Mellem deltagelse og publikumsudvikling - om kvalitative forandringer i kulturinstitutionen

Abstract

Publicly funded cultural institutions are facing two different, albeit interrelated, discourses which challenge the traditional conception of the audience as “passive” recipients of excellent art and culture. The one stems from a general expectation among the public of “participation” in terms of interactivity and co-creation. The other originates from a cultural policy agenda of “audience development” and aims to counter the fact that some groups in society do not attend publicly supported culture. In this article we analyze three cultural projects, which are all part of Aarhus 2017 (Aarhus as a European Capital of Culture). We look at how the three projects are positioned between a broad participation discourse and a narrow audience development discourse by means of interrogating three different dimensions: product- vs. target-led audience development, change in attitude vs. change in action and finally empowerment vs. employability. Even if differently positioned, the three cases point towards a new kind of cultural leadership which focuses on facilitating user participation rather than expert knowledge.