Overcoming the fragility of public funding for culture
Public funding for culture is currently perceived as being under considerable threat, and so the cultural sector seems to be in an extremely fragile state. I’d like to draw up a few perspectives from a slightly different point of view on this subject.
A Shift in Progress
At the time of my writing of this, in 2025, certain public funding mechanisms for culture are being withdrawn or eliminated, which weakens the sector and will unfortunately lead to very concrete consequences. This concerns the traditional model of how the cultural sector operates in France, which is currently being transformed by political choices made by elected officials who do not see their role in the same way as their predecessors did.
Any change in model, and thus in habits, is destabilizing for a sector, and that is absolutely normal. Of course, we must mobilize to defend the social purpose of the professional sector in which we operate. But we must also, it seems to me, acknowledge that the context in which we live is changing. It is constantly changing on multiple fronts: political, climatic, ecological, cultural, educational, industrial, digital, economic, etc.
In France, the arrival of François Mitterrand to power in 1981 led to public budgets for the cultural sector doubling. Culture was not nonexistent before. Therefore, Mitterrand’s rise to power was good news for public culture. But the cultural sector, like any professional sector in a society, exists only through its social purpose. It does not have a direct social necessity tied to its funding; it remains a political choice. We could very well not have a Ministry of Culture, and yet there would still be culture! This is well documented by Frédéric Martel in De la culture en Amérique (2006), a work in which he points out that, unlike in France where the state plays a central role in funding culture, in the United States, it is the market and private patronage that dominate. He explores how this influences cultural production.
Thus, there are public policy choices regarding whether or not to intervene in the cultural field. And it is evident that a cultural sector not funded by public money would take on very different forms compared to one funded by public resources.
At first glance, one might think that without public funding, there can be no risk-taking, no artistic research, as everything would be subject to a brutal market logic that would stifle cultural diversity, which is nonetheless essential for the renewal of cultural diversity in societies. In my view, this is neither entirely true nor entirely false. Questions of research and experimentation are just as necessary for private entities as they are for public ones. Private entities also need to renew themselves and require research and development. Simply put, the forms of research and development are not the same: the way they are funded, their professional structure, etc. I do not want to suggest that there are no issues with the reduction of public support for the cultural sector. Rather, I want to emphasize that, as professionals in this sector, we can position ourselves in a constructive approach within changing models, including during crises. By doing so, we might be more effective than if we remain solely in the mode of defending past achievements.
A Turning Point for the Cultural Sector?
I am not saying that these achievements are ill-gotten; I am saying that it is important for the cultural sector to develop antifragility and robustness, to embed itself more deeply in the social fabric, perhaps in a more interdisciplinary way and with renewed artistic forms that need to be reinvented.
I believe we are at a turning point in the history of the French cultural sector. It seems essential to me to innovate in how we think about the role of culture in society. This involves rethinking funding models and collaborations, with, among other tools, the valuable framework of cultural rights. Cultural rights, I believe, can greatly assist in this, as culture is necessary everywhere.
Catching the Wave of Cultural Innovation
Take the train, for example, which is a daily environment for many French citizens, whether it’s a commuter train or a long-distance train. The country’s economy relies on rail transport. In these spaces, what is the place for culture? Does it have a place? At first glance, no. Or only in an event-based manner, on banners during construction work.
But if you go on a TGV or other long-distance train, we are told that we can connect to Wi-Fi and consume cultural goods, newspapers, films, books... What are they? Has there really been any thought given to this? What portion of the rail sector’s budget is dedicated to culture? In my opinion, this portion is minimal. And in my opinion, our role as cultural professionals is perhaps to reflect on what could be imagined and implemented in these spaces. There have been numerous cultural projects with the SNCF. But nothing has matured. Everything remains as one-off, non-sustainable experiments.
One might think that culture has no place there, that after all, people have other things to do when they take the train. That is false.
Because what do many people do on long-distance trains? They watch movies, read books, listen to music... They engage in cultural practices. And cultural practices are extremely developed in this context. But they are mostly managed by actors other than those in the rail sector.
I am not saying it would be easy to convince the SNCF to invest significant budgets in culture. I am simply pointing out that cultural practices are massive there, and thus there is a huge opportunity for this professional sector to cultivate many more cultural projects. What would this serve? Well, it would better align cultural practices with travel practices.
I do not mean that there should be more films about trains; I mean that by developing culture in these spaces, it could further enhance the quality of the passenger experience and thus profoundly transform the place of the rail sector in the mental representation that the French have of it.
I do not have a precise idea of what should be done. However, I know that if more numerous and well-constructed cultural experiments were conducted there, it could lead to very strong anthropological transformations. And to produce these transformations, it would require the work of many cultural professionals. The necessary funding would then exist de facto, as it could increase train ridership.
Of course, research and development would be needed, but as the name suggests, research serves development, and research involves experimentation, trial and error. Any company that wants to grow knows it must invest to innovate, and if it does not, if it does not invest, it will gradually impoverish as it ages, meaning it will slowly drift away from the reality of its surroundings and the needs of the time.
The New Role of Cultural Professionals
I chose the example of the SNCF at random. I could have taken any other professional sector as an example. What I want to highlight here is a new role for cultural professionals: a pedagogical role vis-à-vis many other sectors beyond the traditional public sector supporting culture in France.
This, in my opinion, is extremely important. There are many people to educate about what the development of a cultural sector within their domain can bring to their profession, to ensure they continue to exist tomorrow and exist better. And I’m not saying it’s easy to implement. The educational task is immense.
My multidisciplinary practices—spanning creation, cultural action, training, and support in a wide range of cultural, social, and educational contexts across France—provide me with a privileged, subjective, and in-depth observatory of the cultural sector in France.
This sector is weakened by its position, often deemed “non-essential” by many political leaders, by the competition from digital platforms in cultural practices, as well as by challenges and obstacles related to the difficulty of establishing interdisciplinary collaborations and the scarcity of evaluations, which are often poorly conducted and instrumentalized.
My observatory allows me to identify dynamics that work, as well as difficulties I observe. Here, I propose to share my analyses, methods, and suggestions, hoping they may prove useful. My goal is to contribute to a stronger cultural sector in the future, as I believe that defending a cultural sector funded by taxpayers’ money holds the potential for emancipation, the development of freedoms, democracy, and the capacity to act—in a way that is fundamentally different from what private actors produce.
This is possible if there is no hypocrisy, and in my view, it comes at the cost of a commitment to lucidity and self-questioning, a choice to deconstruct representations, and perhaps to challenge certain privileges and systems of domination.
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The Fertile Margin
Reframe cultural and therapeutic practices within the current reality, where digital culture has become the dominant culture.
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What Artistic Discourse Reveals About Itself
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The Representation of One’s Cultural Role
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Is Culture Serving the Public?
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The True False Cultural Freedom
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The Hypocrisy of Cultural Actors’ Independence
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The False Public-Private Debate in the Cultural Sector
What is at stake in cultural policies is not the public-private opposition, but a transformation in what we expect from culture.
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The Free Institution
Opening spaces for creation outside the logics of cultural domination.
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Why Are Cultural Actors So Fragile?
A plea for a democratic refoundation of cultural institutions in the face of political arbitrariness.
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Social Networks and Cultural Institutions: Breaking the Strategic Deadlock
Towards a digital policy that renounces communication in favor of citizen empowerment.
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Beyond Mobilizing Audiences: Building Democratic Narratives
Rethinking the link between cultural institutions and citizens through collective storytelling.
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On the Fragility of Corporatism
When the defense of cultural privileges masquerades as freedom of expression.
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The connected audience
Rethinking cultural participation through building connections.
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Culture and politics: the forgotten lesson of sanitary totalitarianism
Reflections on the submission of the cultural sector in the face of authority.
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Rethinking the digital content strategy of cultural institutions
For a web presence that prioritizes editorial authority over social media dispersion.
Cultural institutions would benefit from concentrating their efforts on producing reference content rather than maintaining a dispersed presence (…) -
The artistic relationship with the audience
The paradoxical intimacy of live streams on social media.
Starting from the Belgian pop duo Candeur Cyclone on social media, I explore the dialectic of contemporary artistic encounters. Questioning our (…) -
The Non-Institutional Cultural Institution
For a citizen reappropriation of creation.
Rethinking culture beyond institutional walls: how spontaneous practices redefine our relationship with creation and question established cultural (…) -
The Accelerated Eye
Manifesto for a new ecology of the gaze.
What if speed were not the enemy of culture, but the instrument of a new form of sensitive intelligence? A radical reappropriation of our right to (…) -
The myth of recognition through cultural democratization
Rethinking artistic value beyond systems of domination.
Artistic recognition is less about talent than about a social game that some refuse to participate in. A reflection on alternative paths to (…) -
The Misguided Debate on Funding Cuts for Culture
Rethinking the Role of Public Funding Beyond the Numbers
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For a narrative revolution of territories
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Implementing cultural dissemination
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Culture and political power: from a marriage of convenience to a consummated divorce
From Louis XIV to Rachida Dati: anatomy of a rupture between subsidized culture and political legitimacy.
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What is a cultural policy? Why is culture political? And what is political in culture?
A critical approach to cultural policies through the lens of cultural rights.
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Dilapidation of resources in supply logic
For a democratic revolution of cultural practices.
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Formalizing the informal
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Towards a distributed cultural sector
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France’s cultural sector faces the urgent need for a rethink
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Cultivating digital sovereignty
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Cultural investigation with artificial intelligence
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Corporate memory at the service of cultural rights
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Towards voluntary evaluation of cultural projects
For “cultural prevention” policies.
The subsidized cultural sector is going through a crisis of legitimacy after betraying its democratic values. I believe that a refoundation (…) -
Welcoming radicalized people to cultural venues
For a truly inclusive cultural democracy.
Do cultural venues filter their audiences, consciously or unconsciously, according to criteria of radicalism? This question reveals our (…) -
Cultural venues and social networks
How to turn audiences into ambassadors rather than chasing followers.
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Documentation and artificial intelligence
Rethinking professional practices.
Generative AI can profoundly enrich our professional practices. To exploit their potential for constructive synthesis and analysis, we need to (…) -
For a virtuous dispersal of the cultural sector
The end of traditional cultural influence.
The cultural sector is going through a major crisis that reveals a paradigm shift. In my opinion, we must now cultivate culture everywhere, in all (…) -
The marginality of cultural institutions
Lucidity of a paradigm shift.
Traditional cultural institutions, once central, have become marginal in the face of digital practices that now dominate citizens’ attention. This (…) -
On the role of artists
For a politics of the artist.
The political role of the artist is never neutral. Whether they want it or not, their social position and aesthetic choices reflect an engagement, (…) -
Primary and secondary cultural practices
For a cultural dialectic of public proposals.
Daily cultural practices (internal) are underestimated compared to external cultural offerings, yet the latter are secondary in people’s lives. (…) -
Re-engaging France’s public cultural sector as a good corporate citizen
Avenues of action for a permanent future.
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Evolving forms of artistic creation
An anthropological reflection on the forms of subsidized artistic creation.
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Beyond walls: video as a vehicle for cultural democracy
When digital mediation transforms the relationship between citizens and heritage.
Video in museums represents a challenge of cultural mediation and the democratization of heritage. In the digital age, it transforms the (…) -
Legitimizing unfamiliar cultural practices
Anthropology of the future.
To foster intercultural dialogue, we need to legitimize cultural practices that are unknown to us, without ranking them above our own. This (…) -
Putting Artificial Intelligence to good use in the cultural sector
Methodological approaches.
By 2025, it seems essential to enable employees and stakeholders in the cultural sector to share the challenges of AI within their professional (…) -
Overcoming the fragility of public funding for culture
Anthropological point of view, to sketch out future paths.
Public funding for culture is currently perceived as being under considerable threat, and so the cultural sector seems to be in an extremely (…) -
Systematize mutual discoveries between cultural players
Removing obstacles to cooperation.
Common-sense proposal for better mutual understanding among cultural actors in the same territory. Why don’t we know each other well enough?In (…) -
Pour une robustesse coopérative des projets culturels
Réflexion sur les modalités de coopération territoriale et d’évaluation.
Pour que les projets culturels puissent trouver pleinement leur sens social et devenir plus robustes face aux attaques politiques qui les jugent « (…) -
“Donotdo”
Methodological concept of setting the world in motion.
The neologism “donotdo”, which I develop here, describes the capacity we have to set the world in motion at great depth, to transform it in a way (…) -
New directions
A film by Emmanuel Vergès and Benoît Labourdette (1’25s, 2021).
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Balance and supports
A method for the sustainability of projects.
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Build antifragility for cultural projects
Methodological proposal.
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Build antifragility for cultural projects
Methodological proposal.
What methodology should be adopted to build cultural projects that have the capacity to tame uncertainty and thus become more deeply rooted in (…) -
Pour une robustesse coopérative des projets culturels
Réflexion sur les modalités de coopération territoriale et d’évaluation.
Pour que les projets culturels puissent trouver pleinement leur sens social et devenir plus robustes face aux attaques politiques qui les jugent « (…) -
For a virtuous dispersal of the cultural sector The end of traditional cultural influence.
The cultural sector is going through a major crisis that reveals a paradigm shift. In my opinion, we must now cultivate culture everywhere, in all (…) -
Putting Artificial Intelligence to good use in the cultural sector Methodological approaches.
By 2025, it seems essential to enable employees and stakeholders in the cultural sector to share the challenges of AI within their professional (…) -
The marginality of cultural institutions Lucidity of a paradigm shift.
Traditional cultural institutions, once central, have become marginal in the face of digital practices that now dominate citizens’ attention. This (…)
