Cultural Participation - A Handbook

The handbook "Kulturelle Teilhabe / Participation culturelle / Partecipazione culturale", published by the Swiss National Cultural Dialogue in 2019 by Seismo publishing house, consists of 33 articles, some of which are written in German, some in French, some also in Italian. From various perspectives, the compendium deals with a topic that is one of the guiding principles of contemporary national and international cultural policy.

 

 

The National Cultural Dialogue - the exchange committee for cities and municipalities, the cantons and the Confederation of Switzerland in the field of culture - convened a working group on cultural participation in 2014. In the following year, the group initially drew up a position paper, which can be found in the appendix to the book. This conceptual dealing with cultural participation took place against the background of the introduction of a corresponding cultural-political action axis in Switzerland's funding concept at the federal level, the so-called "Kulturbotschaft 2016-2020" (Cultural message 2016-2020). The aim of this handbook is to further deepen this reflection and informed debate - this is done in a convincing manner.

 

Cultural participation refers to the human rights already formulated after the Second World War. The approach also relates to the concepts of political, economic and social participation already established in other policy fields. However, the term "cultural participation" has only been in use since around the beginning of the 21st century.

 

Since cultural policy always correlates closely with social policy, developments in one field relate to the megatrends of the other. Culture and arts are seen by many as a suitable means of overcoming challenges and integrating different groups into society in order to achieve social cohesion. Some of such approaches are presented in the book. At the same time, cultural forms of expression and the understanding of what is to be understood by "culture" become more diversified, what increasingly complicates social understanding through arts and culture. In this context, the handbook addresses some of the positive and negative side effects that are associated with the non-standardized definition of the particular goals of cultural participation. In a multi-perspective way, it examines, however, how the overall goal of active access to arts and culture for large sections of the population has found its way into theory, practice and funding structures in multiple countries, and what future prospects there are.

 

The handbook is divided into three thematic parts: "Thinking about cultural participation", "Exploring cultural participation" and "Strengthening cultural participation". Each article is preceded by short summaries in the three languages of the manual, which also enable readers to quickly grasp the respective content.

 

 

In the first part of the handbook ("Thinking about cultural participation"), concepts that are closely related to cultural participation, such as democratization of culture, participation, inclusion, cultural mediation and collaboration, are examined in detail. The eight articles also relate to human rights and some social megatrends - namely globalization, migration, increased mobility, superdiversity of the population, ideologically motivated violence and political polarization, individualization and digitization. There are no fundamentally new insights to be found in this section, but altogether the chapter presents a broad look at the reference field of cultural participation. In particular, the social negotiation processes on which cultural participation is based are emphasized repeatedly.

 

The second part ("Exploring cultural participation") deals with different target groups and cultural sectors with regard to cultural participation. This ranges from the preservation of monuments and community activities of intangible cultural heritage to projects in museums, in the cinema, literature, theater and music sectors. References to social participation and to strengthening the self-efficacy of people in the democratic process through cultural participation are also taken into account. The practical orientation is significantly greater than in the first part of the book: In the 14 articles, a whole series of illustrative examples come up, for example projects to impart culture to infants or seniors. Different basic convictions and measures, and also potentials as well as difficulties in the implementation of cultural participation are presented.

 

The third part ("Strengthening cultural participation") deals with measures to support cultural participation, in particular from the political side at the levels of the Confederation, the cantons and the cities of Switzerland. The fact that cultural participation is closely linked to questions of participation leads to the challenge that the success or failure of projects and programs can no longer be assessed from a purely artistic point of view. For this reason, some approaches to how the success of participation processes can be assessed are outlined in the eleven articles of this section. There is also room for information on civil society support through foundations, as well as for impulses from academic cultural management and the presentation of frameworks developed in the practice of projects and cultural institutions.

 

 

One of the strengths of the book is that it shows both the German- and the French- and, to a lesser extent, also the Italian-speaking perspective on the subject of "cultural participation". Thereby, different understandings of terms and traditions of thought become evident. This can be exemplified by the book title: The German word "Teilhabe" can mean to participate in and to become or be associated with something, but it can also be translated by to share and to give a part (of itself). The French term "participation”, like the German counterpart, can also be translated into English as participation, but to a much lesser extent as sharing. The French-speaking authors of the volume are accordingly more concerned with questions of "citoyenneté", i.e. citizens' participation issues. The German-speaking authors, on the other hand, tend to focus more on the aspects of sharing experiences in communities. Just these various conceptual and underlying traditions of thought, which still express common goals, make it clear, nevertheless, that "cultural participation" is a cultural policy concept and goal that transcends national, language and cultural boundaries.

 

Also, the various disciplines (including educational, cultural, historical and social sciences, anthropology, philosophy, philologies, art and practical cultural mediation) that the more than 30 authors come from provide a complex overall picture. Almost everyone can refer to relevant practical experiences and prove this very convincingly in his/her respective contribution. The fact that some findings can be found more than once is no loss - on the contrary: the cross-references between the articles provide a good overview of the field. This is supported by an attentive proofreading of all contributions in an overall view and the openness of the editors, represented by Stefan Koslowski from the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, to consciously allow different approaches and to avoid excessive harmonization of the formats.

 

 Conclusion

 

The structure of the handbook could be criticized: the titles of the three parts do not appear as clear distinctions from each other. Of course, many contributions refer to both "thinking", "exploring" and/or "strengthening" of cultural participation, or even to all three aspects. If the structure had followed, for example, a "classical" logic of 1.) theory, 2.) practice and 3.) supporting structures for cultural participation, this might have had a clearer steering effect. A summarizing final contribution and/or outlook would have been valuable as well.

 

Overall, however, it is a very meritorious work that not only substantiates the discourse on cultural participation in Switzerland and neighboring countries. It also helps to give the concept - all sometimes intentional blur taken into account - clearer contours and future prospects in the context of diversifying societies. The book is recommended for reading to all those who are practically and theoretically involved in cultural mediation and management as well as for those interested in these topics.