Museums Service – DRAC Pays de la Loire

Reserved for museums recognized by the State (upon request), the name “musée de France” constitutes a quality label both from the point of view of the interest of the collections and of the actions carried out in favour of the public.

The museums of France, most often managed by local authorities or associations, are placed under the technical supervision of the State, and may, as such, benefit from scientific and technical monitoring and financial assistance.

The museum service led a coordination action aimed at providing support to the "museums of France", to promote their development, to help them in the various actions they can take for the public.

The service encourages the development of a real scientific and cultural project for each museum, as well as the completion of the mandatory ten-year collection check: the first was completed in 2015.

It is responsible for monitoring the exploitation and dissemination actions (exhibitions, publications) underpinned by a policy of enlargement of audiences, conservation and enrichment of collections.

It encourages the networking of the various museums, spatial planning with departmental conservation, links with cultural tourism, the setting up of cross-cutting operations, partnerships with Europe.

It reviews grant applications for:

• the studies and works of creation, development, renovation of museums (Dobrée museum in Nantes; museum of modern art in Fontevraud, collection Martine and Léon Cligman; museum Pinçé in Angers;...);
• exhibition, mediation and animation projects, scientific publications and training;
• preventive conservation and restoration of collections;
• acquisitions of works of art with the assistance of the Regional Museum Acquisition Fund (FRAM) and restoration assistance with the assistance of the Regional Restoration Assistance Fund (FRAR), financed and managed jointly by the State and the Region.

For the Pays de la Loire Region, these interventions concern about fifty museums, mostly belonging to local authorities (cities and departments).

They concern all scientific fields thanks to the presence of reference institutions for each of the fields concerned:

• Archaeology (Jublains Museum, Mayenne Castle Museum, Carré Plantagenêt au Mans, Dobrée Museum in Nantes...),
• History (Historial de la Vendée, château-musée de Saumur, musée d'histoire de Nantes-Château des ducs de Bretagne...),
• Fine Arts (museums of Nantes, Angers, Laval, Jules-Desbois museum of Parçay-les-Pins...),
• Modern and contemporary art (Sables d'Olonne, La Roche-sur-Yon, Nantes, Angers...),
• Decorative arts (Malicorne pottery museum, Jean-Lurçat museum in Angers, Cholet textile museum...),
• Sciences and techniques (Nantes museum, Laval science museum, Le Mans green museum, Faymoreau museum...),
• Ethnology and popular traditions (museum of the Salants Marshes of Batz-sur-Mer, ecomuseums of Saint-Nazaire and Barre-de-Monts, museum of the Pays de Guérande, museums of the vineyard and vineyards of Pallet and Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay...).

The State also supports the restoration and research laboratory, Arc'Antique, created at the initiative of the Departmental Council of Loire-Atlantique in Nantes.

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