Charter

Charter of the Association Egart – For equal access to art

Background: The purpose of the association (Article 2 of the bylaws) is « to enable people with mental or psychic disabilities or people with a psychiatric illness, who have an artistic production in visual arts, to have easier access to the circuits, networks, and cultural and artistic institutions and buyers / collectors. Then, eventually, this object could be concerned all other artists subject to exclusion whatever its form. »

An association for artistic recognition based on the work

The invention of the concept of outsider art by Jean Dubuffet has led to the recognition by the cultural and artistic works made by people without “artistic Culture”, outside the traditional artistic circuits (education, distribution, sale) and in general self-taught. This persons often excluded because of their disease, their imprisonment or their social difficulties could be considered like full artists. Subsequently, other concepts were created, such as “art hors-les normes”, “art en marge”,  “self-taught art”, “outsider art” and “art singulier” witch are in the extension of art brut. This association is in their movement even if the association shall not confine the artists accompanied by the association to specific circuits.

If the perimeter of art is regularly defined and reflected the association established the principle that everyone can be a creator of art whatever his origin, his social background, his professional and personal situation, his disability, his disease … and that respect is owed to all. Each according to his talent should be eligible for artistic recognition based solely on the artwork created.

The work is so central to the project association. The author of the work is seen as an artist and not through the prism of his disability, disease or any other potential situation of exclusion.

An association for the rights of artists it supports

In its actions, since the artists accompanied by the association may be weakened by their situation, the association must be particularly vigilant about the strict application of the following rights:

  • Human Rights (the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 10 December 1948, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union of 7 December 2000, the French Constitution of October 4, 1958 …): freedom, non-discrimination, equal rights and equal access to culture,
  • Rights of Persons with Disabilities, suffering from a mental illness or being in a potential situation of exclusion (the United Nations International Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons, ratified by France 18 February 2010, the Principles for the Protection of Individuals with Mental Illness and the Improvement of Mental Health Care of the UN’s December 17, 1991, the French Law of February 11, 2005 …): accessibility, equal opportunities, full and effective participation in society, the freedom to make their own choices, respect for difference and acceptance, access to all basic rights including cultural,
  • The right to respect for private life (civil code) and professional secrecy (the Criminal Code). Any person may object to disclosure of facts about his private life. The association will inform the person of the right to respect for his name (can be a pseudonym or anonymity) that can complement the right to respect for private life. The association will pay particular attention to the content of disseminated information and data on the profile of the artist must first be validated by him and his legal representative if necessary.
  • The copyright related intellectual property rights (the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 10 December 1948, the International Pact on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966, the  French Intellectual Property Code): the benefit of the protection of moral and material interests resulting from any artistic production, the exclusive incorporeal property right, the exclusive right to exploit his work in any form whatsoever and to have pecuniary profit, the right to respect for his name, his authorship and his work, the right to disclose his work, the right to reconsider …

An association against discrimination and for equality

The association should therefore ensure to enforce equal rights and opportunities, especially since art is the vector of a different communication with the outside world and an engine personal development.

The association will work for accessibility to all those who have talent in arts and cultural and artistic medias and for artistic recognition, it starts from the premise that art is universal and it belongs to all, as everyone, to work in this sense, according to his means. The association seeks to fight against and compensate for inequalities, exclusion and discrimination in the arts which people can sometimes be (in the assurance of their artistic potential, in the introduction to the arts and cultural medias, access to exhibition and selling places, mastery of legal information….).The artists accompanied by the association are at the center of the associative project: it is an association for them and with them. In all cases, even when there is legal representation, the association will ensure the free consent of the artist and the expression of his word and his will.
The fragility of the situation in which some artists accompanied by the association may be not be ignored, and this aspect taken into account both legally and with regard to this medical assistance or education of the person.

The association’s action against discrimination and for equality of opportunity does not necessarily mean its free services. Each artist accompanied will participate financially and thus support the objectives of the association. However the association ensures that its participation regardless of its form does not harm him but to be fair even if it is not completely equivalent to the commercial sector (with the aim of “positive discrimination”).

Association EgArt- For equal access to Art
6 rue de la Gabrielle, 77 411 Claye-Souilly cedex
marie.girault@egart.fr

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