At the initiative of Aurélie Filippetti, Minister of Culture and Communication, France is strengthening the support mechanism for contemporary art galleries in their development through the creation of the Fund of repayable advances to art galleries (Farga) and the resumption of aid to the presence on international fairs.
Commissioned by Aurélie Filippetti and managed by the Institut pour le financement du cinéma et des industries culturelles (IFCIC), the Farga will receive €1 million. It will be open to contributions from private and operational partners before the summer.
The objective of the Farga is to allow contemporary art and design galleries more than two years of existence, a significant part of which is realized on the first market of contemporary art works (works of active artists directly from the places of production), to finance their development projects. It gives them access to a cash advance of €100,000 maximum for a period of 12 to 48 months.
The entrepreneurial project will be the main criterion for allocation and the basis for eligible expenditure will be very wide. The Farga complements the guarantee scheme which already allows the IFCIC to offer banks a guarantee of 50% or even 70% for loans of less than 150,000 euros, on the bank credits they grant to art galleries.
The second scheme is now being supported by the Centre national des arts plastiques (CNAP), which will be the operator responsible for promoting the development of galleries' presence on the international scene. The CNAP thus became an essential actor in supporting French artists and galleries: repayable advances for the production of original works of art; grants for the first catalogue and the first exhibition.
The Ministry of Culture and Communication thus intends to make its contribution to the economy of artistic creation, by supporting the activity of contemporary art galleries and accompanying them in their development in France and in foreign markets.