Guided by her love for art and the belief that culture and hospitality are inextricably connected, Gina Mamidaki organized the first Art Symposium at Minos Beach art hotel in 1988, inviting 32 artists and 5 curators from Greece, Europe and the United States. Long before art residencies became popular in Greece, the first Art Symposium brought together artists who produced site-specific sculptural installations. The success of the first Symposium led to two more, in 1990 and 1993. The second Art Symposium invited 16 emerging and renowned artists and 6 speakers from the Mediterranean to explore the idea of a New Mediterranean Cultural Identity. Three years later, shortly after the end of the Cold War, the third Art Symposium brought together 22 artists whose work had been restricted by totalitarian regimes to explore the relationship between art and politics.

The site-specific sculptural installations created during the three Symposia set the foundations for what is today an emblematic art collection comprising more than 70 artworks, the majority of which are on permanent display at the Sculpture Garden of Minos Beach art hotel. An important window into the artistic experimentations of the second half of the 20th century, the Sculpture Garden is simultaneously an independent entity and an integral element of Minos Beach.

Shortly after the Symposia, Gina Mamidaki established the George and Aristea Mamidakis Foundation in honour of her parents. With art and culture as our central pillars, the Foundation supports and promotes contemporary art and the production of new artworks every year, freedom of artistic expression, and lifelong learning.

Since its establishment, the Foundation has implemented a variety of activities to help students and guests become acquainted with contemporary art and culture. The three pioneering Art Symposia (1988, 1990 & 1993) were succeeded by numerous group and solo exhibitions with accompanying catalogues, as well as site-specific commissions. In addition, through our educational programmes, we wish to inspire the creative forces of the younger generations by providing safe space for learning, experimentation and development. Among other things, we have produced a series of seminars on Greek mythology, conducted educational tours of our art collection, and held creative workshops for students, in collaboration with schools in Crete.

The establishment of the annual Art Prize in 2019 facilitates the production of new artworks and constitutes a culmination of a thirty-year long effort to strengthen and promote contemporary artistic leadership. The Art Prize does not only support artists financially, but also provides them with the opportunity to create a new, site-specific artwork that will join an important cultural heritage. In 2023, the Art Prize welcomed international artists for the first time. The response from every corner of the world was overwhelming.

Driven by our mission, and always striving to respond to the challenges cultural professionals face at each given time, in October 2022 we launched our Research Residency Programme. The Residency aspires to provide safe space for coexistence and to create a new platform for collective learning, discussion and experimentation, bringing together cultural professionals in a collective learning experience.

In 2022 we launched “Care Ecologies” a network based, multifaceted project with partners from Greece, Croatia, and Spain active in the fields of artwork production, promotion of contemporary art among domestic and international art audiences, and fostering a robust relationship between contemporary artistic practices and social space through research and education.

We seek to create and maintain a network of passionate professionals from various scientific and cultural fields which will continue to grow, offering its members support and opportunities for future collaborations.