LA FORCE DE L'ART 02 could not exist without the everyday work carried out in the field by the very many major players in the world of art throughout France. Public and private initiatives, art centres, the FRACs (Regional Contemporary Art Funds), the CNAP, museums, art schools, foundations and art galleries all contribute to make even more visible the energy and creativity of France’s art scene today.

The 57 art centres play an essential role in the artistic landscape. They accompany artistic research, produce many major works presented today in the FRACs, museums or in connection with major events, and they publish acclaimed critical work. Thanks to them, many French artists have become known in the international exhibition network. Whether local, or with national or even international ambitions, these spaces offer a warm welcome to a more and more diversified public, playing the essential role of providing locations for distribution, exhibition and production of art.

The FRACS work regularly with the art centres, seeking to acquire and increase awareness of a collection of work by today’s artists, throughout France’s regions, without overlooking national and international dimensions. Thanks to them, France is endowed with a remarkable heritage of contemporary art comprised of almost 21,000 works by approximately 4,000 artists (of which more than 60% work in France). The FRAC collections’ very mobility means these institutions are essential and major players in implementing cultural development policy throughout France; the FRACs seek to reduce geographic, social and cultural disparities and to facilitate discovery of contemporary art by a very broad public.

Knitting together France's regions into a network providing better access for all contemporary art is possible through the financial support of local authorities, the principal financers of the FRACs and art centres. Further, they also commission works for public spaces through calls for tender made in collaboration with the State. Last, the "1% decoration" legal provision (requiring the State to commission art when constructing or renovating public buildings) is today essential to ensure the presence of art in all French municipalities, counties (départements) and regions.

Education in France's 58 art schools is supervised by the Ministry of Culture and Communication; these are places for training and innovation, creation and artistic research, unique because they combine practical artistic practice with theoretical analysis and experimentation. The teaching carried out in these schools is polyvalent, cross-disciplinary, and makes possible a more thorough understanding of a technique or art; importance is given to the individual artistic development of 11,000 students yearly – giving almost 80% of the students a profession or lasting employment in the artistic realm.

The French Law of 1 August 2003 concerning sponsorship and foundations has permitted the development of private initiatives in all sectors in the general interest, especially culture. Among France's 1,500 foundations, including the 610 under the aegis of the Fondation de France, there are many which support contemporary creativity. As is the case with many corporate concerns supporting the arts, some of these foundations have become reference players on the French and international artistic scene.

Finally, galleries are in the front line of the art market; they permit artists to find their public, to produce art and to make it known to private or institutional collectors. Their partnership is essential to public initiatives and they play a determining role in the cultural realm.