We spoke to Anne Bennet, Deputy Director of Training and Research at the Ministry of Culture’s General Delegation for Transmission, Territories and Cultural Democracy.
What is scientific mediation’s role within culture? What role do cultural actors have to play?
As part of the national strategy for CSTI (Scientific, Technical and Industrial Culture), the Ministry of Culture is tasked with developing the connection between culture, research, science and society, ensuring the implementation of cultural, scientific and educational initiatives, contributing to the creation of new vocations for the scientific and technical professions, and participating in the dissemination of scientific, technical and industrial culture at national and international levels by joining networks and implementing partnerships with other actors involved in this field.
A number of different programmes and facilities have been introduced to reinforce the connections between science and society within cultural policies. They aim to address the cultural issue of strengthening a common culture and creating connections; the democratic issue of informing public debate and policy choices; the educational issue of training young citizens; and the social issue of promoting factors relating to inclusion.
The Ministry of Culture, which possesses both structures devoted to scientific and cultural mediation, and structures devoted to education and research, is a leading public actor. All cultural fields are concerned: architecture, archaeology, books and reading, art … and consequently all cultural actors that reflect this great diversity: libraries, museums, artists, theatres, science centres, community education associations …
The common objective is to undertake concrete initiatives to ensure the lifelong participation of all citizens in cultural life, throughout the territory.
Did the “Media and Information Education” call for projects, launched in early 2021, result from the current pandemic? Did the health crisis influence your commitment to this field?
The Ministry of Culture has supported the development of media and information education (EMI) for all young people and adults, in all territories, since 2015. It intensified its efforts from 2018, with the mobilisation of increased financial resources and the implementation of a media education plan.
The EMI (Media and Information Education) call for projects is being continued and intensified in 2021. The development of critical thinking in the face of scientific misinformation is the national call for projects’ main priority: providing the keys to understanding the scientific approach and reasoning, reinforcing the capacity to analyse media-, Internet- and social media-driven information, and developing critical thinking are major objectives. Decoding fake news, deconstructing conspiracy theories, combating hate content, and understanding the work of journalists and how the media and digital ecosystems operate also remain important priorities in this new call for projects.
You are supporting the 2021 edition of Science&You: what does this partnership mean to you?
The mission of the new General Delegation for Transmission, Territories and Cultural Democracy, created by the Minister of Culture early in 2021, is to ensure that, throughout their lives and across the territory, each inhabitant can access and participate in the cultural activities on offer. This is about recognising that humans have a right to culture, that it constitutes a “human right”. This is why we wanted to join forces with Science and You, since the field of scientific culture is an integral part of cultural life. New approaches are currently being invented. The joint work of scientific and technical actors and cultural actors makes it possible to develop creativity and imagination. This partnership is also particularly important at a time when a new science/society dialogue dynamic is being affirmed, in which culture plays a full role.
Science&You is an event supported by the Ministry of Culture.
The conference’s full programme can be viewed here: http://www.science-and-you.com/en/program-conference