“In Quebec, what will save attachment to the French language will, for many, be Quebec culture. From books to theater, including music shows, cinema…” This is how Samuel Poulin, parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Culture, takes stock with The duty on the digital cultural passport project for young people. Announced in last March’s budget, this project, inspired by those in Italy and France, is accompanied by a budget of 4.2 million dollars to think over two years of the “best ways to bring culture and young people together” .
One stone, two birds: this cultural passport also aims to “promote access to Quebec culture and develop young people’s interest in it”, as specified by the Ministry of Culture (MCC).
For Samuel Poulin, “data shows that young people are more indifferent to the future of French. » If they are “demographically more likely to speak French than English at home”, they tend to favor English culture, mentions the MCC for its part. A Léger 2023 survey, used by Quebec to prepare its Public Consultation for youth, lists the reluctance they have regarding local culture.
First, the prices are too high (34%). Then the poor knowledge of Quebec artists (30%) and the cultural offering (26%), the lack of interest in Quebec cultural content (28%), and the fact of not recognizing oneself in the cultural offering Quebecois (23%).
In Quebec, the passport will only allow young people to access French-speaking culture. France made another choice. Your Culture pass (sic) can be used to buy a Billie Ellish concert ticket or the novel The Hobbit translated. The bet: if young people adopt the culture, first going through what they like, they will eventually arrive at the national culture.
The statistics seem to confirm this. In 2021, the first year of the Culture pass, 75% of books purchased with the French application were manga, as revealed by the RISE Bookselling study on the different cultural passports in Europe. A year later, in 2022, mangas accounted for 42% of books acquired. 49% of young people who had purchased one had also purchased another literary genre.
What culture? For who ? Or ?
Between which works will this passport allow you to navigate? This is one of the questions to be resolved. Some seem to be included right away — like the book What are you by Caroline Dawson, or the latest record by Natasha Kanapé, Nui Pimuten IIfor example – especially since “indigenous cultures will also be highlighted in the next passport,” adds the MCC.
But what to do, for example, with a musical like The Addams Familyat the Théâtre St-Denis, with its direction by René Simard, its Quebec cast, and its original American text and music?
Or with comedian shows? Samuel Poulin, to explain how passionate he is about culture, gave as his first example of an artist Lise Dion, honored at the National Assembly a few weeks ago following his suggestion.
These answers are yet to be written. “We are at the ideation, research and analysis stage of what could be done throughout Quebec,” continues Mr. Poulin; and which will have to be done while juggling “regional equity”.
“The cultural offering is not the same in Gaspésie as in Montreal, for example,” says the member for Beauce-Sud. It is also necessary to define which young people this passport will be aimed at. “And above all when we can attract them to culture, how we do it, at what age we can create this cultural autonomy that we are looking for. »
Two questions about culture
European cultural passports are major projects. So expensive. “We are aware in the government that the rapprochement of Quebec culture among young people is not the story of one generation, that it must be done in the long term,” replies Mr. Poulin.
Both when we talk to him about the budget and when we ask him if art and language courses or artist materials could be purchased with this passport, Mr. Poulin retorts that we “could go there in phases, depending of the response and interest of young people. »
Arts community reserve
On the side of cultural organizations, reactions are mixed, perplexed by this future cultural passport. The communities have not yet been consulted. The amount intended to develop the project makes some people cringe.
“$4.2 million, that could be a lot of theater tickets for a lot of students this year,” said a cultural manager, who feared negative effects on his subsidies if he spoke openly.
The National Association of Book Publishers (ANEL) believes that “This is a very good project. It remains to be seen where this passport will be used, in which points of sale? » continued the general director of ANEL, Karine Vachon. “Exclusively Quebec businesses? Physical and online? Booksellers only or book fairs too? And the big stores? »
An organization manager stressed that at a time when several theaters are working on accessibility themselves, by revisiting their prices as low as possible, the need for this passport becomes less pressing.
“I imagine that the first millions granted will be used to pay consultants who will develop the platform and the transactional application of the passport rather than for culture,” quipped another.
A call for tenders in information technology was launched by the MCC for “project management and business architecture services”, for a passport which will allow young Quebecers “to access goods and French-speaking Quebec cultural services at an advantageous cost. »
A person close to government and the arts, on the contrary, underlined the time and reflection absolutely necessary for this type of project. “If we want it to serve as a spark for culture, we have to do it well. We saw how difficult it was in France. Setting up big projects like that, yes, it takes time, and that kind of money. »