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1. Reducing obstacles to young people's access to culture

2. Disseminating information on cultural opportunities

3. Knowledge of cultural heritage amongst young people

Reducing obstacles to young people's access to culture

Democratising the cultural participation of young people is a key priority of the State-led policies and policies run by local authorities and private not-for-profit structures alike (associations, foundations, etc.).

With a view to reducing obstacles to cultural access and participation, the Ministry of Culture has drawn up a pricing policy and schemes for freely accessing the permanent collections of 50 national museums and national monuments. Applicable since 4 April 2009, this measure applies to young EU residents under 26 years of age, as well as the whole of the educational community.

Cultural democratisation forms the backbone of what the Ministry of Culture does in a bid to reduce barriers to cultural access through “cultural development”, a policy which results both in support for the cultural offering in its diversity and in actions that make culture more accessible to youngsters. Cultural development also extends to people who, because of their social situation, find themselves the most removed from culture: prisoners or socially or geographically excluded people for example. Disabled people and hospital patients also form target groups for cultural development policies.

Artistic and cultural education

Artistic and cultural education has been made compulsory by the Law no. 2013-595 of 8 July 2013 on the orientation and programming of the refoundation of the Republican school. It is also one of the core missions of the structures accredited and approved by the Ministry of Culture (Law no. 2016-925 of 7 July 2016 on the freedom of creation, architecture and heritage).

Culture Pass (Pass Culture) for young people

Launched in 2018, the Culture Pass is a French public scheme designed to make culture more accessible, promote cultural diversity, and encourage young people to develop more independent cultural practices. It is structured around two main components: an individual part and a collective part. 

The scheme is implemented through a free geolocated application enabling young people to access and book cultural activities and goods available near them. Cultural institutions and operators also have access to a dedicated professional interface allowing them to publish and manage their offers on the platform.

Since the 1st March of 2025, the individual part has been reformed:

• Young people aged 15 to 16 can still register on the app and access free, locally targeted cultural offers, but they no longer receive a cash credit. 
• At 17, they receive €50 to book paid cultural activities. 
• At 18, they receive €150, which can be used until the day before their 21st birthday. 
• An additional €50 bonus is provided for 18-year-olds people who meet disability-related or income-related criteria.

The collective part remains available to pupils from 6th grade to the final year of upper secondary school. Under the current rules, the annual allocation is 25€ per year for middle school pupils, 30€ per year for 10th grade (seconde) and vocational diploma (Certificat d'Aptitude Professionnelle) pupils, and 20€ per year for 11th grade (première) and 12th grade (terminale) pupils.

Since its launch, the pass Culture has supported more than 5 million young people through the individual part, and during the 2024–2025 school year, the collective part enabled more than 4.2 million pupils to take part in at least one artistic and cultural education activity.

Disseminating information on cultural opportunities

The various stakeholders working to promote cultural participation among young people do so through a combination of digital tools, institutional websites, national campaigns, and local outreach activities. 

The Ministry of Culture's official website serves as a major information hub, publishing national cultural events and resources, including major operations such as the "Nuit européenne des musées" and "Rendez-vous aux Jardins". Many of these national campaigns also include dedicated organiser spaces and official agendas for event registration and publication.

Young people can also discover cultural opportunities through the pass Culture application (see 8.4 - "Reducing obstacles to young people's access to culture" section).

In addition to websites and apps, large-scale public-facing events continue to play an important role in making cultural opportunities visible. A good example is Partir en Livre, the national summer reading festival for young people, organised by the National Book Centre (Centre national du livre - CNL) on the proposal of the Ministry of Culture. The 2026 edition will take place in June and July 2026, under the theme “Our little and big heroes” (“Nos petits et grands héros”). The 2025 edition of the festival reached more than 300,000 children, teenagers and parents, with over 6,400 events in more than 2,000 municipalities.

Finally, the Youth Information Network also contributes to the dissemination of cultural opportunities (See 2 .7 Information providers in Raising awareness about Youth Volunteering Opportunities). The network is present throughout France and provides young people with free, anonymous, local information on topics including leisure and culture. Its local structures, such as information points and offices, can also help promote cultural activities and relay local offers.

Knowledge of cultural heritage amongst young people

Raising young people’s awareness of cultural heritage remains one of the objectives of cultural associations and institutions, including the Ministry of Culture. This policy now fits more clearly within the framework of arts and cultural education (éducation artistique et culturelle - see 8.3 "Existence of a national strategy" section), and it aims to help children and teenagers discover the history of their society and their living environment, including heritage, architecture, landscapes, and local know-how, through visits, workshops, meetings, storytelling, and artistic practice. These activities may take place during school time, outside school time, with families, or in youth facilities and holiday clubs.

A whole host of stakeholders are involved in this education and promotion of heritage for young people: heritage sites, heritage advocacy associations, volunteering programmes (chantiers de bénévoles, see below) or the network of Towns/Cities and Regions of Art and Culture (Villes et pays d’art et d’histoire), etc.

These stakeholders jointly with the Ministry of culture implement  initiatives for accessing cultural heritage. Some examples include:

• "That’s my heritage!” (C’est mon patrimoine !)

"That’s my heritage!” (C’est mon patrimoine !) is an initiative organised by the French Ministry of Culture since 2005. It aims to help young people aged 6 to 18 — with a particular focus on underserved areas, including rural territories and priority neighbourhoods — engage with heritage sites, their history, and their collections through artistic and cultural activities. 

The scheme is overseen by the Ministry of Culture and the National Agency for Territorial Cohesion (Agence nationale de la cohésion des territoires – ANCT), in partnership with social centres, youth and cultural centres, holiday organisations, and rural development associations (foyers ruraux). It is also implemented through national and local partnerships with the Centre for National Monuments (Centre des monuments nationaux – CMN) and various institutions across the heritage sector.

Local authorities may also contribute to the programme by providing funding or leading projects. The scheme is further integrated into broader territorial frameworks, such as the cultural component of urban policy contracts, rurality contracts, Cités éducatives, and local arts and cultural education agreements.

The activities organised under the programme result from a call for proposals and may receive funding covering up to 80% of the total project budget.

• Heritage volunteering programmes (Chantiers patrimoniaux de bénévoles)

Heritage volunteering programmes also remain a key tool. The Ministry of Culture continues to support associations organising volunteer restoration camps, which contribute to both the conservation of heritage and the sensitisation of young people to heritage professions. 

The main associations mentioned by the Ministry include REMPART and CHAM. CHAM continues to organise restoration camps with volunteers and Service Civique volunteers, during school holidays or throughout the year, while REMPART presents volunteer work as open to people of any age or background. The Ministry also authorises volunteer archaeological digs across mainland France and overseas, open to adults and, under certain conditions, to minors.

• Family visits

With a view to helping the most deprived families to enjoy heritage visits, the Ministry of Culture has published, with input from its General Directorate for Heritage (Direction générale des patrimoines), a guide on cultural family sightseeing: Visiter en famille, socialisation et médiation des patrimoines [Family sightseeing, socialisation and mediation of heritage] for the attention of cultural mediation professionals.

• Europe-wide events

At European level, the European Heritage Days remain a major annual event. In France, the 2026 edition will take place on 19 and 20 September 2026, and the official site already provides organiser and press spaces. The themes announced for 2026 are “Photographic Heritage” ("Patrimoine de la photographie”) and “Heritage at Risk: Revitalise, Resist, Reimagine” (“Patrimoine en péril : raviver, résister, réimaginer").

Funding

Heritage continues to be financed through programme 175, “Patrimoines”, which remains the budget line used for heritage protection and restoration.

Source: French government (2025). Annual Performance Plan. Annex to the 2026 Finance Bill. General Budget – Ministerial Responsibility: Culture.