"Culture, youth and digital: designing new modalities for cultural and educational projects
Deconstructing preconceived ideas about digital transformation and developing projects adapted to young people.
The cultural offer is sometimes questioned in a brutal way by the “young” public. A questioning that manifests itself in particular by an indifference towards the prescriptions of cultural institutions, or even by a lack of interest in cultural places. In 15 years, digital technology has changed the relationship of young people, and of all of us, to time and private space. The very definition of culture and its mode of access have been transformed.
In order to be able to rethink projects adapted to the real needs of contemporary youth, which is the mission of cultural policies, it is necessary, in my opinion, first of all to deconstruct our preconceived ideas, the judgments that we can have without knowing. It is a question of taking the measure of the new representations of the world and the new cultural practices closely linked to digital technology.
How can we do this? I believe that going through the “doing”, precisely, is a very rich way for professionals. To experience through one’s own experience the challenges of cultural practices in the digital age, by participating in workshops with young people, by “playing” with digital technologies, by exploring new cooperation mechanisms, etc., with the aim of going beyond one’s usual criteria, in order to be enriched by the ideas and uses of youth. It is not about demagogy, but about weaving links, which allows for mutual transformation, creative hybridization.
Methodological proposal
A personal path to advance along the path of cultural innovation could be broken down into three phases, not successive, but in dialogue with each other. In my opinion, it is a question of “thinking the action”, or of “thinking differently in the action”, in any case of no longer distinguishing thought from action:
- Knowledge: to deepen one’s sociological, technological, artistic, cultural, and conceptual knowledge, through readings and exchanges: to inform oneself.
- Methods : to discover and experiment with methods of cultural and educational action that go off the beaten track, which has become overused and ineffective, via new, improbable and often destabilizing partnerships; to travel.
- Projects: to conceive projects and their evaluation criteria differently, to listen to the experiences of other professionals in order to be enriched by peers, to envisage a more attentive and informed accompaniment of the artists, contributors and partners; to try and to assume the “trials and errors”.
In this spirit, we have experimented with the Observatory of Cultural Policies in 2022 the first edition of a training course that I led entitled “Culture, youth and digital”, with 16 trainees, which was very enriching for the participants. We are organizing the second edition of this training in March 2023.
The pedagogical device was thought to involve the participants in a creative process intended to make them experience tools and an experience of “doing”. The training is conducted in a contributive spirit, facilitated by a dedicated digital platform. Its facilitation is purposely proposed in remote mode, to consider, within the group, reinvented forms of cooperation.
The multidisciplinary pedagogical approach allows for the appropriation of complex notions, notably on digital technologies and their uses. This training is intended for professionals and elected officials in the cultural, social and educational fields, whether or not they are familiar with digital issues.
Summary of the program
Here is a summary of the program of this training, which I hope can be inspiring, beyond the training itself. If you want to send me ideas and suggestions, they are welcome.
1. Youth, its rights and pedagogy: knowledge and analysis
To analyze in depth the uses of new technologies by young people, in order to go beyond preconceived ideas about the practices of young people. It is a question of updating knowledge, in order to be able to accompany the practices, the uses, the rights of children and teenagers, in particular by elaborating mixed face-to-face/distance proposals.
A non-exhaustive list of areas for furthering knowledge:
- Technologies and digital uses.
- Philosophical and political issues in the digital world.
- Psychology and sociology of youth.
- Cultural practices from childhood to adolescence.
- Cultural rights.
2. Institutions and methods
To empower oneself, through the exploration of concrete methods, to design cultural strategies, projects, and services for youth by working across sectors.
Suggested methods to explore:
- Mediation issues and artistic and cultural education projects.
- The good use of digital tools and the web.
- Mobilization of young audiences.
- Dynamics of cooperation.
- Public devices and project methodologies.
- Putting cultural rights into practice in working methods.
3. Projects and their evaluation
Inventing concrete cases and project implementations. Work on building arguments to present a project and defend it to partners, elected officials and collaborators. Address the very important issue of evaluating the results of one’s action, by mobilizing qualitative and shared indicators.
Work tracks :
- Monitoring, exchanges, studies and sharing of case studies.
- Mixed face-to-face/remote projects.
- Dialectic between mediation projects and creation projects.
- Project development.
- Project evaluation methods.
Cultural policy" is a tradition of the French state since the Middle Ages. It was initiated by Louis XIV in the 17th century as a tool of influence and power. And it was defined in its current terms by André Malraux in 1959, with the State’s mission being the democratization of art in society. But today the cultural policies are multiple, because carried by the public authorities at other levels than that of the State (cities, agglomerations, departments, regions) and in many other places, in particular associative (places and cultural actions), individual (the initiatives of the artists, professionals or amateurs) and by private companies (trade of the culture).
The “digital revolution”, i.e. the ubiquitous, personalized and transitive access to information as well as the production by peers as a new model, deeply disrupts the “rules” of implementation of cultural policies, whether at the public or private level, and puts many actors in difficulty to reach their objectives. I propose here tools to understand the stakes of this “digital revolution” and concrete ways of working, hoping to bring useful resources to the work of cultural policies, in all types of contexts.
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"Culture, youth and digital: designing new modalities for cultural and educational projects
Sharing of methodological tracks and professional training.
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Tool for the design of cultural projects.
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