Culture and rural life

To combat territorial, social and family inequalities, the DRAC Hauts-de-France is committed to rural culture contracts, to accompany the intercommunalities whose role is essential to take into account the diversity of the territories with its entities and its concerns.

The rural culture contract allows

• A framework for reflection conducive to the development of a concerted policy
• An accompanying tool for a project to raise awareness of art, culture articulating territory and inhabitants
• Integrate the cultural field in the skills of the community (youth, environment, economy, tourism, service to the population...)
• A three-year commitment

The general objectives 

• Promoting sustainable cultural development in rural areas
• Develop the critical mind of each inhabitant, child, young or adult wishing to integrate into a collective dynamic
• To address a contemporary problem of the rural world through art and culture, for example relating to the environment, tourism, societal and economic developments
• Enable the valorization and sensitive reappropriation of heritage and architectures as “cultural landscapes” built with the populations
• Promote original cultural mediation approaches towards the inhabitants taking into account intergenerational links
• Promote creative approaches shared with the public and enable a special engagement with young people
• Establish conditions and provisions for sustainability

Priority areas for action

• The presence of an artist, an artistic team or several chosen by the partners, for a significant duration on the territory that is defined in a specification. Each project includes times of artistic practice, times of restitution and times of discovery in a cultural place, a work of art and intends to touch all the inhabitants in all their places and times of life.
• Awareness-raising and training to ensure that the entire system is understood and well identified by the pedagogical and administrative teams of institutions and other institutions involved in the project and specific training courses are put in place.
• Mediation: each project is built with the person dedicated to mediation within the community of communes in relation to all the cultural and educational actors of the territory concerned by the proposals made by the artist or the artistic team.

This partnership with the community of municipalities is based on an organized governance with the National Education and an opening is possible to other partnerships (Agriculture, Regional Council, Departmental Council, Fund of family allowances, etc.)