All the Foundation's programmes | Fondation d'entreprise Hermès

The Foundation’s exhibitions

Four spaces dedicated to contemporary art

Ever since its creation, the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès has provided long-term support for the visual arts through an ambitious programme of exhibitions conceived by renowned curators attentive to both France’s contemporary art scene and the presentation of work by French artists abroad. Unfolding across the Foundation’s four dedicated spaces in Europe and Asia, these exhibitions often feature new work and constitute broad artistic gestures that the public is invited to discover.

Immersion

A French-American Photography Commission

Immersion, a French-American Photography Commission is a programme by the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès dedicated to contemporary photography. Consisting of alternating residencies between France and the United States, it brings together the creation, production and diffusion of new photographic work, attesting to the Foundation’s bold engagement in favour of this medium: each year’s laureates create original series to be shared with a wide audience through exhibitions and publications.

Artists' Residencies

Carte blanche to visual artists in the Hermès workshops

Each year since 2010, the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès has invited artists to explore exceptional gestures and skills at Hermès workshops through its Artists’ Residencies programme. These residencies offer the guest artists carte blanche to expand their creativity alongside Hermès craftspeople, producing original works using singular materials. The residencies lend themselves to unique dialogues and exceptional, unconventional artistic experiments.

New Settings

An international programme dedicated to the performing arts

Through the annual New Settings programme, the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès accompanies the creation of new performance works from their production and rehearsal stages through to their public presentation. The projects selected for New Settings all go beyond the beaten track in some way: by playing upon original combinations of different artistic practices and mediums, New Settings artists experiment with unconventional forms to expand the possibilities of the performing arts.

Manufacto

Discovering artisan trades in the school environment

In 2016, the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès created Manufacto, the Skills Factory, an original programme designed to introduce schoolchildren to craft trades. Over the course of the school year, guest designers help pupils to discover gestures, techniques and tools as they create a contemporary, everyday object, in an initiation to the world and the skills of craft as well as to the pleasures of making.

Skills Academy

A professional skills upgrading programme

Founded in 2014, the Skills Academy brings together the transmission of knowledge with interdisciplinary practice and prospective research. At each edition of the Academy, craftspeople, designers and engineers undertake a collective exploration of a universal material, innovating at the same time as they share their skills with one another. Though the Academy is reserved for professionals, it is also extends its reach through a programme of talks open to the public.

Artists in the Community

Amplifying artists’ voices

Through its Artists in the Community programme, the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès seeks to ensure that the talents of tomorrow can pursue artistic careers and flourish in their chosen fields. Artists in the Community promotes the transmission of skills through professional training with a range of support for existing initiatives as well as a specific bursary programme designed to help students in financial difficulty to access careers in the performing arts.

Biodiversity & Ecosystems

A commitment to the preservation of biodiversity

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.

H³

Heart - Head - Hand
A charitable programme led by Hermès staff

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.