Public support, recognition and cultural organizations: the case of theater

Abstract

Cultural organizations, artists and other professionals, and their publics are today in the centre of the discussions on public investment in culture. The diversity of work profiles of the organizations and the new modes of arts participation encourage the analysis of “multiple sources” to characterize structures, contexts and publics. The article analyzes the support by the central state and evaluates how it operates in the capacity of artistic creation, divulgation and localized-action of structures. Using a case study of theatre, it considers the importance of concerted models of public support using organizations objectives, but also contexts and cultural territories specificities to reduce the overlap of old asymmetries and to amplify the action-axes from “local theatres”.