On the way to cultural democracy: public participation in Spanish cultural mediation programs

In a framework of cultural democracy, cultural entities are expected to consider audiences as active interlocutors with the right to access, participate and contribute to the cultural offer, creating space for their aesthetic tastes and social values while decentralizing cultural resources. However, literature shows that participation strategies are not at the heart of the cultural policy agenda yet. Thus, cultural mediation programs become essential to foster a mutual exchange of knowledge between the institutions and the public, with a specific focus on listening, dialogue and co-creation. But not every program promotes the same level of participation, depending on aspects such as the artistic field; the target audience; the methodology; the level of influence on decision-making; or the role of the mediator, the artists and the participants. In order to study how cultural mediation can promote different levels of public participation in Spanish cultural entities, a thematic analysis with a case study approach is performed, looking at six projects from three specific institutions: CDN (Centro Dramático Nacional), Concomitentes and Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. The collected data from the content analysis and the 15 interviews (with managers, mediators and participants) shows a wide variety of programs, which attempt to diversify their audiences and promote the cultural inclusion of under-represented communities -from people with disabilities to imprisoned women or migrants-. Despite their diverse interpretations of "participation", almost all the projects inform, consult and involve the participants in the decision-making process, while a few manage to collaborate with and empower them (International Association for Public Participation, 2018). Additionally, certain elements are identified across cases as essential topics in the practice of cultural mediation at Spanish institutions. These include the jump from "access" to "participation"; the complex balance of time duration; the importance of creating "trust"; the connection of certain artistic fields with co-creation; or the need of an audience-oriented and holistic methodology with blurred lines between the different collaborating parties. Although some of the analyzed programs can be considered "co-creative" -allowing to establish certain guidelines for an effective practice-, only two of them come close to "demand-based" and "hosted" mediation (Mörsch, 2014; Simon, 2010). Enabling the participants to take the initiative and "use" the institution as a platform seems to be the remaining challenge, especially due to the intangible barriers that prevent the organizations from accepting decentralized scales of cultural value and empowering citizens as leaders of the cultural offer.