel is Eva Langret, Director, Frieze EMEA; Leonie Mir, Head of VIP, Frieze EMEA; Adomas Narkevičius, Founding Director, Upė Foundation; and Helena Czernecka, HELA Press.
If you have any questions for the Frieze team, please contact Eliza.Rennie@frieze.com.
Applications are now closed.



Martyna Ratnik is a Lithuanian cultural worker based between London and Vilnius. With a focus on moving image creation, curation and criticism, her practice searches for ways history can be embodied and transgressed. In addition to working as part of the London Short Film Festival’s curatorial team, Martyna has been developing her independent praxis. Among others, her artistic and curatorial projects have been previously presented at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), the Independent Vilnius Cinematheque “Meno Avilys”, Lithuania’s National Gallery of Art, European Media Art Festival, BFI London Film Festival, as well as LUX Moving Image. Martyna is the winner of Lithuania’s 2025 Visual Art Criticism Awards, and has been invited as a jury member the year after. She has recently graduated from RCA’s City Design course with a Master’s Thesis on open form institutional design, and is also an alumni of Rupert’s Alternative Education Programme.
As Upė Foundation Curatorial Fellow at Camden Art Centre, Martyna Ratnik joins the exhibitions team, bringing her specialist knowledge and research into the institution's curatorial work while contributing to exhibition-making, events and research. The Fellowship provides an environment for professional development, learning and first-hand experience within one of the UK's leading spaces for contemporary visual art.

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Diāna Mikāne is a curator and artist from Riga, Latvia. Through situated research and collaboration, her practice engages with parafiction as a mode of expression and the politics of space, often in relation to post-socialist conditions in the Baltic region and beyond. Recent work includes exhibitions and artistic projects such as High Beams in Timing Architecture at Part Time Gallery, Riga (2026), Forever Days in Invisible Labour at the National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (2026); Wish Upon a Shooting Star at Living Room, Athens (2024); I hope this email finds you well at InTheCloset, Vilnius (2024); Trembling Ground at VARES Architecture Residency, Valga (2024); as well as contributions to exhibition production at Nida Art Colony of the Vilnius Academy of Arts (2023–24). Mikāne holds an MA from the Art Academy of Latvia and received the ACADEMIA Award, which supported her curatorial fellowship at PUBLICS, Helsinki (2024–25).
In her role as Upė Foundation Curatorial Fellow at the Southbank Centre's Hayward Gallery, Diāna Mikāne undertakes research on artists from the Baltic region and beyond, supporting the development and delivery of major international exhibitions and programmes. The Fellowship is designed to broaden her skill set across the institution, from public engagement to the practical training involved in operations such as producing interpretation materials.

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Andrew Cummings is an art historian and curator from Wakefield, UK. Andrew studied for a PhD in Global Contemporary Art History at The Courtauld Institute of Art and Tate, and until 2025 was Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Decolonising Arts Institute, University of the Arts London. Previous exhibitions, programmes, and events include Dark Factory (MMCA Korea), A History of Future Contagion (Spike Island/The Courtauld) and Museum x Machine x Me (Tate). An alumnus of the Gwangju Biennale International Curators' Course, Andrew’s writing has been published by Tate Papers, Pilot Press, ArtReview, and the Burlington Contemporary.
Andrew Cummings joins Tallinn Art Hall at a pivotal moment in its history, as the institution's landmark site undergoes renovation ahead of reopening in November 2026. He will be responsible for curating the programme of a new black-box space within the historic building, developing exhibitions, screenings, performances, and other public formats in dialogue with Tallinn Art Hall’s wider programme. He will shape the programme in collaboration with the director and curatorial team, while working closely with artists and receiving production support from the institution’s in-house staff.
Upė Foundation is a London-based platform that draws currents between global and Baltic (Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian) art communities, setting new artistic, curatorial and research possibilities in motion. Upė focuses on horizontal, long-term exchange through a range of partnerships, fellowships and initiatives, amplifying new ideas, risk-taking work and underexplored perspectives. Upė is drawn to a field that is living, cross-disciplinary and imaginative, open to encounters between practices, contexts and communities.
Founding Patron
Justas Janauskas
Founding Director
Adomas Narkevičius
General enquiries
info@upefoundation.org
Press
isabel@sam-talbot.com

Upė Foundation is pleased to join Frieze and the Czernecki Educational Foundation in supporting the Frieze Curator Travel Grant 2026, an initiative offering six emerging and mid-career curators across the Baltic region and Poland travel support, accommodation, VIP access to Frieze London and Frieze Masters, and the opportunity to participate in a funded curatorial visit to London during the fair, taking place from Tuesday 13 to Saturday 17 October 2026.
Frieze is a leading global contemporary art organisation, founded in 1991 with the launch of frieze magazine, and now encompassing art fairs, publications and digital platforms. The Czernecki Educational Foundation supports the arts and humanities in Central and Eastern Europe and fosters international exchange of ideas.
Together with Frieze, Upė Foundation and the Czernecki Educational Foundation share a commitment to enabling meaningful opportunities for curators from their regions to engage with the global contemporary art world.
The selected curators will receive:
- A grant covering the cost of travel from the Baltic region or Poland to London;
- Accommodation in London from Tuesday 13 to Saturday 17 October;
- VIP access to Frieze London and Frieze Masters;
- A 4-day itinerary of panel discussions, museum and gallery visits;
- Opportunities to connect with leading figures in the global art world.
The selection panel is Eva Langret, Director, Frieze EMEA; Leonie Mir, Head of VIP, Frieze EMEA; Adomas Narkevičius, Founding Director, Upė Foundation; and Helena Czernecka, HELA Press.
If you have any questions for the Frieze team, please contact Eliza.Rennie@frieze.com.
Applications are now closed.
