Cultural intermediation: cultural offer and cultural practices

Abstract

With the desire to promote excellence in higher education in Portugal and develop the Alto Minho region, the positive association that exists between art education in improving individual skills, and increasing cultural participation and academic results and Viana do Castelo School of Higher Education (VCHSE) was establihed. The determination of importance that the Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo [IPVC] has in the plan to comply with the cultural strategy of Europe 2020 initiatives was the starting point for a group of teachers and researchers of to consider the weight of school capital and cultural consumption, in relationship to the lack of correlation between increased cultural offerings and increased cultural consumption. Through these investigations, VCHSE began to inquire into the relevance of designing and implementing a program of cultural intermediation that could develop students’ cultural practices through art education, improving the skills of professionals qualified by the Institute. The aim of this paper is to briefly present the VCHSE strategy to diagnosis the cultural practices of IPVC students in order to design a pilot program, Cultural Intermediation in Higher Education in Viana do Castelo, which will be implemented at the VCHSE.