| Founder(s) | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2005 |
| Location | London, Great Britain |
| Key people | Natalia Vodianova: founder; Justin Portman: co founder; Amy Bramley: International Executive Director; Asya Zalogina: Executive Director, Russia |
| Area served | Russia |
| Focus | Providing facilities where under privileged children can play. |
| Mission | "to provide a safe and inspiring environment in which to play for every child living in urban Russia" |
| Method | Constructing Play Parks |
| Motto | Play Parks with Purpose |
| Website | nakedHeart.org |
The Naked Heart Foundation is a charity whose mission, broadly outlined, is "to provide a safe and inspiring environment in which to play for every child living in urban Russia." [1] Or more specifically the "objects of the charity are to provide assistance to underprivileged children in russia through: the provision of recreational facilities, designed to improve their conditions of life; providing financial assistance to help with the medical care of such children; making distributions to charitable entities that further the afore-mentioned objects." [2]
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It was founded by the model and actress Natalia Vodianova. She has explained her motivation behind its establishment in terms of her perception of the importance of play for children and the lack of playgrounds in Russia.[3] She was inspired to found the charity after visiting Russia with her son Lucas and finding there were no suitable places for children to play.[4] Ms Vodianova has also reported the 2004 Beslan School siege as a motivation - she was in Russia at the time and the crisis had a profound effect on her.[5]
The organisation's basic argument is that play should be viewed as necessity rather than a luxury and that there has been insufficient attention paid in Russia to making sure that many children have safe environments to play in. The organisation's website identifies Lev Vygotsky, via a quotation, as providing some motivation for the Foundation.[1] "A child's greatest achievements are possible in play, achievements that will tomorrow become his basic level of real action and morality. It is the essence of play that a new relation is created… between situations in thought and real situations."[6]
The organisation built its first Play Park in 2006 in Nizhny Novgorod. It has since built nearly 30 more Play Parks and Playgrounds. (The distinction between the Play Parks and Playgrounds being that the latter are smaller affairs.) [1] Architect and artist Adam Kalkin provided the design for the recreation centers for the parks, to be built of shipping containers.[7]
In July 2008 Petrozavodsk joined the growing list of cities to have had a playground constructed. Petrozavodsk's playground included sandboxes, rope-way and a roller park.[8]
There have been several high profile events to raise funds for the foundation - most notably the Love Ball.[9] The Foundation's Love Ball (12–14 February 2008) was perhaps the largest charity event in Russian history. This was organised as a three day event that culminated with a Valentine’s evening Love Ball. This gala dinner had over 400 guest attending including Lucy Liu; Natalie Imbruglia; Eva Herzigova; Mario Testino; Diane von Furstenberg; Andrei Shevchenko; Paolo Roversi, Alfonso Cuaron; Rustam Tariko. Around $6 million were raised for the Foundation.[10]
The organisation has offices in London and Moscow and three principal staff: Amy Bramley (Executive Director, International), Asya Zalogina (Executive Director, Russia) and Oxana Medvedeva (Program Officer). The Foundation's revenue and expenditure in 2007 was in the order of $1 million.[11] More recent accounts are available at the Foundations entry on the Charity Commission's website. By May 2009 the charity had constructed 23 playgrounds, with plans underway to build 15 more.[5]