O Festival e a cidade: O exemplo de Avignon

• Main Authors: Jean-Louis Fabiani, Emmanuel Ethis
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centro de Estudos Sociais da Universidade de Coimbra 2003-12-01
• Series: Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais
• Subjects: Avignon Festival; cultural policy; France; cultural publics; cultural practices; theater
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/rccs/1106

This article presents a historical analysis of the constitution of the Avignon Festival as a significant cultural event in France. This Festival is considered to be unique due to its exemplarity in what concerns the processes of cultural decentralization and democratization affirmed by French cultural policy. The main objective of the analysis is to give an account of the ambiguities present in the definition of its audience. Based on empirical research in progress since 1996, the article highlights some of the limits of the dominant approaches in the French tradition of studies of audiences for culture. At the same time, it illustrates the possibilities of an innovative approach, which takes into account the effects associated with the history of events and the local contexts in which they take place.