AWARE : Archives of Women Artists, Research & Exhibitions

What AWARE : Archives of Women Artists, Research & Exhibitions does

AWARE: Archives of Women Artists, Research & Exhibitions is a French non-profit association (loi 1901) founded in Paris in June 2014 by seven women including art historian Camille Morineau, dedicated to creating, indexing, and distributing information on women and non-binary artists from the 16th to 21st centuries. The organization operates a trilingual (French/English/Japanese) digital encyclopedia at awarewomenartists.com that indexes over 1,521 artist biographies, hosts 252 research articles, 28 podcasts, 26 animated educational videos, and 42 event video archives. Content is produced through three transnational networks — TEAM (80+ universities), AMIS (museum partners including Centre Pompidou, Louvre, Musée d'Orsay, Asia Art Archive, Clark Art Institute), and NEST (independent NGOs) — drawing on contributions from 500+ researchers, curators, feminist art historians, and activists worldwide.

The core platform features a specialized thesaurus and multi-dimensional filtering system that allows searches by discipline, art movement, subject, medium, country, and time period. Beyond the digital archive, AWARE runs the annual Prix AWARE (€10,000 per category, established 2017), research residencies, traveling exhibitions (including 'Be AWARE' designed by matali crasset), colloquia, and educational materials. As of January 2026, AWARE was integrated as a dedicated unit within the Musée national d'art moderne at Centre Pompidou, with affiliated entities AWARE-USA (a 501(c)(3) in New York) and AWARE-日本 (Japan). Corporate sponsors include Chanel, Bloomberg, and Fondation ENGIE.

The business model is entirely donation-based: no commercial products or subscriptions are sold, and all digital content is freely accessible. Funding derives from tiered individual donations (€1,000-€10,000+), corporate patronage (€15,000-€50,000+), public subsidies, and grants administered through AWARE-USA. The organization has 28 employees across Paris, New York, and Japan, supported by a Scientific Committee chaired by Marie-Laure Bernadac (formerly of the Louvre) and an Editorial Committee chaired by Jean-Pierre Criqui (Centre Pompidou). The primary user segments are art history professionals, educators and students, women/non-binary artists seeking recognition, museums and cultural institutions, and the general public.

Name

AWARE : Archives of Women Artists, Research & Exhibitions

Legal name

AWARE : Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions

Website

https://awarewomenartists.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

AWARE is a Paris-based non-profit operating a trilingual digital encyclopedia indexing 1,521+ women and non-binary artists from the 16th-21st centuries, now a unit within Centre Pompidou. It serves art historians, educators, artists, and museums via global TEAM, AMIS, and NEST networks.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Paris, Île-de-France

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Corporate Patronage: Corporate sponsors contribute at various levels: standard logo placement from €15,000 donations, and larger logo with named project recognition from €50,000+ contributions. Corporate patronage offers 60% tax deduction in France (within 5‰ of turnover limit). Contact: Eléonore Besse.
2. Individual Donations: Individual donors receive benefits at tiered levels: Partner (€1,000-2,499) receives one AWARE publication; Sponsor/Godparent (€2,500-4,999) receives publications and enables one biographical or research article publication; Patron (€5,000-9,999) receives above plus event invitations; Honor Circle (€10,000+) enables five artist biographies or TEAM network contribution. French donors receive 66% tax deduction (within 20% annual taxable income limit).
3. AWARE-USA 501(c)(3) Contributions: US-based donors can support through AWARE-USA, a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in New York City. Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent permissible by US law. Donations accepted via Zelle ([email protected]) or stripe.
4. Publication Sales: AWARE publishes books including 'Paroles d'artistes femmes, 1869-1939' (La Martinière, 2025), colloquium proceedings, artist interviews (11 volumes), and educational materials including pedagogical guides for schools.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

AWARE operates a trilingual (French/English/Japanese) digital encyclopedia and research archive documenting women and non-binary artists from the 16th to 21st centuries, containing over 1,500 indexed biographies, 252 research articles, podcasts, animated videos, and event archives. The organization complements this digital resource with the annual Prix AWARE awards, research residencies, traveling exhibitions, colloquia, and an international network (TEAM academic, AMIS museum, NEST NGO) producing and disseminating content on women artists worldwide.

Product overview

AWARE: Archives of Women Artists, Research & Exhibitions is a non-profit cultural organization offering a digital encyclopedia and archival platform as its core product, supplemented by publications, podcasts, animated videos, research awards, and educational resources. The platform documents over 1,500 women and non-binary artists from the 16th to 21st centuries through illustrated biographies and research articles in French, English, and Japanese. Related offerings include the annual Prix AWARE awards, the Petites histoires de grandes artistes animated series for children, podcasts like Women House and Les Grandes Dames de l'art, research residency programs, and three international networks (TEAM, AMIS, NEST) facilitating global collaboration on women artists documentation. AWARE operates as a unit within the Centre Pompidou's Musée national d'art moderne since January 2026, with affiliated organizations in the USA and Japan.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Prix AWARE: Annual prize awarded to women artists in mid-career and with 40+ years of practice
• TEAM
• AMIS
• NEST

Products and services

• AWARE Digital Archive & Encyclopedia Trilingual (French/English/Japanese) online encyclopedia documenting women and non-binary artists from the 16th to 21st centuries, featuring over 1,500 illustrated biographical entries with research articles, searchable by discipline, movement, medium, geography, and time period. Free access for global audiences of art historians, students, and the general public.
• Prix AWARE (AWARE Prize) Annual award program recognizing women artists in two categories: Prix Nouveau Regard for mid-career artists and Prix d'Honneur for established artists with 40+ years of practice, each receiving a €10,000 endowment. Includes nomination, jury selection, exhibition of nominees, and annual ceremony (10th edition held at Centre Pompidou in 2026).
• AWARE Publications Editorial program including anthologies, colloquium proceedings, and artist interviews published in partnership with publishers such as La Martinière, featuring texts by over 500 researchers, curators, and feminist art historians. Recent title: 'Paroles d'artistes femmes, 1869-1939' (La Martinière, 2025).
• Petites histoires de grandes artistes (Animated Series) Educational animated video series for children ages 7+ featuring playful and informative content about women artists. 26 videos produced as of 2026, available free on the website.
• AWARE Podcasts Audio programming including 'Women House' (2020, exploring themes of confinement during COVID-19) and 'Les Grandes Dames de l'art' (2021-2022, featuring 20th century women artists from INA audiovisual archives). 28 episodes total across series, available free on website and major podcast platforms.
• AWARE Video Archive Repository of 42 recorded events including round tables, study days, colloquia, and symposia documenting research on women artists. Freely accessible on the platform.
• AWARE Research Residency Program Annual three-month research residencies for photographers and video artists working on documentation of women artists, hosted at the Villa Vassilieff studio (Paris). Includes stipend and production support for selected researchers.

Quantifiable outcome

• 1,521 women and non-binary artists indexed with biographical entries
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

21 partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• Centre Pompidou - Musée national d'art modernecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026In January 2026, AWARE was integrated as a unit within the Musée national d'art moderne at Centre Pompidou to pursue and develop its research and valorization missions. This represents the culmination of AWARE's growth from independent association to institutional status, providing stable institutional backing for its operations.
• National Center for Art Research (NCAR) - JapanmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2025NCAR × AWARE fellowship program launched December 2025 to strengthen research on women and non-binary artists linked to Japan in visual arts. Awards two projects annually.
• The LouvrecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2025'Le Louvre & AWARE' program to research women artists in the museum's collections (Paintings, Graphic Arts, Sculptures, Decorative Arts departments) and extend AWARE's chronological boundaries to include 16th century artists. Part of AMIS network.
• Mori Art Museum (Tokyo)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2025Collaboration on symposium 'Living with Two Brains: Women in AI and New Media Art' during 'Game, AI and Contemporary Art' exhibition, highlighting contributions of women artists in new media since the 1960s.
• Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporainmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Joint event 'Du tissage. L'histoire entre les fils' (On Weaving: History Between the Threads) exploring textile arts in feminist and decolonial perspective, held during Olga de Amarar's retrospective exhibition.
• Bunkamura Museum of Art (Japan)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2024Collaboration on round-table 'Traces du futur: Women Artists in Japan – Then, Now and Beyond' organized at the museum in connection with their exhibition.
• Njabala Foundation (Uganda)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2024Partnership on 'Tracer une décennie: Artistes femmes des années 1960 en Afrique' program, with colloquium at Makerere University, Kampala. Also partnered on mentorship program for curators from East Africa with Independent Curators International (ICI).
• Baltimore Museum of Art, Art Gallery of Ontario, Rijksmuseum, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine ArtsmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Partnership program 'Rééclairer le siècle des Lumières' (Illuminating the Age of Enlightenment) extending AWARE's chronological boundaries to include 18th century women artists. Part of AMIS network.
• Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) and Women Photographers International Archive (WOPHA)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2023Co-organization of 'On the Edge of Visibility: An International Symposium' focusing on women and non-binary artists of African descent and Indigenous artists from Latin America, Caribbean, and the United States.
• Asia Art ArchivecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2023Collaboration on 'The Flow of History: Southeast Asian Women Artists' program (2023-2025), producing biographies, research articles, and annual study days in Hong Kong, Yogyakarta (with Indonesian Visuel Art Archive), and Bangkok (at Jim Thompson Art Center).
• Frieze MastersmajorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 October 2022AWARE curated the 'Spotlight' section featuring 26 artists born between 1900 and 1951, offering an alternative reading of half a century of art history.
• Clark Art InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Four-year partnership (2022-2026) on 'The Origin of Others: Rewriting Art History in the Americas' program, producing 48 biographies, 10 research articles, 3 animated videos, 2 research residencies, international symposium, and multiple events at Villa Vassilieff.
• Bibliothèque nationale de FrancemajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2021First venue for traveling exhibition 'Be AWARE: A History of Women Artists' designed by matali crasset. Exhibition later traveled to Tempelhof Berlin, IESA Paris, and FRAC Lorraine.
• Centre Pompidou (Elles font l'abstraction)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2021Collaboration on the exhibition 'Elles font l'abstraction. Une autre histoire de l'abstraction au XXe siècle.' 30 artist biographies from the exhibition catalog were published on AWARE's website. Part of the AMIS program.
• Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2021Partnership creating 'AWARE × Canada' program to strengthen presence of Canadian artists on the AWARE website through biographies and articles, with scientific committee of specialists.
• The Armory Show (New York)majorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 March 2020AWARE curated a path highlighting works of 25 women artists within the Galleries Section of the Armory Show. Special AWARE Prize ($10,000) awarded to June Edmonds.
• Institut Français - Saison Africa 2020majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 2019AWARE invited by General Commissioner N'Goné Fall to participate in 'Focus Femmes' of Saison Africa 2020. Scientific committee included Eva Barois de Caevel, Nadira Laggoune, Peju Layiwola, and others.
• Art ParismajorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 April 2019First AWARE participation in a contemporary art fair, invited by Art Paris to create a path of French women artists.
• Hammer Museum (Los Angeles)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2017First collaboration with an international museum, producing biographies for 'Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960-1985' exhibition, marking the beginning of the AMIS program.
• Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian and Universidade Nova de LisboamajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2016First AWARE colloquium 'Penetrable, Traversable, Habitable: Exploring Spatial Environments by Women Artists in the 1960s and 1970s' held at Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, organized with the university.
• Éditions des femmes-Antoinette FouquemajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2015Partnership to republish entries from the 'Dictionnaire universel des créatrices' on AWARE's website, with English translations and iconographic work to enhance international accessibility.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves10 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Getty Research Institute: Research arm of the J. Paul Getty Trust, operating extensive art research library, archives, and scholarly publications. Comparable as a major institutional art research and digital archive operation, but with broader art-historical scope rather than women-artists specialization.
• Centre Pompidou: France's national museum of modern art and AWARE's host institution since January 2026. Comparable as a major art institution with research, library, and exhibition programming, and now operationally integrated with AWARE.
• Smithsonian Archives of American Art: Smithsonian unit collecting and making accessible primary sources on American art history. Comparable in operating an art research archive with public access and curatorial research, but US-centric and not women-artists specialized.
• Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Library and Archives: Research library and archives supporting MoMA's curatorial and educational mission, with public access to artist files and collections. Comparable as a major museum-based research archive, though serving MoMA's broader collecting scope.
• Tate Research: Research and archive function of the Tate galleries, publishing scholarship, maintaining artist files, and supporting exhibitions. Comparable as a major institutional art research operation, though broader in scope and not women-specialized.

Direct peers

• National Museum of Women in the Arts: Washington DC-based museum and research organization dedicated exclusively to women artists, with collections, exhibitions, and a library/archive. Most direct functional peer to AWARE in mission, though operates as a collecting museum rather than a digital encyclopedia.
• Asia Art Archive: Hong Kong-based non-profit archive dedicated to documenting contemporary Asian art, with a public archive, research programs, and exhibitions. Direct peer in operating model (digital archive + research + exhibitions) and an active AWARE partner (Flow of History program).

Emerging players

• Kadist Art Foundation: International non-profit art foundation supporting artists through collections, residencies, and exhibitions, with Paris and San Francisco hubs. Comparable as a mission-driven cultural non-profit working internationally on artist visibility, with partial overlap in artist-support programming.
• Women Photographers International Archive (WOPHA): Organization dedicated to researching, promoting, and educating on women and non-binary photographers, with international programming and a PAMM symposium partnership with AWARE. Direct thematic peer in women-artists research focus, with narrower medium scope (photography).

Others

• Independent Curators International (ICI): New York-based non-profit producing international curatorial programs, exhibitions, and mentorship. Comparable as a non-profit enabling curatorial and artist development globally, and an AWARE partner on East Africa mentorship initiatives.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xinstagram.com/awarewomenart
• YouTubeyoutube.com/embed/v1bjOaTfUE0
• Facebookfacebook.com/AwareWomenArt
• Instagraminstagram.com/awarewomenart
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/archives-of-women-artists-research-and-exhibitions

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about AWARE : Archives of Women Artists, Research & Exhibitions