Cultural participation is simultaneously a challenge and an opportunity. Citizens’ trust in traditional societal institutions are dwindling. Private companies as well as public institutions respond to this challenge by attempting to make citizens participate.
This demand for participation can appear as a top down implementation and it can certainly be a challenge for companies and institutions. But it is also a bottom up demand. Citizens expect to be involved and that their contributions make a visible difference.This expectation is present whether citizens are involved in do-it-yourself initiatives, civil attempts to solve current societal challenges or in more traditional institutions.
The challenge is to understand when citizens participate, how different kinds of participants interact, and how participation can revitalise the democratic engagement in societal life.
The Center for Cultural Participation includes a number of researchers that aim to investigate the limits and opportunities of cultural participation and - through a number of collaborations with external partners - develop tools to facilitate, evaluate and critically reflect upon cultural participation.
