Visual arts
The visual arts sector in Île-de-France is distinguished by the high density of actors and places of production and dissemination, with nearly half of the total number of plastic artists at the national level living and working in the region. In particular, the DRAC supports spaces for the creation and dissemination of contemporary art, as well as artists in their creative projects or the acquisition of workspaces.
Our missions
The DRAC provides the advice and information necessary for creators to facilitate and support their projects, as well as their working conditions and their social and economic integration. It allocates individual aid to professional artists, researches applications for grants for the dissemination of contemporary art and promotes cooperation between the various actors in the region to support a living network of institutions and events aimed at promoting contemporary creation. It accompanies and supports public order operations in partnership with communities in the region. It also accompanies the 1% artistic procedure. It ensures the follow-up of dossiers relating to arts education in particular in a context of structuring higher education and training in this field, particularly in relation to schools.
- Aid to artists: the DRAC Ile-de-France accompanies plastic artists in order to promote their professionalization. As such, it allocates two types of aid: on the one hand, individual creation aid to finance a research or creation project in France and, on the other hand, the installation or purchase allowance for equipment intended to finance a structural equipment project for the exercise of the activity artistic and/or work in the workshop.
- Art centers: Art centres are sustainable structures for the production, dissemination of contemporary art and public awareness. Autonomous artistic directors develop artistic and cultural projects that make a large place for experimentation and production of works. The missions of dissemination of art centres take the form of exhibitions, editions, artist residencies and associated events. Art centres are part of regular partnerships with the State and local authorities. Based on their programming, they propose specific modes of relationship for audiences. They offer a local, regional, national and international influence.
- Public artistic commission The State accompanies the public authorities in their ordering procedures, whether these fall within the regulatory framework of the "1% artistic" or that of voluntary orders, especially when they are carried out in the context of planning operations or in the context of artistic events in the public space.
- TRAM: The DRAC Île-de-France supports the TRAM network, which brings together and promotes cooperation between the various venues in the region, in order to support an active network of institutions and events aimed at promoting contemporary creation. The Tram network includes contemporary art centres.
- Le Fonds Régional d'art contemporain d'Île-de-France (FRAC): The Fonds régional d'art contemporain d'Ile-de-France is developing an artistic and cultural project that is structured around the following missions: the creation of an artistic heritage, the production and dissemination of contemporary art, in places not familiar with this artistic field, from a spatial planning perspective, public awareness of contemporary art. In Ile-de-France, the Plateau, one of the elements of the FRAC, located in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, combines an international outreach program with a project to raise awareness among local audiences.
- The higher art schools: There are five art colleges under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture in Ile-de-France
- Residences: These places allow French and foreign artists to stay in Paris for limited periods. These residencies are intended to enable artists to carry out research, production or exhibition projects, on their own initiative or on the proposal of broadcasting structures or local authorities in Ile-de-France.
- Residential workshops and workshops: the DRAC reserves a contingent of housing workshops and workshops with social landlords in Île-de-France.
Places supported by the DRAC in Île-de-France
The DRAC supports structures of different types and sizes that carry out complementary actions in terms of production and dissemination and thus contribute to the accompaniment of works and artists towards the public.
Centres d'art contemporain National Interest (CACIN)
6 Contemporary Art Centres of National Interest (CACIN) in Île-de-France contribute to the renewal of artistic diversity, cultural democratization, mediation and arts and cultural education and the professionalization of artists. Both places of research and production, prescribers of the diffusion of artists, these structures of national interest also organize the meeting with the most diverse audiences possible.
- Bétonsalon - art and research centre – Paris 13th
- La Ferme du Buisson – Noisiel (77)
- Photographic Centre of Île-de-France – Pontault-Combault (77)
- CAC Brétigny - centre d'art contemporain – Bretigny-sur-Orge (91)
- La Galerie – Centre d’art contemporain de Noisy-le-Sec – Noisy-le-Sec (93)
- The CREDAC – Ivry-sur-Seine (94)
Regional Fund of Art contemporary (FRAC)
Created in 1982 at the initiative of the Ministry of Culture, on the basis of a State-Regions partnership, the FRAC (Fonds régionaux d'art contemporain) are an original and essential tool for supporting creation, cultural planning of the territory and public awareness, particularly by the mobility of collections that characterizes them. The dissemination of works, their circulation through exhibitions, their visibility through publications contribute to the dissemination and export of French culture.
In Île-de-France, the FRAC is multi-site and anchors notably in Paris (the Plateau) and Romainville (93).
Art centers and autres contemporary art structures
Several Paris structures also contribute to the diversity of visual arts programming
Several Paris structures also contribute to the diversity of visual arts programming
- Glassbox – Paris 11th
- Thirteen – Paris 11th
- CNEAI (Centre national Edition Art Image) – Paris 14th
- Immanence – Paris 15th
- The Ball – Paris 18th
- Fanatikart – Paris 19th
- Art Azoï – Paris 20th
- The Wave - Vélizy-Villacoublay (78)
- The Cyclop by Jean Tinguely – Milly-la-Forêt (91)
- The Terrace - art space - Nanterre (92)
- Municipal School of Fine Arts - Edouard Manet Gallery - Gennevilliers (92)
- Malakoff House of Arts - Malakoff (94)
- La Maison Populaire – Montreuil (93)
- Les Instants Chavirés – Montreuil (93)
- The Medici Workshops - Clichy-sous-Bois (93)
- Jean Collet Municipal Gallery – Vitry-sur-Seine (94)
- Maubuisson Abbey – Contemporary Art Centre – Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône (95)
Places of production collectifs dedicated to young creation
The DRAC supports 4 collective production sites dedicated to young creation.
- Doc! Artistic production space – Paris 19th
- The Wonder – Clichy-la-Garenne (92)
- Le Houloc - Aubervilliers (93)
- Pauline Perplexe - Arcueil (94)
Network TRAM
35 visual arts actors from Paris are gathered in the network TRAM which federates structures around issues of circulation of audiences, time for professional exchanges including an annual day open to all public.
Support for professional artists
The DRAC Île-de-France accompanies plastic artists in order to promote their professionalization and allocates two types of aid: on the one hand, individual assistance to the creation allowing to finance a research project or creation in France, and also the allocation of installation or purchase of equipment intended to finance a project of equipment structuring for the exercise of the artistic activity and/or the realization of works in the workshop.
Aid to artists
The DRAC Île-de-France awards individual creative assistance to active artists, residing in the region, to enable them to finance the development of an artistic project in any field of visual arts: painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, performance, photography, video, digital art, graphic design, design, design and fashion, taking into account the artistic interest of the project, the conditions of its realization and the applicant’s professional approach.
Individual Creation Assistance (AIC)
Individual creative assistance is intended to enable artists to carry out an artistic project or research, without necessarily resulting in the production of a work. It is not intended for dissemination, exhibition, publishing or communication. The amount of aid may not exceed €8,000. This aid includes, in addition to documentation and production costs, remuneration for artistic work.
Individual Creative Assistance (AIC)
Workshop Installation and Equipment Acquisition Allocation (AIA)
The DRAC Île de France allocates workshop installation allowances and equipment purchase to active artists, residing in the region, to enable them to finance work on their workshop or the acquisition of equipment necessary for the practice of their artistic activity in any field of the visual arts. The aid may not exceed 50% of the total cost of the work or equipment. Artists may carry out the work themselves. In this case, only the cost of the materials is taken into account.
Installation and Equipment Purchase Allowance (AIA)
Workshops and Workshopsgements
In the context of a shortage of social housing and the high cost of rents in the Île-de-France region, professional artists face the difficulty of finding a place to live and a place to work, often with very low resources.
Every year, the DRAC Île-de-France therefore offers applications from plastic artists to social landlords for the occupation of workshops or workshops-housing contingents of the Ministry of Culture or prefectors. For further information: atelier.dracidf@culture.gouv.fr
SODAVI in Île-de-France
The objective of the Orientation Scheme for the Development of the Visual Arts, or SODAVI, is to structure the careers of artists by strengthening regional synergies between actors. It is materialized by residencies of artists backed by places in Paris, professional meetings, meetings with the Maison des artistes in partnership with local authorities and structures in order to guide artists from a legal and administrative point of view, and through a visual arts contract with the Conseil départemental de la Seine-Saint-Denis.
Art in the public space
1% artistique
The DRAC supports the implementation of the 1% artistic, a regulatory scheme which involves devoting 1 % of the cost of public buildings to the commission or acquisition of one or more works of art specially designed for the building in question.
The Ministry of Culture publishes on its website the notices of public calls for applications as drafted by the project owners.
Reference texts on the 1 % artistic
Commande pubicique
The DRAC can support efforts to public order artistic projects that embody the will of the State, associated with multiple partners (local authorities, public institutions or private partners), to disseminate contemporary creation, to enrich our living environment and national heritage, by the presence of works of art outside institutions specialized in the field of contemporary art.
1 immeuble / 1 work
DRAC advises and accompanies charter signatories 1 building, 1 work throughout Ile-de-France.
Aids and procedures
Application for grants to the DRAC Île-de-France
Specific aids and approaches Ile-de-France/Arts-visuels
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