Cultural practices in France in 2018

Scientific supervisors: Aurélien DJAKOUANE and Emmanuel NEGRIER.

The growth in festival attendance is one of the most notable findings of the latest edition of the French cultural practices survey. Nineteen percent of French people over the age of 15 say they have attended a festival in the last twelve months. This figure was only 16% in 2008 and 8% in 1973. We can therefore safely assume that festivals are a relevant space for observing contemporary transformations in the relationship with culture, and perhaps participating in them. Indeed, the very uniqueness of the festival format (short duration, intensive participation, diverse offerings, aesthetic experience and social inter
) breaks with the more conventional nature of cultural season attendance. In addition, the diversity of festivals attracts audiences from a variety of sociological backgrounds and encourages diverse patterns of participation: intense or intermittent, with family or friends, etc.

This research project aims to deepen our understanding of festival audiences and festival participation from three perspectives. First, it will describe the sociological profile of festival-goers and how it has evolved over the years, comparing it with other leisure activities and the modalities of festival participation itself (social and geographical context, practical arrangements). The proposed prism is that of an internal comparison within the performing arts in all their diversity (primarily theater, dance, music, circus arts, and street arts). The second perspective of this research focuses on festival-going as a space for transforming the relationship with culture. The aim here is to address the question of the value of the festival experience itself and its evolution over time and space in the "careers" of festival-goers. Finally, the third perspective focuses more specifically on describing the extension of the field of negotiation in the contemporary fabrication of cultural tastes and the role that digital technology now plays in festival culture. These three perspectives are developed in a constant back-and-forth between the PCF survey and our own quantitative and qualitative, local and global surveys of festival audiences.

In a context marked by the cancellation of almost all festivals in 2020, these questions take on particular significance. We believe that answering them will shed light on the French people's attachment to these spaces for cultural dissemination and on some of the changes in their relationship with culture.

Amount: €39,800

Duration: from October 16, 2020, to October 15, 2022