European inventory of
societal values of culture

Casemajor, Bellavance & Sirois - Cultural participation in digital environments

Casemajor, N., Bellavance, G., & Sirois, G. (2021). Cultural participation in digital environments: Goals and stakes for Quebec cultural policies, International Journal of Cultural Policy, 27(5), 650–666.

This paper analyses public policy documents based on the notion that digital environments have expanded the forms of cultural participation. Focusing on the province of Quebec (Canada), the authors attempt to elucidate the changing definitions of cultural participation in relation to digital environments. They also examine the ways in which cultural policies respond to the new digital conditions of cultural participation. Quebec’s cultural policies regarding digital participation have three main goals: 1) to produce and disseminate national cultural content; 2) to encourage cultural equity and diversity; and 3) to encourage digital equity. The analysis showed that the mentioned goals partially exceed the scope of cultural policies and intersect with economic, educational, and youth policies. The authors also argue that the policy frameworks and funding programs they analysed tend to legitimise an overlap of civic, commercial, and industrial logics of cultural participation.