In collaboration with researcher Camille Jutant, the group produced a collective text. Here's the summary, which highlights 2 main findings and 3 action levers to put them to work (to read the full version, which is in French, click HERE).
- A professional context in tension
The testimonies reveal a profound dichotomy between the desire, enthusiasm and numerous ideas to address and work differently with young people, and a management framework backed by restrictive specifications that prevent any experimentation.
- The need to revisit our definitions of youth and create more inter-knowledge
The issue of semantics is fundamental to know from which point of view we are defining youth. Digital culture needs to be better considered, as do new forms of politicization and commitment. Finally, we need to question our own relationship with youth, and what we objectively project onto the new generation as adults.
Three action levers have been identified to address these 2 findings:
1. Relationships: we need to work on inter-knowledge, stereotypes, and collective imaginations. A dialogue needs to be established, and theaters as agora spaces and places of thought can be used to this end. It is by working together, in the presence of artists and professionals from other fields, and by rehabilitating social debate, that our relationship with young people can be developed in line with new realities.
2. Cultural Rights: the participation of young people and their contributory presence in creative structures and venues is a major issue. Cultural rights can be seen as working tools for operators and can act as a watchdog for contexts that need to be better taken into account: social, geographical, gender-related. They also reveal an asymmetry in adult/youth relations and a possible relationship of domination. In this sense, attention is paid to the participative dimension of the projects dedicated to young people, to avoid instrumentalizing their presence and encourage a chosen way of taking part.
3. Hospitality: the challenge here is to discuss the hosting conditions offered by a cultural structure and the diversity of its uses. How can we bring together hosting conditions, attentive listening, and available material resources in order to transform the spaces and potential of a venue? This work lies at the crossroads of a political and logistical approach, and presupposes training for the people in charge of these responsibilities.
The meaning of actions and missions for the performing arts today and how can they be carried forward?
The question of the meaning of missions, particularly “public service”* missions, was discussed and debated. This leads to five prospective focus areas for performing arts venues and organizations:
- Entrusting artists with the task of producing languages and images;
- Supporting artists statements and attitudes;
- Putting the artistic project back at the heart of the organization and circulating it.
- Focusing on links with artists, local residents, theater teams and other professional venues in the area;
- Thinking of theater or creation as a place that is situated in its territory/land;
- Putting the territory/land into narrative.
- Putting debate back at the heart of the agora;
- Taking on the question of activism/being militant/taking a stand;
- Thinking of theaters as “zones to be defended”, since they have become archipelagos.
- Opening the venue as a resource for local residents;
- Opening the theater as a place to practice ways of inhabiting;
- Seeking to meet the housing needs of young people in the area;
- Positioning ourselves as a venue, as a team but welcoming a variety of ways it can be experienced or used.
- Becoming an empty shell;
- No longer offer knowledge, expertise or discourse;
- Taking a break, calling on the young people to speak up.
*In France, a "mission de service public de la culture" refers to the responsibility of the State and public institutions to ensure that culture is accessible to all citizens. It is a French concept rooted in the belief that culture is a common good that contributes to democracy, social cohesion, and individual freedom. As such, the government plays an active role in funding museums, theaters, libraries, music, cinema, and other cultural sectors.
