The diversity and uniqueness of Art and Architecture Schools are the wealth of the French system and its history. France sets the international standard in the fields of art and culture, in part because the country has alwaystd creative excellence in all of the arts: architecture, fashion, design, the visual and graphic arts, film, and even comic art and graphic novels.
The nation’s privileged position rests on a strong artistic tradition that is expressed both in public access to art and culture and in the presence of a network of educational institutions that offer a great array of training programs in art. In France more than 450,000 people are employed in cultural and culture-related businesses, attesting to the economic vitality and impact of the nation’s passion for the arts.

French arts, crafts, and know-how are found in more than 38,000 workshops, 100,000 artisanal enterprises, and 217 different occupations grouped into many specialty areas—including jewelry and watchmaking, woodworking, the graphic arts, the performing arts, precious metalworking, calligraphy and illumination, engraving, bookbinding, restoration (drawings, prints, paintings), decorative arts, costume making, furniture making, framing, manufacture of stringed instruments, basket making, and so on—all of which exemplify the living traditions that help account for France’s international influence.