Arts Promoting and supporting outstanding craftsmanship and creativity

Craftsmanship

Revealing talents and promoting excellent craftsmanship

Professional craftspeople are guided by passion. Mastering complex techniques, they turn materials into one-of-a-kind pieces or small series, shaping, restoring and designing outstanding works that are both beautiful and useful. They are a showcase of excellence that promotes French influence.

Encouraging the intelligence of the hand^®, promoting the contemporary dimension of craftsmanship, inspiring vocations

Since 1999, the Foundation has implemented its passionate commitment to craftsmanship along three main lines: the Liliane Bettencourt Prize pour l’intelligence de la main®, an ambitious grants policy and its own initiatives.

Aware of the cultural and social issues that these professions raise, the Foundation is pursuing its philanthropic policy by focusing on the human, working alongside artisans, entrepreneurs, institutions and the public. Supporting these partners means giving them the recognition, confidence, financial means and human resources to go further in the long term by acting in the public interest on the ground. In this spirit, the Foundation carries out all its actions on three main lines:

• French crafts on the international stage

They are a key part of our history and identity. On the strength of this conviction, the Foundation supports a selection of players who contribute to the promotion of French craftsmanship at home and abroad.

• Contributing to training and the transmission of outstanding know-how

The future of craftsmanship depends on raising the younger generation’s awareness and increasing the number of training courses for excellence.

• Promoting a multidisciplinary approach, applied and scientific research and innovation

One of the major challenges facing French craftsmanship today is its ability to keep pace with a changing world. This is why the Foundation is committed to institutions and projects that will help artisans find fresh sources of inspiration, meet new needs and adapt to economic constraints.

These three major goals put craftsmanship at the very heart of contemporary creation.

The Liliane Bettencourt Prize pour l’intelligence de la main

Since its creation, this award, which is open to professional craftsmen and women, has honored the talent of 135 people working in a wide range of areas whose creations illustrate and highlight the “intelligence of the hand”.

Grants for crafts

The Foundation's support for French craftsmanship has traditionally showcased and encouraged the winners of the Liliane Bettencourt Prize pour l'intelligence de la main®. But over the years, the need for a change in scale has...

Choral singing

Promoting an exemplary art

The Fondation’s commitment to choral singing is based on the outstanding values inherent to this practice: personal fulfilment, mastery of a technique shared within a group, the beauty of a too-often-overlooked repertory and the benefits of music for our society. For more than thirty years, the Liliane Bettencourt Prize for Choral Singing has honoured the choirs that contribute to the renown of French vocal arts. In addition, the Fondation provides support to help choirs strengthen their organisational structure, promote vocal training within choir schools, and enable both the wider public and audiences with limited access to cultural activities to experience choral singing. 

True to these convictions, the Fondation has supported the choral singing sector for over thirty years through sustained contributions, notably the Liliane Bettencourt Prize for Choral Singing, the national choral festival Chants libres, and a dedicated grant programme. 

The Fondation is committed to providing long-term support to choirs: it helps reinforce their organisational development, strengthens vocal training within choir schools, and broadens access to choral singing for the wider public as well as for audiences with limited access to cultural activities, so that everyone may experience the richness, sensitivity, and collective strength of this artistic practice.

The Liliane Bettencourt Prize for Choral Singing

Encouraging French choirs and promoting this exceptional art form.

Grants for choral singing

Over thirty years of experience with the Liliane Bettencourt Prize for Choral Singing have given the Foundation a view of the successes but also the weaknesses of French professional vocal art, especially today as key players are...