Françoise Benhamou is an economist, university lecturer in social and economic sciences and a columnist in several French publications. She collaborates with numerous public and private organisations related with the economy and culture, including the Managing Board of the Louvre Museum and the Regulatory Authority of Electronic Communications and Publications (ARCEP) in France. She was advisor to French Minister of Culture, Jack Lang, and has published several books on her main area of research: the economics of culture.

How has the emergence of new technologies helped redefine the notions we held previously on the democratisation of culture and cultural diversity?
One of the greatest challenges we face is trying to understand how cultural consumption has changed with the emergence of new technologies. In France we have invested an enormous amount of money in developing programmes focused on attracting new audiences in the cultural sphere.
But on analysing the statistics we suffered a major disappointment. Although it is true that cultural consumption is very broad, if you observe the data in detail, you realise that the profile of users is not very diverse. For example, most of the audience have university qualifications, and while not necessarily rich people, for the main part they do belong to the middle and upper classes.
And is reversing that tendency complicated?
It’s very difficult. For six years I have been a member of the Managing Board of the Louvre, the world’s largest museum. We receive between 8 and 9 million visitors per year, but leaving aside school visits, the audience is very homogenous.
So we are asking ourselves: How can new technologies help us to tackle this challenge? My answer is that they can help solve a part of the problem, although not completely.
The Louvre recently opened its doors for the recording of a video clip by Beyoncé and Jaz-Z. Is this an example of the type of proposals that might help to expand and diversify access to culture?
Exactly. Over seven million people saw the video during the first 24 hours following it being posted on YouTube – today it has over 100 million views. The large majority of this audience is people who would never come to the Louvre. But through the video they have been able to visit, even if only virtually, a part of the Museum. Many people have seen for the first time masterpieces such as the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci or The Wedding Feast at Caná by Veronese, as well as discover the majestic staircase of the Louvre or the famous pyramid designed by architect I. M. Pei.
Subsequently, we had the idea of organising a guided tour around the Museum which tours the 17 works that appear in the video clip. It is working very well and attracting new audiences. Obviously, these experiments don’t solve the entire problem, but they are changing things a little.
So, do you believe that the use of new technologies can help to bring culture closer to the newer generations?
Undoubtedly. It is very interesting to use new technologies to expand the cultural audience. We have to learn how to use videogames or tablets in an effective and educational way. We need people to feel that culture is closer and more accessible.
For example, by using videogames on school visits to museums; or offering the option to do the visit with a tablet so that people can explore information on the cultural contents they are visiting. It is very important to convey the message that culture is not for the elites, but for everyone.
What initiatives have been implemented by the public or private sector in France to attract new audiences towards art and culture?
Cheaper admission prices have been introduced for museums and shows, as well as longer opening times and cultural heritage days.
From the application of these initiatives to date, I would extract three conclusions: Firstly, that if it is already difficult to attract families with lower levels of education and unaccustomed by their family environment to visiting cultural places, it is even more difficult to get them to return: the great challenge is converting the first-time visitor into a faithful user.
Secondly, price plays only a marginal role: free-of-charge museums have not served to change to profile of visitors.
Thirdly, the initiatives carried out by schools are crucial. I am not referring only to school visits, but to introducing the learning of the arts through participation by artists or writers in school activities.