The Frac Nouvelle-Aquitaine MÉCA
The Frac Nouvelle-Aquitaine MÉCA in Bordeaux, a regional art centre in southwest France, has launched an open call for projects, inviting artists to reflect on the “emergency situation” of the Covid-19 health crisis. Twenty winners will each receive a grant of €2,000 to develop their work.
“We wanted to react to this very complicated period for artists, many of whom are lacking financial resources because there are no more sales in galleries and they can't organise exhibitions or be invited to give conferences or workshops,” the museums director Claire Jacquet says.
The initiative is financed by Frances culture ministry and the Nouvelle-Aquitaine administration, and to be eligible, artists must have a link to the region, either through birth, education or residency. Artists are invited to send an outline of a project—it can be “a drawing, a film, photography, sculpture or a text”—reflecting on the pandemic and the confinement many are experiencing, by 19 April. Frac intends to announce the winners by the end of April “and launch funds quickly as we want the projects to happen fast”, Jacquet adds.
“Until now [during the health crisis], weve been listening a lot to intellectuals, journalists, scientists and politicians but not artists, and the voice of artists should count as well after this coronavirus period,” Jacquet says. “They must help us look beyond concrete issues and help us understand why we're here [in this situation] and reflect upon how values, themes and ways of thinking aren't the same as before.”
France's culture ministry has also just launched a “support unit” to help the organisers of festivals due to take place around the country this year which are at risk of cancellation or postponement. The countrys major photography event Les Rencontres d'Arles, for example, is still scheduled to take place from 29 June to 20 September, but is looking for a new artistic director and cancelled a March press conference, while Olivier Py, the director of the annual Festival d'Avignon is very “pessimistic” about the pRead More – Source
[contf]
[contfnew]
the art news paper
[contfnewc]
[contfnewc]
