15 countries, 30 years, over 500 projects - our international network
In Europe and beyond, citizen-commissioned art is a broad movement that continues to grow, generating more and more voices, commissions, and formats. Starting in France in the early 1990s, New Patrons initiatives formed in other countries in Europe and beyond. In 2002, the first projects took place in Belgium, followed by Italy, Germany, Spain, and Switzerland. Over the years, an ever-expanding international network of commissions has emerged, now stretching from Finland to Cameroon and from Chile to Poland. More than 500 projects have been initiated by citizens to date, and there are now commissions in Lebanon, Nigeria, and the United States.
In each region and country, the New Patrons organize themselves differently. There is no central institution that guides or manages the emergence of new initiatives. The New Patrons are an international network of independent mediators and cultural organizations that accompany citizen groups to realize their art projects.
Within the international network, knowledge, but also infrastructures and resources are shared. Based on the experiences in different European regions, locally supported initiatives are being developed, which are oriented towards the protocol of the New Patrons, in order to independently carry the idea of citizen-commissioned art into their societies. The local players themselves develop suitable methods and structures to make the work of regional mediators possible. Initiatives that are still young benefit from the many years of experience of their international colleagues. Transnational activities are also initiated and implemented within the framework of the international network.
SOCIETÉ INTERNATIONALE DES NOUVEAUX COMMANDITAIRES
Since 2023, the Societé Internationale des Nouveaux Commanditaires, as a European association based in Brussels, forms a platform to bring together all international actors of the New Patrons, to make their activities publicly accessible and to represent their interests in politics and in public. In the future, the association will also represent the copyright of the Protocol of the New Patrons and the responsibility that goes with it, and will take up and advise initiatives worldwide that want to make the Protocol and with it the idea of art on a civic commission their own.
INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVEs
LES NOUVEAUX COMMANDITAIRES IN FRANCE
Le Coin du miroir / Le Consortium (Region East)
Artconnexion (Region East and projects in Poland and Norway)
Societies (Ile de France)
3CA (Ile de France)
Les Complices des Côtes d’Armor (Bretagne)
Eternal Network (Region West)
Entre-Deux (Pays de la Loire)
Point De Fuite (Nouvelle-Aquitaine)
Cercle d'art contemporain du Cailar (Languedoc-Roussillon)
a Demeure (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes – Midi-Pyrénées)
Thankyouforcoming (Alpes-Maritimes)
Éole et Pan (Music)
Issue (Music)
DE NIEUWE OPDRACHTGEVERS IN BELGIUM
De Nieuwe Opdrachtgevers (Brussels)
NUOVI COMMITTENTI IN ITALY
a.Titolo (Turin)
CONCOMITENTES IN SPAIN
Concomitentes (Madrid)
Artehazia (Basque Country)
NEUE AUFTRAGGEBER IN SWITZERLAND
Société suisse des Nouveaux commanditaires (Geneva)
LES NOUVEAUX COMMANDITAIRES IN Cameroon
Association des Nouveaux commanditaires du Cameroun (Yaoundé)