The Fund

The Rubis Mécénat endowment fund, created by Rubis in 2011, carries out committed artistic and social projects. Their aim is to promote contemporary creation, support emerging artists, and empower disadvantaged youth through art.

Since its inception, Rubis Mécénat has been committed to highlighting contemporary creation —both exacting and democratic— by providing production assistance to emerging and mid-career artists to create new work. The resulting artworks are exhibited in France, in partnership with public-oriented cultural institutions and events.

Aware of the importance of emerging and new creative voices, as well as unequal access to an artistic career, the fund also supports emerging artists through several professionalisation and awareness-raising programmes.

Moreover, Rubis Mécénat —driven by its conviction in the social role of art— develops artistic and cultural education projects in some countries where Rubis operates. Their goal is to empower disadvantaged youth and contribute sustainably to their training and integration by using artistic practice as a means of emancipation and positive engagement.

The ensemble of these actions meets Rubis Mécénat’s desire to promote contemporary creation in all its diversity, encouraging transmission and exchange while creating the essential conditions for new artistic forms and discourses to emerge.

SUPPORT FOR ARTISTIC CREATION – RUBIS MECENAT PRIZE [Meet our curators!] Meet Julia Marchand (@marchand.julia), this year’s Rubis Mécénat Prize curator! After having graduated from the MFA Curating at Goldsmiths College (London) and devoting her career to tribal art from Bhopal and Thane District (India), Julia Marchand moved to Arles (France) in 2015 to work as a curator at the Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles with Bice Curiger. She curated and co-curated over twenty-five exhibitions that include ‘Action/Gesture/Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1940-70’ (2023); ‘Laura Owens and Vincent van Gogh’ (2021); ‘Soleil Chaud, Soleil Tardif’ (2018) as well as Dark Centuries : James Ensor & Alexander Kluge (2019) and implemented the public program. In 2016, she founded ‘Extramentale’, a curatorial and discursive platform of which she is artistic director. This platform explores adolescent aesthetics in the field of visual arts since the 1990s. She is also a founding member of an experimental video game festival in Arles, and was also responsible for the recent TVSF commission for Saradibiza, exhibited at the Centre Pompidou Metz. Now based in Venice, Julia Marchand curated the Georgian pavilion of the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024 and is currently researching the legacy of the Georgian publisher and poet Ilia Zdanevich, that will lead to another exhibition at Fondazione Antonio Dalle Nogare in fall. She is also leading a series of podcasts on Illegal astronomy, adolescence and video games for Projets Media. Currently, Julia Marchand is the co-curator of ‘CRUSH’, the annual exhibition of 4th and 5th year students at @beauxartsparis, on view until March 16. With Rubis Mécénat, she will provide critic support and guidance to the laureate, which will soon be announced. Stay tuned! 📸 Grégoire d’Ablon #rubismecenat #supportforartisticcreation #contemporary art #artpatron #artcurator #artprofessionnals #beauxartsdeparis #artproduction #prixrubismecenat

SUPPORT FOR ARTISTIC CREATION – GRANT FOR FRENCH CARIBBEAN AND AMAZONIAN CONTEMPORARY CREATION Rubis Mécénat reinforces its commitment to contemporary creation and the Caribbean and Amazonian scenes by joining forces with unRepresented by @approcheparis and @lastationculturelle, a major player in Martinique’s cultural scene. Together, and in alignment with their respective commitments, the three organizations are launching a grant to support French Caribbean and Amazonian contemporary creation, specifically dedicated to artists not represented by galleries. The grant will provide an artist living and working in French Caribbean or Amazonian territories the opportunity to present their work at the unRepresented salon in April 2025. The selected artist will also benefit from a tailor-made program of professional meetings designed to support the development of their artistic career. The artist will receive production assistance, professional mentorship, and mobility support in Paris. During their stay and participation in the salon, the selected artist will be accompanied by Éline Gourgues, co-director of La Station Culturelle. This production and dissemination grant aims to highlight the dynamism of Caribbean and Amazonian contemporary creation in the Hexagon while addressing the inequalities related to visibility and mobility for artists from these territories. Photo: © Gregory Copitet #rubismecenat #supportforartisticcreation #artpatron #artcurator #artprofessionnals #frenchartscene #frenchartist #artproduction