In 2009 the French Ministry of Culture and Communication celebrated its 50th anniversary (it was created by André Malraux in 1959) and on that occasion decided to look towards the future also by launching a large-scale foresight and strategic study for the organization, aimed at taking in developments in the many fields covered by cultural activities. How can France, often presented as a case of cultural exceptionalism, come to terms with the three major dynamics affecting culture in the broad sense: the digital shift, globalization and the rise of individualism? How can the Ministry of Culture and its associated policies adapt to these changes, while also taking account of the changes in cultural practices?
Philippe Chantepie, who coordinated this enormous foresight and strategic exercise, reports its main findings here. He begins by presenting the factors and components of the cultural system that provided the basis for identifying four possible future scenarios for culture and the media up to 2030 (“Continued Exceptionalism”, “The Cultural Market”, “The Creative Imperative” and “The Culture of Identities”), together with 20 issues ensuing from these. Then, taking this diagnosis into account, he explains the strategic orientations to be envisaged by the Ministry of Culture and Communication in its organization and in the policies it puts in place in the years to 2020. The aim must now be to take account of the profound change of context at the national, European and world levels, and of the changes in practices which are going to intensify as new generations come on the scene, and to adapt to these while taking account of the new actors intervening in the cultural field, preserving the legitimacy of a policy and innovating in the three major fields of activity which it covers: namely, artistic creation, heritage, and the cultural industries and media.
