On this page

1. Existence of a national strategy

2. Scope and contents

3. Responsible authority for the implementation of the strategy

4. Revisions/updates

Existence of a national strategy

The main role of the Ministry of Culture is to "make the most important works of humanity, first and foremost those of France, accessible to as many people as possible". It defines, coordinates and evaluates government policy on culture, including cultural measures and policies aimed at young people.

Artistic and cultural education is one of the pillars of the government's cultural strategy. Its aim, set out in the charter for artistic and cultural education, is to encourage equal access to art for all, especially young people, through creative practice and learning about artistic culture.

Artistic and cultural education is now compulsory since the Law for the refoundation of the Republican school of July 8th, 2013. It is also enshrined as one of the fundamental missions of certified facilities under agreement with the Ministry of Culture (Law No. 2016-925 of 7 July 2016 on the freedom of creation, on architecture and on heritage).

Scope and contents

More broadly speaking, cultural youth policies are aimed at democratising culture and cultural practices, and at helping young people to get personally to grips with their cultural heritage.

The purpose of the Artistic and Cultural Education policy is "to foster, for each child, access to the arts and culture in all their forms, to help to build personal judgement and awareness with a view to developing critical thinking, and to endeavour to pass on the basics of a genuine humanist culture likely to open minds up to the diversity of arts and thought".

Plan for “Arts and Culture in Schools” 

The plan  sets out to expand:

• children’s artistic knowledge,
• artistic practice,
• encounters with artists and artworks.

It also sets out to reduce inequality of access to artistic practices for children. Access to cultural activities is highly unequal and is partly conditioned by the social environment and places where children and young people live. According to the Government, "developing the arts in schools and during after-school time falls under the requirement for Republican equality".

To achieve these objectives, the Ministries of Culture,  and National Education and Youth, have identified three practices to be developed as a priority in primary and secondary school since 2019.

1. musical practice,
2. reading (books),
3. the theatre.

Primary school

Each year, in primary schools, schoolchildren will have:

• devoted 10% of their school time to artistic learning and practices, 
• experienced at least two cultural highlights:
  
  
  
  - a visit to  a cultural establishment (museum, cinema, etc.),
  
  
  
  - a show (theatre, dance, concert, opera, circus arts),
  
  
  
  - a visit to a heritage monument (castle, church, washhouse, statue of Jesus on the cross, industrial heritage, etc.)
  
  
  
  - an encounter with a designer or  performer,
• borrowed books from a school or community library each week,
• sung in their school choir.

Secondary schools

Each year, in lower secondary school, students  will have:

• followed lessons in artistic education, 
• taken a weekly oral skills class, which will help kick-start new momentum for drama groups to become widespread,
• experienced at least two cultural highlights: a visit to a cultural establishment (museum, cinema, etc.), a show (theatre, dance, concert, opera, circus arts), a visit to a heritage monument (castle, church, washhouse, statue of Jesus on the cross, industrial heritage, etc.), an encounter with a designer or performer,
• benefited from a workshop on media and information literacy, 
• if they wish, sung in a choir and attended a weekly screening of a heritage film.

Each year, in upper secondary schools (lycées), students will be able to:

• take part in a research and creativity workshop (music, dance, theatre, etc.) in partnership with cultural networks,
• attend a weekly film showing.

In addition, as part of the Wednesday Plan (plan Mercredi), primary schoolchildren can benefit from cultural activities. The Wednesday Plan aims to provide children and families with a wide range of extracurricular activities and to support the development of high-quality after-school clubs run by willing local authorities.

Willing local authorities can organise "Wednesday Plans based 100% on Artistic and Cultural Education". In such cases, local authorities must ensure, for example, that all students receive the equivalent of 2 hours’ artistic practice by developing an artistic learning path during after-school and extracurricular time that is in line with the school schedule.

A "Reaching 100%" roadmap for 2020-2021 supports the implementation of these measures by:

- Targeting classes that have not benefited from artistic or cultural projects during the previous year (i.e., in 2020, 45% of secondary school pupils in priority areas and 36% of secondary school pupils in all areas).

- Targeting vocational secondary schools

- A "100% aim on artistic and cultural education" label to highlight the commitment of local areas to achieving this objective.

More generally, cultural action policies for young people aim to democratise culture and cultural practices, and enable young people to take ownership of their cultural heritage.

The aim of artistic and cultural education policy is to "encourage every child to have access to the arts and culture in all their forms, to contribute to building sensitivity and personal judgement with a view to developing a critical mind, and to ensure that the foundations of a genuine humanist culture are passed on, so as to form minds that are open to the diversity of the arts and thought".

Responsible authority for the implementation of the strategy

The responsible authorities depend on the initiatives or projects being rolled out for young people: they may be the Ministry of Culture, local authorities or may involve shared responsibility between the stakeholders concerned (See 8.2 Cross-sectorial cooperation)

The Artistic and Cultural Education policy comes under the responsibility of the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry in charge of Education and Youth.