The cultural policies of municipalities from the 60' till nowadays : an attempt to define periods

If the history of our cultural policy led by the state is better known nowadays, the local authorities' is still to open up even if many studies are about to come to an end. This article proposes to shed light on the continuity and shifts which have affected these policies ever since the 60'. Marked by important continuities with that of the Second world war, the 60' were still in keeping with popular education and defended the ideal of cultural " democratization ". That philosophy of cultural action was put into question again between 1965 and 1975 at the very moment when the cultural policy of towns asserted itself : political parties were beginning to take it into account, budgets were increased, delegations were created as well as commissions and specific services. In the 80', cultural policies were fixed deep in the heart of the media network of towns and prepared the way to the success of cultural democracy (everybody's culture made by everybody) within the framework of a policy taking part in the local development. Faced with the consequences of the economical crisis at the beginning of the 90', cultural policies are today being reconstructed.
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