CONTEMPORARY Art centres' missions
The contemporary art centres are essential actors of the visual arts sector within the field of contemporary art. Through their ambitious programmes and structural singularities, the art centres are key instruments of contemporary art production and distribution in France. Many of them have been helping write a history of art for over thirty years, and are among the spearheads of the cultural decentralisation policy, thus manifesting the French cultural exception.
Their missions
The contemporary art centres base their activities on fundamental missions:
- The organisation of exhibitions
The art centres are exhibition venues that conceive, produce, co-produce and regularly present contemporary art exhibitions within their spaces.
- The production of works
The contemporary art centres take part in the production or co-production of pieces by the artists whose works they present. The art centres produce works by intervening at strategic points in the artist’s research and supporting them as close as possible to their projects. Many works produced or co-produced by the art centres later become part of public or private collections of national or international standing.
- Exploration, research and experimentation
The contemporary art centres are genuine experimentation laboratories for artists and for the public. They are places dedicated to art exploration and research that enable artists to develop and distribute their projects.
- Mediation for a diverse public
The mission of the contemporary art centres is to guide many different sectors of the public (individuals, families, schoolchildren, seniors, people with disabilities…) as they discover the art of today. With a view to facilitating sense experiences and knowledge of the works, they design various activities and tools. Working in close collaboration with artists, they also develop projects that have an educational dimension.
- Art and culture education
The contemporary art centres are major actors in art and culture education. They undertake specific actions with schoolchildren, exposing them to contemporary art with the help of adapted educational tools and resources.
- A national network
The contemporary art centres are essential actors in economic and cultural development in the different regions. They take part in structuring and developing the region in which they are located, by contributing to economic and social exchanges in a spirit of partnership with local companies, artisans, and many other economic actors. Their activity is also part of a multidisciplinary approach that involves collaboration with all of the region’s cultural organisations, with a view to providing a broad offering, as close as possible to local populations.
- Higher international standing
The contemporary art centres implement international cooperation projects, particularly at the European level, based on curatorial collaborations and artistic exchanges, productions, co-productions and publications. This international dimension enables the art centers to increase the visibility of their projects, and gives expression to a renewed ambition to move into new territories and explore different formats of artistic collaboration.