8.4 Promoting culture and cultural participation
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Reducing obstacles to young people's access to culture
Disseminating information on cultural opportunities
Knowledge of cultural heritage amongst young people
Reducing obstacles to young people's access to culture
Young people between 12 and 30 years of age can use the European Youth Card (Carte jeunes européenne) to receive discounts for entrance tickets to various cultural institutions (museums, theatres, concerts and cinemas). The Youth Information Centre (Jugendinfo) is in charge of the distribution of the European Youth Card. Funding is provided by the Youth Information Centre and the cooperating institutions.
The city of Esch/Alzette offers a Culture Card Youth-Esch (Carte Culture Jeunes-Esch) to young people between 12 and 30 years of age. This card entitles them to discounts on admission to cultural institutions in Esch/Alzette. The card is funded by the municipality of Esch and the cooperating cultural institutions.
The Culture Card (Kulturpass) is another card that gives free access to cultural institutions and exhibitions. It was not introduced for specific use by young people, but rather for disadvantaged people in general (i.e. people having a right to cost-of-living allowances). The purpose is to promote equal access to culture and leisure for socially disadvantaged persons and groups. The card is funded by the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education, Children and Youth and the national solidarity fund.
Most of the public cultural institutions (theatres, museums, concert halls) provide specific offers and programmes for school classes in order to strengthen the cultural participation of students (for details, see: Cultural Education [Éducation culturelle]). Many of these institutions offer specific programmes for young people outside the school context.
The Youth Service of Luxembourg city offers the project Secret places, where young people can join a guided tour to specific places in the city of Luxembourg (e.g. buildings, theaters, churches, museums). It is not an ordinary guided tour because participants are offered places which are usually not open for the public. The tour is organised every 4 to 6 weeks and the target group are young people between 12 and 18 years of age. Furthermore, the Youth Service of Luxembourg city organises and promotes cultural events for young people such as the Intra-Urban Dance Festival (Hip Hop, Break dance) with participants from the Greater Region or the Hip-Hop festival 'Future Talent Stage'. These projects are funded by the city of Luxembourg and the cooperating cultural institutions.
Disseminating information on cultural opportunities
There exists no systematic policy approach for the dissemination of information on cultural opportunities for young people. Dissemination is realised via different channels, mainly in digital format. Several webpages disseminate information on cultural opportunities to young people:
- Youth.lu: Agenda with information on current cultural events, funded by the Ministry of Education, Children and Youth
- Grrrrr: Cultural web journal for the Greater Region, written by and for young people. It is a project of the Association for Cultural Cooperation in the Greater Region (Espace Culturel Grande Région) and provides information about cultural events in Luxembourg and its neighboring regions
- Cultural Education-Agenda: Agenda with information on current cultural events, funded by the Ministry of Education, Children and Youth.
Additional web pages provide information on cultural opportunities to the general public (e.g. Culture.lu; visitluxembourg.lu).
Knowledge of cultural heritage amongst young people
The National Audiovisual Centre (CNA; Centre National de l'Audiovisuel) was established in 1989 by law and is funded by the Ministry of Culture (2004 law on the reorganisation of public institutions defines the objectives fof the centre). It is in charge of safeguarding the national audiovisual heritage and making it accessible to interested people. The access to the different kinds of available audiovisual material (movies, pictures, etc.) is provided by exhibitions and libraries on site and also by online offers, such as a video on demand (VOD) service.
The National Literature Centre (Centre national de littérature), funded by the ministry of Culture, is in charge of safeguarding the national literary heritage and making it accessible to interested people. It offers specific events for children and young people (e.g. book fairs, exhibitions). The objectives of the centre are defined by the 2004 law.