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EACEA National Policies Platform
Belgium-French-Community

Belgium-French-Community

8. Creativity and Culture

8.1 General context

Last update: 27 February 2024

Main trends in young people's creativity and cultural participation

According to the survey “cultural practices in the French-speaking Community” of the Observatory of Cultural Policies (2007), young people between 16 and 24 are less informed than other age groups about leisures and cultural activities organised at the local level. Only around 4 on 10 young people report that they know about the cultural agenda in their municipality. This knowledge tends to increase with age even if it stays globally low. 
It also says that the main obstacles to youth participation in cultural activities (according to young people themselves) in cultural experiences are monetary barriers (43 % of 16-24 years old young people interrogated), the lack of time (26 %), and mobility barriers (9 %). 
The Observatory of cultural policies is currently working on a research about “digital practices of young people”. The work is in progress. 

Main concepts

In the French-speaking Community, the word "culture" is understood in the sense of the Fribourg Declaration. It is said that the word « culture » covers the values, beliefs, convictions, languages, knowledge and arts, traditions, institutions and ways of life by which a person or a group expresses his humanity and the significations he gives to his existence and development
Culture is all the means that we acquire or create to understand the world and to take action. Culture is not only Arts in its stricter dimension according to the circular related to training operators in the youth sector
Culture and youth policies are strongly connected, as youth policies are considered as part of the cultural field.