Document: Joys and sorrows of a Utopian cultural administrator

This previously unpublished lecture was given in 1976 by one of the leading practitioners and theorists of the "socio-culture" movement in Germany. It begins with a brief historically informed survey of the cultural policy field in the Federal Republic at the time, which had been dominated since the war by a traditional, politically disengaged and "affirmative" notion of culture. Glaser then argues that such policies had become stuck in a rut, and throws his weight behind the movement instituting "socio-culture" as the guiding principle in cultural work. This strategy, based notably on Glaser's conception of the cultural "niche", looked to broaden the range of cultural expression with which especially municipal cultural policy was concerned, and to develop measures that were relevant to the quality of life of greater sections of the population. Glaser presents the difficulties encountered in implementing this at a municipal level.

Keywords:

• Cultural Policy
• Creativity
• Socio-culture
• Cultural Niche
• Animation
• Cultural Administration