Culture pour tous

article 27

An Instrument for Cultural Democracy in Belgium’s French Community

Launched as a pilot project in Brussels in 1999, Article 27 is named for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights article that states "Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits". The organization now has the mission to facilitate access to all forms of culture in order to empower those living in poverty.

Culture for a couple of bucks

In the late 1990s, Brussels-based actor Isabelle Paternotte and Roland Mahauden, director of Le Théâtre de Poche, noticed that theatre attendance was dropping. Attributing the decline to people’s financial situation, they came up with a system to facilitate access to cultural events for the economically disadvantaged.

They decided to create a network of alliances between cultural disseminators and social organizations that would enable beneficiaries of their services, especially social welfare, to attend shows at an affordable price. They started by guaranteeing lower admission prices by creating a ticket that could be purchased for only €1.25 (50 Belgian francs at the time, or just under $2 here in Quebec, about the price of a loaf of bread). Cultural partners were asked to make their shows available to users of Article 27 tickets with no restrictions on the schedule or programming, while social partners undertook to distribute the tickets and Article 27 programs and to inform and sensitize their clients. For each ticket sold, the issuer receives the user’s €1.25 plus another €5 from Article 27 government grants.

In addition to distributing tickets, Article 27 gradually developed an extensive awareness campaign and a variety of actions to support audiences and bring the social and cultural sectors together. There are now three thrusts to its work: supporting cultural dissemination, supporting critical reflection, and general cultural support. This takes the form of a wide range of services and educational tools (discussion groups, creative workshops, introductory guides to contemporary arts, group outings, a directory of associations and cultural partners, etc.) for audiences and socio‑cultural workers.

Laurence Adam, head of Article 27’s Brussels chapter and a former media relations officer for Le Théâtre de Poche, believes that the essence of the project is to "return cultural access to the people by empowering users." All the mediation work of distributing cut-rate tickets aims to empower people through cultural participation.

Ms. Adam explains how the project has developed over the past decade. "The first challenge was to get the social sector involved, especially the Centres publics d’action sociale (CPAS), or public social welfare centres. We had to overcome preconceived ideas in the social organizations, many of which still have a rather narrow view of culture, and look at what could be done outside of constraints such as schedules. We had to activate links with social workers and ensure that the cultural project made it to the core of the associations."

Engaged partners

The success of the project strongly depends on the engagement of social workers within the associations since they are the front-line contacts and themselves are not always sensitive to the cultural dimension or may be isolated within their associations. Article 27 therefore trains them in mobilizing audiences and offers different types of workshops, retreats and tailored solutions. In Brussels, the organization works with a network of 145 social partners: CPASes, shelters, mental health centres, literacy groups, neighbourhood centres, occupational reintegration services, etc. Last year, some 180 meetings were held with these associations, and another 90 with the general public.

Similar sensitization efforts are conducted with cultural partners. In Brussels there are 140 of these in the areas of dramatic arts, music, film, visual arts and heritage. "Article 27 ticket users must be treated like normal or regular audiences," notes Ms. Adam. "The cultural consumption model must apply to everyone. We therefore ask the cultural disseminators not to set quotas for our users. The cultural partners promise to make all seats available at the reduced rate, without any restrictions as to the schedule."

Most of the cultural partners have various educational tools and offer meetings, activities or tours to demystify the cultural venues and prepare people for attending the shows. Article 27 has even offered audience sensitization activities for box office staff of the different institutions. The array of tools developed by Article 27 is very impressive and constitutes a definite strong point for the organization.

One of the cultural producers encountered, Gaspar Leclère, assistant manager of the theatre troupe Les Baladins du Miroir, notes that "The system works because it’s still not well known and not that widespread. What would happen to the performers if the audience consisted only of Article 27s?" That certainly merits discussion.

Impact of Article 27

Between 2002 and 2005, the organization conducted a study entitled Article 27, quel impact? to provide an overview of its work with to its three types of partners. The need for this evaluation arose from a certain uneasiness on the part of Article 27 workers in the Brussels and Walloon Regions regarding the significant difference between the project’s initial aims and the reality on the ground. With input from 57 respondents (15 cultural workers, 14 social workers and 28 users), the study confirmed certain hypotheses.

First was the diversity of people living in poverty. Article 27 users did not just come from Belgium’s “fourth world,” those who have been excluded from the cultural space for generations, but included people of very different origins and socio‑cultural backgrounds. The study also confirmed that Article 27 is a good tool for the social organizations, helping them to achieve their overall goals with regard to autonomy, socialization, integration and self-esteem.

"Culture has now penetrated the social field," concludes Ms. Adam. "Over the past decade there has been a growing awareness that culture should be considered an essential part of social work. There are real signs that art has its place for everyone, but there’s still a lot of sensitizing to be done!"

Quantitatively, the results are impressive. In the Brussels Region alone there were 37,000 tickets used last year, 1,200 outings organized by social workers and 119 associations waiting to participate. There are 14 Article 27 chapters active throughout the Walloon Region, each with its own operation and each forging ties with local cultural and social partners. Article 27 thus adapts to the specific nature of the region while pursuing common goals.

Marie Poncin, coordinator of the Culture et Démocratie network, says that "The French Community is fertile soil that has produced numerous initiatives bringing the cultural and social sectors together, such as activist theatre companies, performance and creativity centres, the work of educational departments of certain cultural institutions, etc." And, as Laurence Adam proudly notes, 770 of them are now Article 27 partners in the Walloon Region.