Module 2 of Session 22-23, devoted to cultural democracy, was held successively on 13 and 14 October in La Villette and La Gaîté Lyrique. The opportunity for the auditors to question the concrete conditions for the implementation of cultural democracy. Two topics in particular were discussed, both of which deal with crucial aspects of temporal issues in cultural practices: the issues of mobility and proximity of cultural offerings in territories, and the evolution of cultural practices with age, as well as intergenerational sharing.
« Aller vers pour faire venir » : diagnostics temporels et inscription locale pour créer la familiarité culturelle
On the first day, the CHEC group was welcomed at the Public Establishment of the Park and the Grande Halle de La Villette (EPPGHV) by its President, Didier Fusillier. By his side, Rachel Fourmentin, director of culture Rennes métropole et ville de Rennes, Juliette Guépratte, director of strategy of the Louvre Lens Museum (both auditors of the session), and Noël Corbin, delegate general for transmission, and cultural democracy, discussed issues of proximity in cultural policies. Thanks to his diagnostics time office, Rennes responds more adequately to the cultural expectations of the inhabitants and reaches new target audiences (adaptation of course schedules, libraries, even work.) As for the Louvre Lens, it is an entire museum dedicated to the public now established in the territory, whose concern for accessibility is reflected in its architecture itself. Its time gallery, free for all, allows in particular to attract 21% of the socio-professional categories of employees and workers, 7 points more than the national average. In order to reconnect with the community, the school insists on taking into account all audiences, is open to multiple activities, and even entrusts an exhibition centre to young school dropouts to pass the baton. Didier Fusillier presents the duplicable device of Microfolies. This device designed by La Villette in partnership with various cultural institutions and deployed in many territories. Through the involvement of the communities and cultural places that host it, it participates locally in bringing to life new cultural uses and a new weave of social ties, renewing with the support of the digital interface, the relationship and the openness to works. As expressed by Noël Corbin, the goal is to create zones of familiarity with the cultural offer, to establish accessibility not only geographically, but also emotionally, which he sums up with the following formula: “going towards bringing in.”
Then it is the historian and professor at Sciences Po Lille Philippe Darriulat and the head of the department of prospective studies, Amandine Schreiber’s statistics and documentation, which gave us an exciting overview of the evolution of French cultural practices over the centuries, but also, more recently, due to the digital revolution.
In the afternoon, the Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of Culture Aude Accary-Bonnery continued with a presentation of current economic issues, questioning the role of time in the formation of the value chain of cultural offerings.
Then Frédéric Hocquart, Deputy Mayor of Paris in charge of Tourism and Nightlife, President of the National Federation of Local Authorities for Culture (FNCC) and Laurent Roturier, Regional Director of Cultural Affairs of Île-de France, President of the Association of Regional Directorates for Cultural Affairs (DRAC), shared their complementary approaches on the theme of the articulation between emergency and long time for the State and local authorities, during a round table introduced by Rémi Bochard, Director General of Services of the Agglomeration Community of the Basque Country and Auditor of the Session. Caught up with the acceleration of time and the over-solicitation, their daily life hardly accommodates the need for a long time of observation to adapt to the changes in citizen practices, yet necessary.
The working groups then met at the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie to advance their respective themes.
Experiments in the spotlight to shape tomorrow’s cultural world
The next day, she headed to Gaîté Lyrique, where director Laëtitia Stagnara initiated the day’s reflections dedicated to the place of intergenerational cultural sharing.Within the establishment she heads, she identified two major missions: find a sharing of common references, and make the optimistic story of a changing world by proposing models, in a festive and inclusive approach.
Following him, Bernard Latarjet, former President of the Public Establishment of the great Halle de la Villette and President of the Office National de diffusion artistique (ONDA) presented the main issues developed in his book Pour une politique culturelle renouvellement, co-authored with Jean-François Marguerin, warning of the need to reinvent or adapt the modalities of public action in the field of culture, taking into account the needs expressed by the territories and new forms of cultural expression and places of emergence.
The listeners had the chance to visit the Aurae exhibitions by Sabrina Ratté and Shiny Gold by Nelly Ben Hayoun.
After lunch, Paul de Sinety, the Delegate General for the French Language and Languages of France, and Céline Danion, Delegate General of the Belle Harangue, Festival of Writing and Speech, have united their approaches in presenting the issues related to language learning and its evolution. Both recall the importance of language proficiency to exercise one’s citizenship and access to the cultural offer, from which flows the support of the Delegation to the Belle Harangue project, which invites all young people to use the French language.
Finally, Jos Auzende, Artistic Director of the Gaîté Lyrique, explained the raison d'être of this place-media, that of breaking through a complex world, oriented towards a future techno-ecological. She shared the diversity and inventiveness of the institution’s projects, focused on digital and available for all ages, with in-depth cooperation and a generational interlacing: her exhibitions Grand Format, of course, but also Capitaine Futur, an exhibition device for children, its workshops, teaching, concerts and masterclasses, the avant-garde with its residences, to “seek, invent together the means to inhabit this disorientation of our landmarks.”
A dynamic of co-construction also privileged by Bernard Sevaux, Deputy Director General culture, youth and prospective of Villeurbanne, director of the Villeurbanne French Capital of Culture project. As the bearer of the desire to «do a little more with than for», he evoked the territorialisation of the educational offer that he led through the mini-mix, and especially the success of the REEL festival, carried by 150 young people, which has federated all generations of the city around more than 800 events.
In response, François Taddei, co-founder of the Learning Planet Institute, finally invited us to rethink our scale to consider ourselves ‘planetarians’.
The listeners will meet on 17, 18 and 19 November to discuss the international and European times.