Culture: Innovations at Fondation de France and its donor-advised funds
Philanthropy players are stepping up to encourage all forms of creation and make culture more accessible. Here are some highlights of Fondation de France’s and its donor-advised funds’ commitments.
Music, theater, dance, fine arts, literature, photography, circus – there is abundance and diversity in the world of arts. For more than 50 years, Fondation de France has mobilized to make culture a common good and a vehicle for social interaction, supporting creation and artists and encouraging the performance of works with audiences not familiar with culture. Its donor-advised funds, committed to culture, reinforce and add to Fondation de France’s engagement. In 2021, funds totaling 25 million euros supported 1,300 projects, promoting all art forms.
Make room for culture
The Fondation de France Culture and Creativity Program works towards democratizing art with the aim of creating a more inclusive society. Launched 30 years ago, Les Nouveaux Commanditaires (New Commissioners) paved the way for bringing citizens closer to the world of creation, by letting them commission an artist produce a work of art that is geared towards the common good. This initiative, which is recognized for its innovative nature by all culture players is in the process of becoming autonomous. Fondation de France has now launched a new stage in the life of this program and redefined its missions.
During the pandemic, Fondation de France, together with many of the foundations it shelters, set up an emergency fund for young artists, students, and recent graduates in the fields of fine arts, cinema, dance and music. These grants enabled them to meet key needs, especially the equipment they required to continue with their creations. Help during that period meant that they were able to not give up on their vocation.
Based on this experience, Fondation de France decided to create new support specifically for young artists to help them at the crucial time when their career is taking off. Enabling young artists to “go for it” and have a profile and supporting emerging collectives are positive and constructive strategies that contribute to a thriving culture in our society.
Music, dance, theater... donor-advised funds love them all!
Often expert in their area of work, very competent in their approach and with their own networks, donor-advised funds are also very active in a variety of artistic fields.
This is very true of Fondation Daniel et Nina Carasso, for instance, whose flagship program, Art Citoyen, aims to assert the role of art as the link that binds citizens together and a vehicle for change. With that in mind, the foundation supports many art education projects aimed at arousing children’s interest in the arts. It also encourages transdisciplinary approaches, in which artists and scientists work together to reflect societal challenges better. Lastly, it promotes artists as change makers, especially with the “Artiste Citoyen Engagé” (Committed Citizen-Artist) Prize, which was awarded for the first time in 2020, to three Spanish and two French artists. Among them is Julio Jara, a nomadic anti-conformist artist, who works on his creations with and for homeless people and director and artist Neïl Beloufa, who created an artists’ workshop for young people facing hardship in the north of Paris.
Leaning more specifically toward fine arts (drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, engraving, digital art and so on), Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, Fondation pour les musées de France and Fondation des Amis pour le Rayonnement des Musées d’Orsay et de l’Orangerie contribute to showcasing, enhancing and promoting the collections of the cultural institutions they are linked to. Others, such as Fondation La Source des Sources, created by painter Gérard Garouste, encourages art in young people experiencing difficulties. Heritage is another field that mobilizes foundation such as Fondation Malatier-Jacquet, active in the preservation of Versailles palace and Chambord castle. Many other organizations are also committed to restoring smaller-scale heritage sites.
Regarding music, some thirty donor-advised funds set the score. From classical to Baroque music, not to mention contemporary music and poetic songs, all styles are represented. Support for creation, for festivals and orchestral events, a prize for excellence, grants, help for young people purchasing an instrument and recording an album – these are some of the many ways donor-advised funds can provide targeted solutions.
Among committed foundations, the work of several foundations should be mentioned: Fondation Philharmonie de Paris, Fondation pour le Rayonnement de l'Opéra National de Paris and Fondation Cordes Sensibles (Sensitive Chords Foundation), and more recently, Fondation Gautier Capuçon, set up to support the career of young musicians.
Performing arts like theater and circus also mobilize philanthropists. Among them is the Fondation pour la Comédie-Française for theatrical creation and the Molière repertoire especially, and Fondation Jean et Jean-Pierre Giraudoux, which will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year and open a museum in the writer’s home of his birth near Limoges. Another way for this network of philanthropists to help enrich the cultural landscape even more.