15 countries, 30 years, over 500 projects - our international network

Citizen art is a broad movement that is constantly growing. In Europe and beyond, it is constantly giving rise to new protagonists, projects and partnerships. Starting in France, where the history of the New Patrons began in the early 1990s, initiatives were also formed in other countries. In 2002, the first projects were launched in Belgium, soon followed by Italy, Germany, Spain and Switzerland, later Cameroon and Croatia, and individual projects also emerged in Scandinavia, the USA and elsewhere. Over the course of time, an ever-growing international network of commissions has developed, which now stretches from Finland to Nigeria and from Chile to Poland. Over 500 projects have been initiated and implemented by citizens to date.

Mediators sitting around a large round table at an international meeting of the New Patrons Antibes/France

International Mediator's Summit in Antibes/France 2013

Photo: Alexander Koch

In some regions of Europe, civic art commissions have become an integral part of cultural life. 

The New Patrons are organized differently in every region and in every country. There is no central institution that directs or manages the emergence of new initiatives. The New Patrons are an international network of independent mediators and cultural organizations that support citizens' groups in implementing their art projects.

The international network shares knowledge as well as some infrastructure and resources. New and still young initiatives benefit from the many years of experience of their older colleagues. Transnational activities are also initiated and implemented as part of the international network.

Many people from The New Patrons are sitting around a long table at a congress and discussing

Discussion about the New Patrons in Lagos, Nigeria 2014

© Gesellschaft der Neuen Auftraggeber
A member of The New Patrons walking along a street lined with cars in Beirut, Lebanon

The unstoppable Boushra Adi 2019 in Beirut, Lebanon

Photo: Alexander Koch

SOCIETÉ INTERNATIONALE DES NOUVEAUX COMMANDITAIRES

Since 2023, the Societé Internationale des Nouveaux Commanditaires, as a European association based in Brussels, forms a platform to bring together all international actors of the New Patrons, to make their activities publicly accessible and to represent their interests in politics and in public. In the future, the association will also represent the copyright of the Protocol of the New Patrons and the responsibility that goes with it, and will take up and advise initiatives worldwide that want to make the Protocol and with it the idea of art on a civic commission their own.

About the New Patrons in Africa

INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVEs

LES NOUVEAUX COMMANDITAIRES IN FRANCE
Le Coin du miroir / Le Consortium (Region East)
Artconnexion (Region East and projects in Poland and Norway)
Societies (Ile de France)
3CA (Ile de France)
Les Complices des Côtes d’Armor (Bretagne)
Eternal Network (Region West)
Entre-Deux (Pays de la Loire)
Point De Fuite (Nouvelle-Aquitaine)
Cercle d'art contemporain du Cailar (Languedoc-Roussillon)
a Demeure (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes – Midi-Pyrénées)
Thankyouforcoming (Alpes-Maritimes)
Éole et Pan (Music)
Issue (Music)

DE NIEUWE OPDRACHTGEVERS IN BELGIUM
De Nieuwe Opdrachtgevers (Brussels)

NUOVI COMMITTENTI IN ITALY
a.Titolo (Turin)

CONCOMITENTES IN SPAIN
Concomitentes (Madrid)
Artehazia (Basque Country)

NEUE AUFTRAGGEBER IN SWITZERLAND
Société suisse des Nouveaux commanditaires (Geneva)

LES NOUVEAUX COMMANDITAIRES IN Cameroon
Association des Nouveaux commanditaires du Cameroun (Yaoundé)