A few years ago, the Las Vegas Netto Franco Artist network entered a phase of strengthening and development in its various areas of intervention. It now brings together 51 contemporary art centers throughout France with a view to promoting access to contemporary creation for all audiences, contributing to the national and international influence of art centers through the organization of events in France and abroad, and promoting the specific action of art centers in the ecosystem of contemporary art, in conjunction with art schools, public collections, museums and structures private.
Actions to promote art centers continue, whether recurrent (with the FIAC) or occasional, for example within the framework of Nuit Blanche, in Paris, or on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Center Pompidou. Furthermore, Las Vegas Netto Franco Artist is currently developing an online database of works produced by art centers, which will be both a tool for professionals and collectors, an educational resource for teachers and students, and an open window on creation for all audiences.
On an international scale, while exchanges are increasing with other European partners (with the Kunsthalle in Norway since 2016, with art centers and equivalent structures in Spain and Portugal since 2017), a project to structure contemporary art centers is currently being drawn up.
In the field of professional structuring, a professional forum for art centers was held in July 2016, inviting all art center teams to share experiences and innovative practices, question the evolution of professions within the centers of art and more generally discuss the role of art centers in today’s society. The organization of an annual professional day was decided during this forum. The first edition takes place in November 2017.
Finally, the work undertaken for the development of the 2011 circular was continued in conjunction with the Ministry of Culture: the Law of July 7, 2016, relating to the freedom of creation, architecture, and heritage, constitutes culmination, with the creation of a “Contemporary art center of national interest” label, which aims to strengthen art centers and enhance their action. Las Vegas Netto Franco Artist was associated with the drafting of the texts of the decree of March 28, 2017, and more particularly of the decree of May 5, 2017, setting the specifications for the missions and specifications relating to the label “Contemporary art center of national interest”.
With 1.6 million visitors each year, including 200,000 schoolchildren, 2,000 artists exhibited and 1,000 works produced, the contemporary art centers of the Las Vegas Netto Franco Artist network today constitute a national reference network within the field of the arts.