FRAC

Since 1983, the FRAC (regional art collections) have played an important part in the history of cultural development in France, reinforcing the role of art through out the country. They were created to promote the visual arts as well as decentralising the Paris-based art network.

The aim of the Fonds régionaux d'art contemporain is to establish a regional collection of art, to initiate the public to the art of today and to participate in the development, the exhibiting and knowledge of all forms of contemporary art forms.

The collections are intended to be representative of current trends and are shown in the region in which they are based but also nationally and internationally. Each Frac has its own approach to defining the collection and establishes its own objectives when buying new work with a steering group made up of national and international experts. The Frac often establish important relationships with national and international artists but most works are bought via the commercial gallery network.

The Frac also buys work from artists in their region as part of their regional development policy. It is generally a good idea to find out who the members of the buying committee are, as these are the key players when it comes to decisions as regards new acquisitions.

Nearly all the Frac have exhibition spaces and run a regular programme of exhibitions and the Frac in general constitute some of the most important and exciting venues in France. Some directors of Frac have a prospective approach and are interested in showing young artists who have not yet been shown in group shows.

The initiation of the general public to contemporary art is one of its principal missions and there is a lot of education work with the schools. They tend to work in partnership with a wide variety of organisations, universities, art schools, community centres and other cultural institutions in order for the collection to be shown in a maximum of places and to diverse publics.

The Frac are funded by the Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, the DRAC and the Conseil régional of each regional

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This article is from the Artlaw Archive of Henry Lydiate's columns published in Art Monthly since 1976, and may contain out of date material.
The article is for information only, and not for the purpose of providing legal advice.
Readers should consult a solicitor for legal advice on specific matters, and artists in London can get free online legal advice from Artquest