Cooperative cultural groupings (extract)[Les groupements culturels coopératifs (extrait)]

The book aims at better understanding how each in their own way cultural organizations fit together the individual and the collective, the singular and the common. It focuses on the structures or devices that play an essential role in supporting or intermediating artistic or cultural projects in France characterized by both a professional aim and a modest size (cooperatives, wastelands, cultural third places, professional networks, cultural projects of territory...). More specifically, it explores the relationship between the support for the specific identity of projects and the coordination of the plurality of actors they involve. Although not exclusive, the reported cases rather refer to the cultural branches of crafts – in particular performing arts and plastic arts. The approach is based on the observation and analysis of a set of concrete situations, backed by contextual and theoretical references which problematize the cases studied. It does not imply prior knowledge of the topics covered, while offering prospects of deepening their knowledge to the readers who are more familiar with them. The cooperative cultural groupings thus appear to be exemplary of a general operating system – the community regime of singularities. This proves to be in tune with current sociological and technological developments, while experimenting with the possibilities and limits of a cultural democracy that feeds as much on pragmatism as on ideality.