FONDART allocates funding through a public bidding system for projects that aim to educate, create, promote and preserve art in the areas of:[2] visual arts, photography, new media, drama, dance, circus arts, craft, design and architecture.

FONDART is managed by the board of Chile’s Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes[3] (English: National Council for Culture and the Arts), or CNCA, which meets every year to agree the requirements of the competition.

The Secretaría de FONDART runs the bidding competition for the two funds and pulls together the national and regional results.

FONDART was created in 1992, along with the Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes under Law Nº 19,891[5] with the aim of promoting art and culture and conserving Chile’s cultural heritage.

Decree Nº144, of April 4, 2011, established how Law Nº 19,891 would operate and how the national fund for the development of culture and arts would be administered.