Challenges of the Cultural Sector in Poland after 1989 and the Accompanying Popularization of the Idea of Audience Development Through the last three decades, cultural workers have developed a growing belief in the importance of the so called ‘participative turn.’ The aim of the article is to scrutinize the changes accompanying the culture sector in Poland after 1989 and to identify the challenges which constitute what one could call a ‘fertile ground’ for the popularization of the idea of Audience Development. The concept in question refers to a strategic and holistic approach to the issue of building relations between cultural organizations and their audiences. The article is based on literature studies. The presented analysis focuses mostly on organisations and cultural policies in larger cities in Poland.

This article is devoted to the spatial changes in the postmodern, post-transformation city, and particularly to areas that can be defined as the “in-between city” (German “Zwischenstadt”). This term refers to areas characterized by a change of function connected with the extensive spatial development of a city. The authors undertake to present studies of the case of the “in-between city” areas of two cities in Poland (Poznań and Gdańsk) and the various types of participation in culture that occur there. They call attention to the culture-forming and city-forming potential of “peripheral” areas, which are currently intensively urbanized but which not long ago were treated as industrial terrain or as areas for supplying resources (communications routes, energy infrastructure, etc.). The authors seek out the historical facts conditioning the evolution of the in-between city, as well as making use of the data collected during their study. They refer to the findings of the sociology of the city, the perspectives of culture studies, and the premises of a relational theory of culture.