Context

In France, the national policy programme named EAC “Education artistique et culturelle” (Arts and cultural education) aims at encouraging the participation of all students between K3 and K16 in the artistic and cultural life, through acquisition of knowledge, live encounters with artworks in art places, meeting with artists and professionals, and an initiation to the practice of different arts[1]. Following the official Charter for EAC, the student's curriculum in EAC is based on ten principles. Principles 3 and 4 aim at education in and through art; we see that arts and cultural education is designed as a close intertwining of an aesthetic education, an intellectual education, and finally an education by doing[2]. This triple folded experience is specifically constitutive of arts and cultural education: aesthetic, artistic, reflexive and critical (Marie-Christine Bordeaux & Alain Kerlan, 2016). 

Originally, EAC is not part of higher education curricula: however, many French universities have developed “Arts and Culture” programmes that could fall under the same concept: “Bringing art and culture to life at university means pursuing the ambitious project of arts and cultural education that began at school”[3]. We can observe the same goals in all education levels: arts and cultural democratization is the shared concern of the Ministry of Higher Education and the Ministry of Culture in France: promoting access for as many people as possible to culture, artworks, and artistic practices[4]. How and how far these arts and cultural practices and programmes developed in higher education promote democracy? In this paper, I will present a part of my thesis project that aims to study the forms that arts and cultural education take in higher education in France.

Research question

What are the forms and characteristics of arts and cultural practices in France's higher education “Arts and Culture” programmes? And how far these practices of arts and culture could be constitutive of education for democracy?

Objective

In this communication, I will present the first steps of my PhD research: a comparison between official texts defining “Arts and Culture” programmes involving students in higher education, and I will analyze their declared goals and potential effects on education for democracy.

Theoretical framework

If we give a definition for democracy: “Democratizing does not mean making the same good available to an increasing number of people. It means ensuring the social distribution of goods so that everyone's individuality is respected and encouraged. A democratic society is one in which each person can benefit from the resources which progressively constitute him as a person, from birth to death, and even in the memory of those who follow him” (Zask, 2003). Out of the cultural democratization manifested by access to heritage and places of culture, and to artistic practices, the aesthetic experience which is singular and thus the most individual experience is the basis and the foundation for this democracy, because individuality is a result of a certain quality of experience. (Dewey, 2005; Kerlan, 2021). Referring to (Schaeffer, 2015), aesthetic experience is experiencing a certain quality of attention to the world, which is a modality of cognitive activity; the aesthetic dimension is experienced by the individual and not a property of the artifact itself (Kerlan, 2021). Aesthetic conduct dwells in the experiences of ordinary life, and its characteristic is the pleasure of being fully absorbed in mental or bodily activity (Dewey, 2005; Kerlan, 2021). Besides, the distinction between formal/non-formal/informal education provides us with the first typology to categorize Arts and Cultural programmes in higher education. (Conseil de l’Europe, 2000). 

Methodology: a qualitative approach. The first part of the work is based on the analysis of texts: EAC (Arts and Cultural education) policy and programme texts; Arts and Culture French political texts and statements in higher education such as the agreement “Université, lieu de culture” (University, a place of culture) , which indicates the central place of the university in fostering training, production, creation and cultural dissemination and his ambition to facilitate access to culture for all. This first step of analysis contributes to an initial outline of arts and cultural practices in French higher education and their differences with EAC programmes in French primary and secondary education. A second set of data will be provided by the transcription of semi-structured interviews with officers in several cultural offices of the University of Lyon. The sample size will be between 5 and 10. Most cultural offices are administrative components of comprehensive universities such as Lyon 1, Lyon 2, and Lyon 3, while others are part of the applied science and engineering schools such as INSA Lyon and École central de Lyon (ECL). Qualitative data analysis will be carried out using NVivo software and is anchored in an inductive and descriptive approach; the main logic consists in aggregating, in a progressive and iterative way, units around a small number of attractors which are chosen as nuclei of the typology (Demazière, 2013).

This work contributes to a descriptive perspective regarding arts and cultural practices in France's higher education system. We want to give a structured description of educational goals, participants’ intensions, and practical organization of actions. A study of partnerships between university and cultural institutions is also at stake. Furthermore, we’d like to explore how far “the taste of the first time” (Kerlan, 2021) through authentic aesthetic experiences could build a pathway to democracy. For future research, it is also important to question the impacts and challenges of arts and cultural practices at the university. The benefits of them at the university are multiple either for the student or for the establishment. For students, it is related to democratizing knowledge, preserving cultural heritage, and promoting creation, revealing talents, training citizenship, sustaining academic success and professional integration; for institutions, Arts and Culture programmes are supposed to improve attractiveness, developing partnerships between universities, local authorities and cultural institutions. Plus, we can also question the development of competence of students through arts and cultural education, following: (Winner et al.'s 2013) meta-analysis EAC impact on “innovation-related skills”: technical skills, thinking and creativity-related skills, and, behavioral and social skills.

[1] Ministère de la culture. Arts and cultural education. Retrieved from: https://www.culture.gouv.fr/en/Thematic/Arts-and-cultural-education [2] Ministère de la culture. Charte pour l’éducation artistique et culturelle [Charter for arts and cultural education]. 2017. Retrieved from: https://www.culture.gouv.fr/en/Thematic/Arts-and-cultural-education/News/Charte-pour-l-education-artistique-et-culturelle [3] Ministère de la culture. Signature de la convention cadre « Université, lieu de culture » [Signing of the agreement "University, a place of culture"]. 2013. Retrieved from: https://www.culture.gouv.fr/Presse/Archives-Presse/Archives-Communiques-de-presse-2012-2018/Annee-2013/Signature-de-la-convention-cadre-Universite-lieu-de-culture [4] Ministère de la culture. L’université, un lieu de culture [University, a place of culture]. Retrieved from: https://www.culture.gouv.fr/Regions/DAC-Mayotte/Education-artistique-et-culturelle/L-education-artistique-et-culturelle/L-universite-un-lieu-de-culture Conseil de l’Europe. (2000). Définitions. Fonds Européen pour la Jeunesse. https://www.coe.int/fr/web/european-youth-foundation/definitions Demazière, D. (2013). Typologie et description. À propos de l’intelligibilité des expériences vécues. Sociologie, 4(3), 333–347. https://doi.org/10.3917/socio.043.0333 Dewey, J. (2005). Art as experience. Penguin. Dewey, J. (2005). L’art comme expérience. Farrago. Kerlan, A. (2021). Éducation esthétique et émancipation: La leçon de l’art, malgré tout. Hermann. Marie-Christine Bordeaux & Alain Kerlan. (2016). L’évaluation des «effets» de l éducation artistique et culturelle Étude méthodologique et épistémologique. https://docplayer.fr/137175520-L-evaluation-des-effets-de-l-education-artistique-et-culturelle-etude-methodologique-et-epistemologique.html Ministère de l’enseignement supérieur et de la recherche. (n.d.). L’action culturelle et artistique dans l’enseignement supérieur. https://www.culture.gouv.fr/Media/Thematiques/Education-artistique-et-culturelle/Files/Contributeurs-auditionnes/Contributions-ministeres/Ministere-de-l-enseignement-superieur-et-de-la-recherche Schaeffer, J.-M. (2015). L’expérience esthétique. Gallimard Paris. Winner, E., Goldstein, T. R., & Vincent-Lancrin, S. (2013). Art for Art’s Sake?: The Impact of Arts Education. OECD. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264180789-en Zask, J. (2003). Chapitre II. Enseigner la liberté. In Art et démocratie (pp. 55–87). Presses Universitaires de France. https://www.cairn.info/art-et-democratie--9782130536437-p-55.htm