France. A flagship project of former Minister of Culture Rachida Dati, the Culture and Rurality plan sees one of its main measures come to fruition in the fall of 2026. It took more than two years for the directive relating to the development of the network of art libraries (an art loan service) in the territory to materialize on the ground. In gestation since July 2024, the “Artothèques en ruralité” program will see the light of day in January 2025: the ministry is entrusting its completion to the National Center for Plastic Arts (Cnap) with a budget of 4 million euros. Two months later, the Cnap launched a call for expressions of interest (AMI) aimed at organizations wishing to launch or consolidate an art library activity in a rural area – as a result, tailor-made support for a year and a grant of 3 million euros, distributed among the winners.
The 50 projects selected by the Cnap in November 2025 are supported by various structures and communities: art libraries of course, but also media libraries, departmental and regional councils as well as municipalities. The Cnap also gave pride of place to labeled cultural structures with 8 projects supported by contemporary art centers of national interest (Cacin), one by a National Scene and five by regional contemporary art funds (Frac Bretagne, Frac Île-de-France, Frac-Artothèque Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Frac Picardie and Frac Pays de la Loire). The Frac occupy a unique position in this corpus. “Our starting point is different from the other places chosen because we already have a nomadic collection as Frac”, underlines Alice Malinge, the head of the public service at Frac Bretagne. The projects of these five structures present particularities which demonstrate the flexibility of the program supported by the Cnap.
Does an art library developed by a Frac draw from the collection or is it a specific fund governed by its own rules regarding acquisition, management and distribution? “This is a question that is complicated to answer for our institutions”recognizes Justine Hermant, the head of the inhabitants and territories center of Frac Picardie. With the exception of the Frac-Artothèque de Limoges, with two very distinct collections, the Fracs retained by the Cnap within the framework of this AMI have not chosen to downgrade part of their collection to constitute a new ad hoc fund: the works in their art library are recorded in the inventory like any other piece in the collection. But a small part of the allocated budget was earmarked for the acquisition, for example, of multiples in the field of graphic arts for the Frac Picardie specializing in this medium, or small sculptural objects for the Frac Pays de la Loire.
This state of affairs largely explains why three Fracs out of the five selected did not wish to set up a loan system for individuals, even though this is one of the main missions of art libraries: these structures “allow everyone to borrow works for a personal and intimate encounter with art”recalls the Ministry of Culture itself. The Frac Île-de-France, which received a grant of 50,000 euros for the implementation of its art library project at the end of 2025, is the only one to have embarked on this path, and thus to be the first Frac to offer individuals the possibility of borrowing works from its collection. “The “Fracothèque” is a complementary tool for disseminating the collection which allows you to reach the public directly at home », says Rémi Enguehard, responsible for broadcasting and programming outside the walls. From October 2026, everyone will be able to borrow one or two works for two months from a set of around fifty pre-existing posters and prints, ordered by the Cnap as part of another part of the program. For eighteen months, the Fracothèque, stored and presented in a modular structure designed by designer Martial Marquet, will take up residence in three media libraries in Val-d’Oise before settling in Seine-et-Marne.
Art library or Frac missions?
“We are not really developing an art library because we lend part of the Frac Bretagne collection to places and not to individuals,” explains Alice Malinge. Indeed, three of the five winning Fracs devote the majority of the budget to developing or strengthening the circulation of certain sections of their collections through modular and mobile structures, but intended for educational establishments and structures in the social field. In Limoges, where loans to individuals have been offered by the art library since its creation in 1987, the Frac-Artothèque, resulting from the merger of the two structures, is taking advantage of the AMI to set up a traveling relay in the Creuse, the “Arto-Caravane”.
As for Frac Bretagne, which received aid of 30,000 euros, the “Frac on wheels”, a mobile device designed by Brest designer Brendan Cornic and containing around sixty two-dimensional works, will be circulating from November 16 in primary schools, middle schools and vocational high schools in Finistère, Morbihan and Côtes-d’Armor. The module itself serves as a support for the exhibitions. Another module intended for medico-social structures will be launched in 2027. The Frac Pays de la Loire, which is carrying out a project in collaboration with the contemporary art center Le Carré (Château-Gontier), the Artothèque d’Angers and the MAT (Montrelais), has acquired works in volume which it will present in social and hospital structures.
“We questioned our art library colleagues at length to find out if we were legitimate in applying to the AMI with our project,” explains the head of the Frac Bretagne public service. It is indeed difficult to understand, at first glance, how these systems differ from the actions that the Frac have been developing since their creation to promote the mobility of their collections. As a reminder, in 2018, of the 667 exhibitions organized by the 22 Fracs, 550 took place outside the walls in partner establishments. Some institutions have even discovered mobile tools for disseminating their collections, like the Frac Franche-Comté with its “Satellite” inaugurated in 2015, a truck converted into a mobile exhibition gallery.
Increased cooperation with various local stakeholders
For these Fracs, long accustomed to the co-construction of projects with their partners, the novelty that the program brings seems above all to reside in the greater autonomy and trust granted to local actors. “Unlike other projects that we carry out outside the walls, we will delegate the management of the system to the cultural referents of educational establishments, assures Alice Malinge. It is the teachers who will be responsible for the circulation of objects between schools. »
For the Frac Picardie, which received 55,000 euros from the Cnap to structure its art library (established in 1996, the fund has been on deposit at the Les Jacobins vocational school in Beauvais since 2021), the watchword is the training of teachers and students with a view to taking charge of the collection. The institution has in fact decided to entrust the management of its art library to a first class in the AGOrA professional baccalaureate (assistance in the management of organizations and their activities) during the 2026-2027 school year: in February and March 2027, the referent professor, the applied arts teacher and the students will be trained in the history of art and the management of works by the Frac team; they will also visit artists’ studios and go to the contemporary drawing fair Drawing Now Paris – the students are also involved in the acquisition.
With the “Artothèques en ruralité” program, the challenge for the Fracs is therefore above all to experiment with participatory and civic management of the heritage they preserve.
