LONDON.- The Barbican Centre Trust, the charitable arm of the Barbican Centre, dedicated to raising funds in support of Barbican arts and creative learning, is this year’s recipient of the proceeds of the Sovereign European Art Prize.

The Sovereign Art Foundation has announced the thirty-strong shortlist of artists in the running for the €25,000 prize. All the entries will be exhibited and auctioned in our Foyer spaces later this year. The public can already get involved by voting for their favourite artist online in the €1,000 public vote prize.

Six artists from the UK have been shortlisted for the 2009-10 Sovereign European Art Prize. Amongst these are London based artists Oliver Clegg and Daniel Baker, who have both previously exhibited at The Venice Biennale.

The prize received a record number of entries, with artists nominated by art experts from over 30 European countries. The shortlist was selected by this year’s judges Sir Peter Blake (artist), Tim Marlow (White Cube), Philly Adams (Saatchi Gallery), Gavin Turk (artist), Robert Punkenkhofer (Art & Idea), Joseph Backstein (Moscow Biennale) and Nasser Azam (artist).

Not only did the entries show a strong return to painting, but as Robert Punkenhofer said “The more than 350 entries clearly documented the wonderful diversity and strength of Europe´s artistic scene. The prize will certainly raise the visibility of some of the most promising painters and photographers from the continent.”

The judges will decide the winner of the €25,000 first prize during the exhibition of the shortlisted works at the Barbican Centre which will be held from 9 – 20th June, 2010. The general public are also invited to cast their votes online at www.sovereignartfoundation.com. The artist with the most votes will win the public vote prize of €1, 000.

All works, excluding the main prize winner, will be available to purchase at a gala auction dinner, offering collectors and members of the public the fantastic opportunity to buy works by these rising stars of contemporary art. Prices start from the affordable €400 to over €30,000. All proceeds will be split 50:50 between the Foundation and the artists. This year The Sovereign Art Foundation will use the funds raised to support the Barbican Centre Trust, helping them to continue their fantastic arts outreach programme in the London area.

Howard Bilton, Founder and Chairman of the Sovereign Art Foundation said “We are delighted by the strength of this year’s shortlist, for this our fourth European competition. We hope the auction will raise a significant sum to support the inspiring work of the Barbican Centre Trust. We invite everyone to go to the exhibition, and to support the artists by coming to the dinner or by placing an absentee bid on their favourite works by these critically acclaimed artists.”