So near and yet so far: Marseille youth attitudes towards democratised institutions of culture

This paper examines how young people in Marseille perceive democratised cultural institutions that seek to get in tune with their expectations and cultural preferences, and explores the interplay between the political vision of the city's peripheral neighbourhoods and the aspirational pursuits of its inhabitants. European policies encourage young people to be active citizens and participate in society in order to ensure their involvement in the European democratic processes. As culture strengthens local communities and forges a sense of identity and belonging to the larger community of Europe, contemporary forms of cultural consumption are conceived to stimulate integration and mobility and also create a legitimate and transnational ideal young European citizen type. However, cultural struggles and identity conflicts emerging in Europe, particularly in the current context of increasing immigration issues, raise new challenges for inclusive cultural policies. The statistical and ethnographical analysis of interactions between the National Scene – Theater of Le Merlan and young people from the nearby Grand Saint-Barthélémy urban area, typically associated with immigration, drug dealers and crime, identifies a weak impact of national and European inclusive policies on young audiences. This article highlights three main research results: 1) top-down state and European inclusive cultural policies contribute, paradoxically, to the progressive estrangement of targeted populations (especially young, poor and immigrant audiences) from democratised institutions of culture; 2) the immediate proximity of cultural institutions is relatively unimportant for populations. Regular theatre audiences can easily reach peripheral districts to participate in new cultural offerings, while populations poorly integrated into cultural life are not attracted even by nearby cultural offerings, despite their spatial proximity; 3) the general assumption of centralisation and gentrification of Theater of Le Merlan's audiences