Mission & Vision
What if we harnessed the power of the arts to tackle the greatest challenges of our time?
Environment, health, education, employment, peace, gender equality, food security, energy – the arts can be a catalyst for change across all of these.
Since 2021, the Metis Arts and Development Fund, hosted by the French Development Agency, has worked toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Beyond essential, yet often insufficient, technical solutions, they leverage the power of the arts as a catalyst for individual and collective transformation. Metis finances arts and development projects for and with local communities in more than 35 countries confronted with major social challenges.
Actions Led
Acting abroad through two programs:
- Carte Blanche: Each year, Metis develops 15 socio-artistic initiatives aimed at addressing the sustainable development challenges. In each targeted region, an artist, a development operator, and a local community come together to identify a development challenge that directly affects them. Together, they co-create an artistic work that catalyzes transformation.
- Diapason: This two-year program helps create 12 socio-arts initiatives that also group the three actors mentioned above, but around a unique global theme. Additionally, a documentary is developed to retrace all the artistic projects and their impact. The 2024-25 program focuses on Ocean Conservation. Both the documentary and a scientific manifesto for advocating for the ties between Arts and Oceans are to be presented at the UNOC 2025. This program aims to have both a local and global impact, to raise awareness and inspire action for ocean conservation.
Amplifying our impact through our two programs:
- Take Action: This program aims at strengthening the necessary expertise and capacities of cultural and development actors, enhancing their commitment to Arts & Development. This is done through skill development courses and workshops, a “Metis Lab” and a program of Cross-residencies for artists.
- Make Visible: Metis is committed to promoting and showcasing the power of the Arts & Development approach, to encourage other stakeholders to adopt and adapt it to their context. To this end, the foundation organizes and participates in international events, produces audiovisual content, and maintains an active presence on social media.
So far, Metis has achieved :
- Over 50 initiatives
- Across more than 45 countries
- Engaging over 150 artists and development operators
- Reaching more than 20,000 people
Projects That U.S. Donors Can Support
Through Friends of Fondation de France, U.S. donors have the opportunity to become true actors of change and support Metis through their:
- Local operational activities, drawn from the Carte Blanche and Diapason programs, consist of local socio-artistic initiatives. These include the mobilization of artists, communities, and development operators for artistic exchange and creation, aimed at reinforcing technical responses to development challenges.
- Amplifying activities, from their programs Take Action and Make Visible, which include their communication efforts, such as content creation and events, as well as their transmission efforts, which include seminars and research projects on Arts & Development.
Read more about Metis:
Agence Française de Développement and Fondation de France Strengthen their Cooperation
