Immersion, a French-American Photography Commission, is a programme by the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès dedicated to contemporary photography. It attests to the Foundation’s bold and original engagement with this medium, and each year makes possible the creation, exhibition and publication of new works.

Every year since 2010, the Foundation has invited artists to explore exceptional skills and practices through residencies at the Hermès workshops. Offering a veritable carte blanche to creativity, the Artists’ Residencies programme enables participants to produce original works with exceptional materials as they work alongside Hermès artisans in an environment that encourages unusual and unique artistic experiments.

With New Settings, the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès supports each year the creation and diffusion of new performance works. The chosen projects all feature crossovers of some kind or another: playing on the porosity of the boundary between performing arts and visual arts, their creators experiment with original and unusual forms.

In 2016, the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès launched a new programme devised for schools. Entitled Manufacto, the Skills Factory, the programme looks to introduce young students to craft skills and materials.

The Skills Academy is a programme organised by the Foundation dedicated to the transmission of craft skills and practices, and to opening them up to other fields, including design and engineering. Every two years, the Academy brings together a diverse range of professionals around a transdisciplinary theme.

In 2018, the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès created Artists in the Community, its second programme dedicated to the performing arts. Alongside New Settings, which accompanies artists in the creation of new work for the stage, Artists in the Community focuses on initiatives promoting transmission, some of which have already been supported by the Foundation for a number of years. The Foundation has further strengthened its commitment in this field through a set of scholarships designed to help financially disadvantaged students to access careers in the performing arts.

Fostering a harmonious relationship between humans and ecosystems. Taking inspiration from populations who are as one with fragile ecosystems, who call upon ancient practical skills to make use of raw materials and resources. And focusing the Foundation’s activities on making more information and training available on sustainable practices for growing crops, breeding livestock and developing the built environment.

Through H³, Hermès staff are invited to present charitable initiatives that they would like to accompany to the Foundation, which in turn provides support for a number of projects as part of the programme. The projects are all closely linked to the Foundation’s areas of intervention and reflect its social engagement.