The board of the Alvar Aalto Foundation has appointed Tommi Lindh, Architect, Lic.Sc. (Arch.), as the foundation’s managing director, effective 1 May 2018. Lindh becomes the foundation’s first managing director as it shifts to a CEO-driven management system under Finland’s new Foundations Act.

“In the future, the Alvar Aalto Foundation aims to be an even more goal-oriented and influential actor in the cultural sector. The Foundation’s board considered the management issue by evaluating the current status of its operations, the developments in recent years as well as the opportunities and challenges opened up by the new strategy. As the management profile and model crystallized, there was a unanimous wish to continue cooperation with Tommi Lindh,” says president of the board Leena Rossi.

During Lindh’s term as director (2013-18), the Alvar Aalto Foundation has expanded its operations in Finland and internationally. ”Good cooperation with the board, and particularly with its president, has led to great progress in the administration of the Foundation. It has enabled strategic management and the planning of operations together with the whole staff. With limited resources, we have made significant achievements within a short time,” says Tommi Lindh.

The Alvar Aalto Foundation’s new strategy emphasises improving the accessibility of the collections, developing international exhibition activities and strengthening the Alvar Aalto Academy concepts, as well as a major renovation of the Alvar Aalto Museum in Jyväskylä and completion of the Ruusupuisto (Rose Park) museum centre, which is being built around it. Expanding the network of Alvar Aalto Cities and deepening cooperation between its various areas is intended to develop the network into a dynamic international community. The Foundation is now working with the aim that Alvar Aalto architectural sites around the world can in future be nominated for inclusion on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

The Alvar Aalto Foundation’s strength lies in its enthusiastic, expert staff, who are pleased that Lindh’s term at the helm of the foundation will continue. Long-term cooperation provides a solid basis for achieving set goals in the future as well.

The Foundation’s most important partners have been Finland’s Ministry of Education and Culture, the City of Jyväskylä, Vitra (Artek), Fiskars (Iittala), Fondation Le Corbusier in France, the Getty Foundation in the US and the Alvar Aalto Cities in Finland and elsewhere.

The Alvar Aalto Foundation maintains the material and intellectual legacy of the world-famous architect and designer Alvar Aalto, and acts to make his work and thinking more widely known. The Foundation is in charge of the functions of the Alvar Aalto Museum in Jyväskylä and oversees the work of the Alvar Aalto Academy and the Foundation’s Architectural Heritage Department in Helsinki. The Alvar Aalto Foundation maintains four museum sites that are open to the public.

For more information:

Managing director of the Alvar Aalto Foundation, Tommi Lindh, +358 44 562 1625, tommi.lindh@alvaraalto.fi

President of the board of the Alvar Aalto Foundation, Leena Rossi, +358 40 741 9187, leena.rossi@jkl.fi