Public commission and support for artistic commissions

Public artistic commission and artistic commission assistance are also intended to enable artists to carry out projects whose scope, stakes or dimension require unusual means.

This voluntary device gave a new breath to art in the public space.

Present in very diverse places, from urban space to the rural world, from historical monuments to gardens, from tourist sites to the public space that is the Internet, the art of our time in public space involves a wide variety of plastic expressions including sculpture, photography, graphic design, design, new media, crafts, landscaping or interventions through light and the diversity of aesthetics.

The aspirations of artistic direction have also evolved. The notion of use or functionality of the work is no longer objected to. The intervention can also have an ephemeral character (intervention for an event for example), giving the opportunity for a new and striking perception of space.

This support for the creation of the Ministère de la Culture - Direction générale de la création artistique responds to the challenges of expanding contemporary art audiences and encouraging artists to create new and exceptional works.

Public Order Card and Support for Artistic Orders

Support for artistic commission

The Ministry of Culture - Direction générale de la création artistique implements a support mechanism for artistic commissions.
Thus, public or private sponsors, most often local and regional authorities, can ask for support from the State through its artistic and technical expertise, as well as possible financial support.
To do this, the sponsors contact, from the beginning of the project, the advisor for the plastic arts of the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs of the place where the project is planned.
The list of regional cultural affairs directorates is available at: https://www.culture.gouv.fr/Regions

The artistic commission project studied by the Direction régionale des affaires culturelles is then presented to the Conseil national des œuvres d'art dans l'espace public dans le domaine des arts plastiques, a national body convened by the ministry (cf. decree in download below).
The Council may also be asked for an opinion directly, by contacting the Direction générale de la création artistique, pôle commande artistique. The agenda shall be adopted by the President of the Council.
In the light of the council’s opinion, the Ministry of Culture determines whether it will accompany the project.

2023 National Council of Artworks in the Public Space in the Visual Arts Calendar:

• Wednesday, February 15, 2023. The documents presenting the projects must be sent by the DRAC to the DGCA by 16 January 2023;
• Tuesday, June 6, 2023. Project submissions must be submitted by DRAC to DGCA by May 9, 2023;
• Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 September 2023. Project submissions must be submitted by RDCA to DGCA by September 1, 2023.

Public artistic commission of the State

The Ministry of Culture also commissions works to integrate national collections. In most cases, the Centre national des arts plastiques, a state operator, conducts these projects of artistic commissions that join the collections of the National Fund of Contemporary Art, of which it has custody.

Any legal person under public law also has the capacity to issue public orders on its behalf.

Examples of government orders or government-supported orders since 1983 are visible on the websites: http://commande-publique.videomuseum.fr/Navigart/index.php?db=fnaccp&qs=1 and http://www.atlasmuseum.net/

The new public order code came into effect on 1^er Apr 2019. It is available at: https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/initRechCodeArticle.do