The role of culture in preventing and reducing poverty and social exclusion

Directorate-General For Employment Social Affairs And Inclusion European Commission

Description

Social problems
Target audience: Specialised/Technical

Sujets

• Poverty
• Marginalization
• Cultural policy
• Sociologie, société et politique

Informations

• Publié par: DIRECTORATE-GENERAL-FOR-EMPLOYMENT_SOCIAL-AFFAIRS-AND-INCLUSION-EUROPEAN-COMMISS
• Nombre de lectures: 41
• Langue: English

Extrait

Comm unity Action Pr og ramme on Social Exclusion olicyP Studies Findings - 2
The role of culture in
preventing and reducing
poverty and social exclusion
Ensuring effective access to and participation in cultural activities for all is an essential dimension of
promoting an inclusive society. Furthermore, participation in cultural activities can also be instrumen-
tal in helping people and communities to overcome poverty and social exclusion.The issue of access
to culture is thus a very important one for the European Union's social inclusion process and in par-
ticular for Member States in developing their National Action Plans on poverty and social exclusion
(NAPs/inclusion).
The importance of this issue led to the commissioning of a study by the Centre for Public Policy at
Northumbria University.This is a summary of the main findings of this study. The study analyses and
identifies cultural policies and programmes that contribute to preventing and reducing poverty and
social exclusion. Policies in eight Member States are examined in the study (Denmark, Finland, France,
Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom) and an overview of policies in five new
Member States is also included.
Access to culture can lead to greater self-confidence and higher self-
esteem, lead to increased participation inincrease social inclusion
society and in the labour market and consoli-
date a positive sense of identity for many
There are many different ways in which access to groups at risk of exclusion such as disadvanta-
and participation in cultural activities can be very ged young people, disabled people and minority
important in promoting greater social inclusion: ethnic groups.
These include:
• Overcoming cultural diversity and discrimination:
• Building skills and self-confidence: Participation of The integration of immigrants can be promo-
young people in drama and theatre workshops ted through language classes or the use of
can enhance their confidence and develop drama or dance in schools to celebrate diffe-
team-working and interpersonal skills and other rent cultures.
generic transferable skills. They can encourage
young people disaffected by formal education • Creating employment opportunities: Some local
and training to seek employment or additional projects, such as drama workshops (France),
training in the performing arts sector. training in digital media (UK) and the creation
of rap music centres (Germany), specifically aim
• Enhancing self-esteem and identity: Projects pro- to encourage employment in the creative
moting involvement in cultural activities can industries.
Employment social affairs2
The r ole of cultur e i n p rev enting and reducing poverty and social exclusion
• Increasing access to information and services: included social protection measures and access
Projects, often in libraries (Italy), extend access to health care and housing as well as encoura-
to the Internet for disadvantaged groups. ging participation in local cultural projects,
sports activities and education, training and
• Promoting social integration: Local history groups employment. Germany’s Social City programme
(Denmark) can provide opportunities for and the United Kingdom’s urban renewal pro-
elderly people to meet to reduce their risk of gramme provided good examples of this.
social exclusion.
• Urban and rural regeneration programmes
were often the vehicle for bringing local agen-
Build on existing good practice cies together to tackle social exclusion and
these are often stimulated by EU Structural
There is an immense richness and diversity of cul- Funds.
tural activity at local level which contributes to
greater social inclusion across the Union. Indeed, • A number of countries were developing initia-
practice in the field is often well ahead of policy tives to encourage the take-up of increased
and coordination at national or international level. employment opportunities in the creative
Furthermore, at local and regional level there is industries and the tourism sector. European
more awareness and appreciation than at the funding programmes such as ESF were fre-
national or international levels of what is happe- quently imaginatively used to support increased
ning on the ground and better support in conse- training opportunities.
quence. However, there are a number of Member
States (France, UK, Finland, the Czech Republic • Local agencies in all countries were aware of
and Sweden) that have national policies to sup- the importance of culture as a means of buil-
port the linking of access to culture with inclusion ding personal confidence, consolidating identity,
strategies and provide examples of good practice preventing social exclusion and providing
in terms of establishing a clear link between cul- routes for a number of people into employ-
tural and social exclusion.The fact that a multi- ment in both the creative industries and other
dimensional understanding of social exclusion is sectors.
accepted is reflected in the widespread recogni-
tion at local level that inclusion in cultural activi- • All countries included in the study were exten-
ties is often an important stepping stone preven- ding access to the Internet and were using
ting or addressing social exclusion. libraries and other local community venues to
provide access to ICT facilities. This was often
• All countries could point to specific projects at particularly important for elderly people who
local level that brought the social inclusion and were less likely than others to have access to a
cultural policy agendas together. computer or the Internet at home, as well as a
lack of technical competence to deal with new
• There were many examples of local agencies technology.
working together to address the multi-dimen-
sional nature of social exclusion.This led to a
combination of programmes being available that3
P olicy Studies Findings - 2
• In some countries a great deal of emphasis is tural services and opportunities – in rural
placed on providing language tuition for immi- areas in particular the cost of transport can
grants, refugees or asylum seekers to facilitate be a problem;
integration into the host country.Whilst this is
necessary to help counteract exclusion, it is • Disabled people face a range of barriers from
also necessary to develop programmes that the lack of physical access to the lack of specific
encourage cultural diversity to flourish. support for visual, aural or other impairments;
• Minority ethnic communities face a lack of
Barriers to accessing and cultural services to support their native cul-
ture and few support mechanisms to enableparticipating in cultural activity
them to effectively participate in the host cul-
Three types of groups are perceived to be most ture.An additional barrier in this respect may
at risk of cultural exclusion: first, those who are be a reluctance to participate in activities out-
economically disadvantaged and lack the financial side those of the native culture because of
or social means to access cultural activities (in fear, intimidation, lack of interest or lack of
particular the long-term and young unemployed, experience with some cultural services and
the disadvantaged elderly and poor families); opportunities;
secondly, refugees and immigrants; and, thirdly,
disabled people. The report identifies a number • A lack of support and services and opportuni-
of barriers that prevent groups such as these from ties that cater for sub-cultures or countercul-
accessing cultural services and opportunities and tures is most likely to create access barriers for
expressing their own cultural identity. These young people;
include:
• A lack of services for marginalised groups such
• A lack of knowledge of the existence of servi- as ex-offenders, drug misusers and so on.
ces arising from a lack of information or being
outside the social networks that would provide
relevant information;
Barriers to policy development
• Where a charge is incurred, for example in
museums or at sports clubs, socially excluded The NAPs/inclusion give very limited coverage to
people may not be able to access those services; the links between poverty and social exclusion
and in general do not mention groups at particu-
• A preoccupation with survival on a day-to-day lar risk of cultural exclusion.This is not surprising
basis can result in little time or energy being as in several countries there were no cohesive
available to access and participate in cultural programmes at national level aimed at linking
services and activities; social inclusion with culture. In most Member
States, the government has not managed to inte-
• Geographical disparities in the provision of grate cultural policy effectively into its social
services means that only those living in cer- exclusion and anti-poverty agenda. The report
tain areas have access to a range of local cul- identifies a number of common barriers that need4
The r ole of cultur e i n p rev enting and reducing poverty and social exclusion
to be overcome to develop effective policies in ting heritage, art galleries, the performing arts,
this area. These include: libraries, museums and the general population
rather than being targeted at particular sec-
• A lack of recognition at national policy level of tions, although the tradition in the Nordic