Les entreprises culturelles sont-elles soutenables ?

When we wonder about the ability of cultural activities to sustain economic development, it looks relevant to assess the ability of cultural enterprises to develop and survive. Considering the INSEE data base on New Enterprises [SINE, 1998-2003], this contribution demonstrates three results. The rate of survival of new cultural enterprises is not actually different from the mainstream enterprise one : But some differences appear in terms of cultural subsectors. Whereas visual and live arts enterprises face difficult beginnings ? due to the artisan or notoriety risk ? audiovisual enterprises face better prospect. The opposite will appear after the three years when they face the industrial risk or the ability to change their own structure according to the need to satisfy new wants and design new organizations. A second important result deals with the role of the banks : When they look able to assess the potential prospect of any cultural enterprises, their financial support can discriminate against their survival due to the corresponding financial burden. Finally, cultural enterprises survival relies on the nature of their environment : linked to similar enterprises, they face an important competition effect ; connected with other types of cultural enterprises they benefit from an important synergy effect. These conclusions support the case for new cultural policies designs.