Digital environments have expanded the forms of cultural participation. This paper has two aims: first, to elucidate the changing definitions of cultural participation in relation to digital environments; second, to examine the ways in which cultural policies respond to the new digital conditions of cultural participation. Focusing on Quebec (Canada), this paper is based on a critical review of grey literature in the public policy. We identified three main goals pursued by Quebec cultural policies regarding digital participation: 1) to produce and promote national cultural content; 2) to promote cultural equity; 3) to foster digital equity. The analysis shows that these goals partially exceed the scope of cultural policies to intersect with economic, educational, and youth policies. We also argue that policy frameworks and funding programs in support of cultural policies tend to legitimize an overlap of the social, economic, and political dimensions of cultural participation.
This chapter considers how the practice of design takes place in a city like
Montreal, where it has been widely promoted in the last decade. It focuses
on designers who create everyday-life objects and, more specifically, on the
visual environment that characterises the design boutiques in Montreal’s
Mile End district. It shows that the aesthetics of these spaces are developed
around a set of values, namely authenticity, materiality and hospitality.
These aesthetics are crucial to distinguish design products and signal to
potential clients that these products belong to an alternative version of
the market economy. Yet, the aesthetics of these boutiques contribute
to an aesthetics of gentrification, which raise questions about the local
culture, the history of the neighbourhood, and its population.
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