GENERAL PRESENTATION

 

The Franco Mattiello Foundation for Visual Research (FUNDVIS) was founded November 10, 1999 under the Argentine federal law Resolución de la Inspección General de Justicia # 0002111, with CUIT Registration # 33-70714661-9. FUNDVIS is a group of dedicated vision researchers and visual designers who share the common goal of providing support and encouraging development among artisans for whom visual presentation constitutes a value-added aspect to their craft.

 

To serve the local community in 2003 FUNDVIS initiated a microcredit program – Project CIC – which stands for Training + Innovation + Credit (CIC in Spanish). Project CIC works in various shantytowns (called villas miserias in Spanish) in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. CIC´s objective is to offer microcredit and business-skills training to low-income entrepreneurs in these neighborhoods, and to assist them in achieving their full potential for economic and social development.

 

The foundation is named after the late Architect Franco Mattiello (1926-1982), professor at the University of Buenos Aires, who from the very beginning supported FUNDVIS. Project CIC was created keeping in mind his desire to achieve through teaching a more humane society and a more inclusive understanding of freedom as a call for personal responsibility. These are objectives we have made central to our project.

 

In 2008 FUNDVIS became an officially-registered non-profit 501(c)(3) organization in the United States, with registration number:

FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS

                 President:                                Dra. María Luisa Fago Fontana

 

                 Vice-president:                       Dra. Rosana Mattiello

                 Secretary:                               Opt. Tec. Hugo Salinas

                 Sub-secretary:                        Lic. María Mattiello

                 Treasurer:                               Dra. Sandra D'adamo

                 Board Members:                    Roberto Hipp, Engineer; Oubay  Atassi, Engineer,

                                                                    Professor Silvia Pescio, Professor María Margarita Chague,

                                                                    Lic. Amy Molden, economist.

VISION AND MISSION

In response to the actual exclusion of important sectors of society, the mission of FUNDVIS is to support efforts aimed at promoting non-conventional sectors within the fields of visual investigation, training, and microcredit.

 

 

Objetives

To incorporate into the workforce persons that have limited access to formal institutions, yet possess relevant productive skills and capabilities. Towards this end, FUNDVIS's general strategy is to develop each individual's interests, capabilities and opportunities, with the goal of encouraging them to become innovative and dynamic 'agents' for community progress and development.

 

 

Partnerships

1. Its founders and researchers bring over 40 years of experience in university-level research and teaching.

 

2. Since its beginning FUNDVIS has received financial, academic, and scientific support from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) and the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research of Argentina (CONICET).

 

3. Currently FUNDVIS enjoys strategic partnerships with the Ecumenical Church Loan Fund (ECLOF) headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland and Grameen Foundation of Argentina (ALDEAS) headquartered in Buenos Aires, Argentina. FUNDVIS is a member of the Microcredit Network, comprised of five Argentine microfinance organizations, which has been awarded funding by the Ministry of Social Development of the Federal Government of Argentina.

 

The Visual Investigation Laboratory (LIVIS) was created in 1995 by the Urban Architecture & Design Department of the University of Buenos Aires. LIVIS has a long tradition of academic research and publication, building upon the work of the Program of Visual Investigation (PRIVIS) founded by the National Council for Scientific and Technical Investigation (CONICET) in 1980, and also the Visual Section of the Perception Research Laboratory (LIS-CONICET), founded in 1966.

 

Since its beginning, the Board of Directors of FUNDVIS has been actively involved in overseeing fund management and relationship management with the University of Buenos Aires.