Axis Cactus Foundation was founded in December 2017 by a group of individuals who have been active in many areas of culture for many years. One of the co-founders, Patryk Lichota, has been active for over a decade as an organizer, artist, pedagogue, and university lecturer. The foundation has realized several projects, including “Fonomapa – Olsztyn’s Sound Map” in collaboration with the Center for Children’s Art in Poznan, the City Cultural Center in Olsztyn, and the Culture Granary. “Fonomapa” is the only interactive sound map of the city, created for children but also for adults. The foundation aims to continue and develop this application, as well as create new sound maps of Polish cities based on the active participation of children and youth (aged 6-17).

In 2019, the foundation implemented the “Fonomapa” project in Gizycko and Bialystok, financed by the Podlaskie Voivodeship grant and the Gizycko City Office. The Axis Cactus Foundation was a co-organizer of the IIIrd edition of the Audio Drama Festival and, in collaboration with the Austrian Cultural Forum, organized a presentation of the radio play “Wendy Pferd Tod Mexico,” which won the highest award at the Berliner Horspiel Festival in 2018. The festival’s program included proposals for adults and children in various age groups, based on dramatic works awarded in the Children and Youth Theatre Art Contest.
In 2019, the foundation received a grant from the Wielkopolska Voivodeship Council and the City of Poznan for the organization of the IVth edition of the Audio Drama Festival – a unique national initiative promoting the creation and presentation of contemporary radio plays. In addition, the foundation produced the “Laserspace” performance during the Western Balkans Summit 2019 in Poznan, was a co-organizer and producer of the kakofoNIKT Choir Pogłosy concert as part of the Musical UAM series, and produced the “Dream Machine” event for the Olsztyn City Cultural Center. In 2020, the foundation implemented the Uchem Wyobraźni program for the Malta Festival – a review of radio plays at the Wilczak Scene, as well as the premiere of the kakofoNIKT & Chór Pogłosy music video and concert with live animations by Tomasz Siwiński during the Animator 2020 festival (Small Grant).

In 2021, the foundation realized two international projects related to podcasts on contemporary dance presented in the form of an online gallery called SomaPark. They also implemented the Grand re Union Jam project, which marked the 15th anniversary of the leading dance organization in Poland – Stary Browar Nowy Taniec Art Station Foundation. The project curators were Peter Pleyer (Berlin) – choreographer, improviser, and mentor-educator (as well as many Polish artists), Julie Phelps (San Francisco) – artistic director and manager of CounterPulse, choreographer, and dance activist, and Marta Keil (Warsaw) – the curator and researcher of performative art, editor of several publications dedicated to this field and its politics, was Rivca Rubin (Manchester) – a choreographer, team coach, and artistic mentor, coordinator and consultant of the Upwording method based on nonviolent communication. The partners of these events were CounterPulse (San Francisco), Movement Research (New York), the Trust for Mutual Understanding foundation (New York), the Muzeum Susch (Switzerland), Goethe Institut Warsaw, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Warsaw, the Adam Mickiewicz Institute/Culture.pl, and the Institute of Music and Dance in Warsaw.

In 2021, the Axis Cactus Foundation organized the 5th edition of the Audio Drama Festival, during which a competition for the best Polish audio drama was initiated. The festival expanded its activities to include nationwide integration of communities involved in audio dramas, including academic communities, journalists and critics, actors, playwrights, composers and sound producers, cultural managers, and media technology specialists. Specialized radio criticism workshops also took place during the festival.

In 2021-2022, the Axis Cactus Foundation realized a WebVR and WebXR technology exhibition for the international artistic-social project on the reception of postcolonialism, “May Town,” organized by Schaubühne Lindenfels and financed by the City of Leipzig and the Federal Cultural Foundation as part of the “dive in. program for digital interactions” program from the NEUSTART KULTUR package of the Commissioner of the Federal Government for Culture and Media. The event’s partners were organizations such as Green Area Office Leipzig, City Archive Leipzig, ISD Leipzig – Initiative Black People in Germany and Leipzig Postcolonial – Working Group of Engagierte Wissenschaft e.V., TIR DANZA, Chiasma (support from the Boarding Pass Plus 2021-2022 program).

In 2022, the Axis Cactus Foundation co-organized the international educational and networking event “Play it by Ear,” which focuses on creating podcasts, interactive audio dramas, and modern audio narrative forms. The Foundation was among the partners from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, led by the project’s initiator – the organization Куншт from Ukraine, which deals with contemporary art and digital media.

The Axis Cactus Foundation is directly connected to the Axis Cactus Records record label, which publishes music albums (also in the form of cassette tapes) along with all activities related to the music market – producing music videos, participating in Independent Publishing Fairs, and organizing music concerts and events. Despite its short period of operation, the Axis Cactus Foundation, which is also strongly associated with publishing activities and supports its music and art sector: Axis Cactus Records, has already launched its website www.axiscactus.com, and many online channels (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo, YouTube, Bandcamp), on which it will promote and distribute its music and multimedia releases.