France

Last update: November, 2016

Note: It is not possible to obtain an aggregated total of the financing of culture because of the existence of transfers between the different sources.

Table 3:    Overview of cultural expenditure in million EUR

Sources:   DEPS / Ministère de la Culture - Chiffres clés Statistiques de la culture ; Effort financier de l’État dans le domaine de la culture et de la communication, Annex to the State Finance Bill for 2016.
*         A survey of the Association of French Regions indicates that the cultural expenditure of the regions in 2012 reached 706 million EUR (cf. http://www.arf.asso.fr/observatoire-des-politiques-regionales/observatoire-des-politiques-regionales-autres).

Last update: November, 2016

Table 4:    Public cultural expenditure, in million EUR, 2010 and 2015

Sources:   DEPS / Ministry of Culture - Chiffres clés 2016 / 2016 Key Figures; Effort financier de l'État dans le domaine de la culture et de la communication, Annex to the State Finance Bill for 2016.
*              A survey of the Association of French Regions indicates that the cultural expenditure of the regions in 2012 reached 706 million EUR (cf. http://www.arf.asso.fr/observatoire-des-politiques-regionales/observatoire-des-politiques-regionales-autres).

In 2014, the General Inspection of Cultural Affairs delivered two reports that analyse the financial interventions and cultural policies at regional level:

• http://www.culturecommunication.gouv.fr/Ressources/Rapports/Analyse-des-interventions-financieres-et-des-politiques-culturelles-en-region-Phase-1; and
• http://www.culturecommunication.gouv.fr/Ressources/Rapports/Analyse-des-interventions-financieres-et-des-politiques-culturelles-en-region-Phase-2.

The reports show that the total amount of expenditure from the Ministry, and its affiliated operators in the regions, is almost 3.8 billion EUR. Among the regions, the Île-de-France receives 66% of the whole intervention credits, due in particular to the concentration in Paris of most of the cultural public bodies and institutions, of the associations and structures with national scope, of the central ministerial administration, etc.

Last update: November, 2016

Table 5:    Budget of the Ministry of Culture, nomenclature of the State budget – Overview and evolution, in million EUR, 2015 and 2016

Source : DEPS / Ministry of Culture - Chiffres clés 2016 Statistiques de la culture 

Graph n°1 : Evolution of public cultural expenditure, 2002-2016

Source : DEPS / Ministry of Culture - Chiffres clés 2016 Statistiques de la culture.

Table 6:    Cultural expenditure of territorial authorities, in million EUR, 2010

Source:    Jean-Cédric Delvainquière, François Tugores, Nicolas Laroche, Benoît Jourdan, Les dépenses culturelles des collectivités territoriales en 2010, Culture-Chiffres n° 2014-3.
*              Inter-communal groupings (Établissements publics de coopération intercommunale) with proper tax system and comprising at least a commune of more than 10 000 inhabitants.
**            A survey of the Association of French Regions indicates that the cultural expenditure of the regions in 2012 reached 706 million EUR (cf. http://www.arf.asso.fr/observatoire-des-politiques-regionales/observatoire-des-politiques-regionales-autres).

Last update: November, 2016

The various authorities propose financial aids and advisory help (on professional, legal matters, etc.) to artists, in all disciplines, at all scales of public action: State (departments of the ministry, Regional Directorates of Cultural Affairs), municipal, departmental and regional cultural departments and offices. These aids or support can be either directly granted by the departments or through their operators (agencies, public institutions, etc.), for example:

• at national level: national and regional centres for books, Centre of information and resources for new music (musiques actuelles), National Centre for the Visual Arts (CNAP), National centre of cinema and animation (CNC), National office for contemporary performing arts circulation (ONDA), National centre of resources for street and circus arts; and
• at territorial level: departmental agencies for the development of music and dance, regional agencies for performing arts, etc.

Besides, artists in France can benefit from the help and assistance of many specialised professional networks, in particular the bodies that collect and redistribute copyright income (see chapter 7.2.4).

Private foundations and sponsors also contribute to supporting artistic and creative life: for example Fondation Cartier, Fondation de France, Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent, Fondation Jean-Luc Lagardère, Fondation d'entreprise Hermès, Fondation Polignac, and Fondation Banque Populaire. In 2009, culture was the main field of intervention for 22% of French foundations. This share remains quite stable as it was 21% in 2001. (see report on sponsorship, foundations, and cultural associations: Mécénat et fondations, quelles options pour les associations culturelles ? 2013 : http://patrimoine-environnement.fr/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Cnar_Culture-Note_Fondations-sept_2012.pdf)

The Centre national des arts plastiques (National Centre of Visual Arts) lists, in special guides available on-line, 140 private and public aids in favour of artists and 196 residences for artists, curators, art critics, art theorists and historians (http://www.cnap.fr).

Last update: November, 2016

Public Commissions

Government Commissions have been set up for music, drama and the visual arts.

The "1% for Arts" commission, established in 1951, is a special body created for visual artists. It is based on the principle that 1% of the total amount spent on the construction, renovation or extension of a public building must be reserved for a contemporary artwork specially conceived for the building in question. This obligation now applies to both local and State governments. This system allowed the creation of more than 12 300 artworks over 60 years (1951-2011).

The National Fund for Contemporary Art (Fonds national d'art contemporain, FNAC), set up in 1976, provides funding for the acquisition, distribution and conservation of contemporary works in the fields of visual arts, photography, video and design. Acquisition policies are guided by three key objectives: to discover new young artists, to purchase outstanding works of artists who have attained maturity in their work, and to represent international art movements. This collection gathers more than 90 000 pieces of visual arts, photography, decorative arts or design.

The Regional Funds for Contemporary Art (Fonds régionaux d'art contemporain, FRAC), set up in 1982 within the context of devolution policies, are now present in almost all French regions. Intended for the purchase of contemporary art works, these funds ensure regular publishing activity and educational initiatives and affirm the role of local and regional authorities in the field of contemporary art. Since their creation, the FRACs have set up rich and diverse collections of over 26 000 works, produced by 4 200 artists. The Regional Funds cooperate and develop concerted actions within the association Platform that is organising, in 2013, the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the creation of the Funds (http://www.frac-platform.com).

Support to creation

The different sectoral and / or specific funds that support creativity and creators are provided either by grants from the Ministry of Culture and Communication budget, from territorial authorities, or by taxes that are redistributed via public bodies. For example, the Centre national de la cinématographie (CNC) manages State government funds and subsidies for the cinema industry and audiovisual activities.

Aids and support are available in all domains, for instance:

• theatre, performing arts, music and dance: aid to theatre and dance companies, circus arts, major jazz and improvised music bands and groups, residences, etc.;
• visual arts: support for visual artists, graphic designers, designers and craft workers, enabling them to complete a specific project, to benefit from research stays and to participate in artists residences;
• books, literature and reading: grants and aids by the national and regional Centres of Books and Literature, to support the different activities of the sector: writing / creation, editing / publication, selling / distribution; and
• cinema, audio-visual and broadcasting: programmes and aids of the CNC, public support to the 40 film commissions installed throughout France, etc.

Concerning the action of the operating institutions, the centres d'art contemporain (Contemporary Arts Centres) for instance, support research and experimentation through their exhibitions, publications, and commissions to artists, also through residences for artists. In 2012, the Ministry titles and supports, in partnership with territorial authorities, 48 centres, among which two are located in Paris: the Jeu de Paume and the Palais de Tokyo.

The number of artistic and cultural prizes in France is very high. They exist in all disciplines.

Several hundred operate in the field of literary creation, including the most famous - the "rentrée littéraire", the Goncourt prize (created in 1903), Femina (1903, exclusively female jury), Renaudot (1926 ), Interallié (1930) and Médicis (1958).

Among the most well known in the media are - Molière for the theatre, César for the cinema, the Palmes d'or at Cannes Film Festival, the Victoires de la Musique, the Grand Prix of dramatic writing to reward a work for theatre, and the awards of particular cities (Paris, Marseille, Strasbourg, etc). Besides the prizes of the academies of music, dance or dramatic art, contemporary musicians also receive prizes from diverse institutions.

Most of these prizes and awards are accompanied by research or creation grants and scholarships. Besides, numerous scholarships are also granted to students in the artistic and cultural education schemes.

The professional associations and artists' labour unions play an important role to represent the material and moral interests of their members and to negotiate the professional agreements that concern them. They often sit on the committees and commissions that allocate the funds and aids to creation, in partnership with the representatives of the concerned institutions. More than 2 000 associative professional structures of arts and culture sectors are grouped within the Union fédérale d'intervention des structures culturelles (Ufisc: http://www.ufisc.org).

Authors' rights management societies supply funds to support creativity, diffusion of live performances and artists' training schemes. These funds are composed of 25% of the income that is generated from private copying and from the works whose beneficiaries cannot be identified or located. The most known authors' rights management societies are:

• Société des auteurs et compositeurs dramatiques (SACD, Union of Authors and Playwrights);
• Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique (SACEM, Union of Authors, Composers and Editors of Music);
• Société civile pour l'administration des droits des artistes et musiciens interprètes (ADAMI, Administration of Rights for Artists and Musicians);
• Société des producteurs de phonogrammes en France (SPPF, Union of Producers of Sound Recordings in France); and
• Société des droits de reproduction mécanique (SDPM, Union of Mechanical Reproduction Rights).

In 2013, some of these organisations grouped together into the platform France Créative  (www.francecreative.fr)