BEC to open up to the world

The EAC’s broadest and most ambitious goal is to accompany youth in all their discoveries, to enable him to acquire the means to exercise his citizenship and generally to open himself to the present world by sharpening his consciousness and basing his commitments on the humanism of the Enlightenment.

To this end, the Ministry of Culture has put in place certain arrangements such as the cultural pass », intended to facilitate the cultural practices of young adults and special support for theMedia and Information Literacy (MIL) Finally, it promotes the development of the scientific, technical and industrial culture (STIC).

Supporting young people’s access to culture and artistic practices: the Culture Pass

As part of the missions entrusted to it, the Ministry of Culture, under the leadership of the President of the Republic, has created a new public space for sharing and meeting, a service platform called “Pass Culture”. As a public policy, the Culture pass reflects a strengthening of the priorities related to the transmission of knowledge and the democratization of culture. 

Its aim is to increase and diversify the cultural practices of 18-year-olds by making available a free app. This allows them, thanks to geolocation, to locate, choose and reserve independently a wide variety of cultural goods and proposals accessible nearby, from the concert to the theatre, through books, artistic practice and video games.

Experienced for more than two years in 5 and 14 departments, the Culture pass was generalized on May 20, 2021 to the entire French metropolitan territory as well as overseas. It is now aimed at some 830,000 young people reaching the majority each year, who will be able to apply for a €300 envelope to spend for 24 months.

Through a strengthened partnership between the Ministries of Culture and National Education, Youth and Sport, also involving the Ministries in charge of Agriculture, the Armed Forces and the Sea, The Culture pass is also being extended to young people starting at the college level as of January 1, 2022. Echoing the objective of making each student benefit from a quality art and cultural education (EAC) course, the device includes a collective part, usable in the school setting, for the benefit of middle school students from the 4th class and high school students, and an individual share, for young people aged 15 to 17, on the same model as the pass made available to young people aged 18. It contributes to the construction of a coherent EAC course for each young person, with the ultimate objective of an independent and informed participation in artistic and cultural life.

The two components are:

A real tool for reviving the cultural sector, the Culture Pass provides all stakeholders in the territory with a new channel of communication. Whatever their location, whether they are public, private or associative, they will be able to highlight their initiatives, free and paid, on the application. The work of mediators and accompanists in the service of access to cultural proposals will thus be highlighted and amplified, allowing to welcome new audiences, to weave with them renewed links, if necessary around participatory approaches.

Gaining a Critical Look at the World: Media and Information Literacy (MIL)

Media and Information Education (MIL) has been affirmed as a priority of the action of the Ministry of Culture, which must allow everyone to:

• to broaden its horizon, to understand the world and its complexity, to develop its critical mind, to reclaim information;
• to free oneself from the paths traced by social networks, their algorithms and their uninterrupted flows;
• understand the functioning of digital ecosystems.

In particular, it aims to:

• decipher the information, analyze the images, know how to navigate the different sources of information, understand the mechanisms of influence that are at stake;
• Combat hate content and deconstruct conspiracy theories widely disseminated online, including on social networks;
• promote a better understanding of journalistic work, the functioning of the media and social networks, in a context of mistrust of traditional media and the mass circulation of false information.

The strengthening of the ministry’s media and information literacy policy has resulted in the implementation of a media and information literacy plan since 2018, which has:

• increased support for media and information literacy actors: associations of information professionals, popular education associations, educational actors, etc., both at the local level, through the interventions of the Regional Cultural Affairs Directorates, and at the national level, through an annual call for projects dedicated to EMI;
• The development of NDE in libraries: In connection with the library plan «Open More, Open Better», this component was based on the deployment of volunteers in civic service and on the strengthening of training of library professionals.

Opening Arts and Cultural Education to Scientific, Technical and Industrial Culture (STIC)

Once centered on an asymmetrical dialogue between scientists and laypeople, today’s scientific, technical and industrial culture is based on an objective that no longer questions: the appropriation of knowledge by all.

In the 21st century society, based on the knowledge economy and collaborative innovation, the sharing of scientific, technical and industrial knowledge must be open to the entire population. The exercise of enlightened citizenship also promotes new relationships between science and society.

In addition, the rise of digital technology opens the field of new modes of mediation, creating new spaces of practice and encounters such as Fab Labs, Hackerspaces and Living Labs, which emphasize the appropriation “by doing” of science and technology, individually or collectively.

Finally, making known and understanding the scientific and technical adventure of humanity by explaining the progression of knowledge and the multiple contributions of different civilizations helps to fight against ideological and sectarian excesses of all kinds. It is to cultivate the heritage of the Enlightenment and thus restore its roots to each of our fellow citizens.

To sensitize researchers and teachers to scientific and cultural mediation, in order to accompany more young people in a path oriented towards art and science, this objective of the Ministry of Culture recreates that of arts and cultural education.