January 1–February 28, 2021
New York 10075
United States
The 2021 call for application for Étant Donnés—the French-American Fund for contemporary art—is now open!
Étant donnés Contemporary Art aims to strengthen ties between France and the U.S. in the field of contemporary art by fostering active collaboration and encouraging long-lasting partnerships between French visual artists, curators, and collectives and American curators and cultural institutions. The fund supports the discovery of emerging talents, while also sustaining interest in established artists. Furthermore, it has been instrumental in creating a network of curators from France and the U.S. Since its inception, Étant donnés has developed an international reputation by allocating over USD 3 million to fund more than 300 projects and 300 curators.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to deeply affect the world in many ways. As cultural institutions and artistic exchanges have been hit particularly hard by the global crisis, today, more than ever, the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the FACE Foundation are proud to encourage, promote and support artistic performances and creations.
Étant Donnés supports projects through 3 grants:
Grants to American Institutions for physical exhibitions, and online or hybrid projects
This program seeks primarily to introduce French visual artists whose works have rarely, if ever, been shown in the United States. The fund offers financial support in the form of grants to American nonprofit institutions that plan to organize physical exhibitions, installations, or research projects featuring French or France-based artists.
Due to the exceptional situation this year created by the COVID-19 pandemic, Étant donnés has adjusted its criteria to better answer the needs of artistic cooperation between France and the United States in today’s world by encouraging the development of online and hybrid projects for this specific grant. Thus, this program will additionally be open to supporting artistic projects taking place online or being hybrid, between American and French nonprofit institutions willing to develop a shared reflection and artistic projects in this new digital era.
Curatorial Fellowships
This program aims to support American curators wishing to conduct and deepen their research in contemporary art in France. These grants are intended to expand the professional opportunities and networks of American curators, encourage in-depth explorations of French cultural resources, and provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and knowledge among artists, professionals, researchers, and institutions. This grant is intended to support the curator’s cost of travel and mission abroad.
Étant Donnés Residencies
Institut français-Paris, the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States, and FACE Foundation joined forces in 2017 to launch this residency program. These grants are intended for French or France-based visual artists seeking to spend a minimum of 2 to, and a maximum of 4 months in the United States, as long as their residency is organized in partnership with an American organization.
For physical exhibitions, curatorial fellowships and artists residencies: American institutions and curators, as well as French artists can apply for projects taking place between June 1, 2021, and August 31, 2022.
For online and hybrid projects: Non-profit American can apply with French Institutions for projects taking place from March 1, 2021 until August 31, 2022.
The application deadline is February 28, 2021. All applications should be submitted through the FACE Foundation website.
The applications will be reviewed in May 2021 by independent American and French professionals specialized in contemporary art.
Contact for applications: visualarts@face-foundation.org
Étant donnés Contemporary Art is a program of the French American Cultural Exchange (FACE) Foundation, developed in partnership with the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States, with the support of the French Ministry of Culture, the Institut français-Paris, the Florence Gould Foundation, the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Chanel USA & the ADAGP.
