MED PUBLIKEN I CENTRUM. En studie om publikutveckling, representation, makt och demokrati på Kulturkvarteret i Örebro

Abstract

Since the decision to build a cultural center, the relatively newly started Kulturkvarteret in Örebro has had to endure both criticism and praise. While Kulturkvarteret is establishing itself as one of the city's central cultural scenes, the challenge of being relevant to all Örebro residents remains. Against this background, the study aims to investigate how Kulturkvarteret takes on the goal of being a place for everyone via audience development, what discourse about the organization’s audience and non-visitors exists, and how the work affects the organization and society from a democratic point of view. These questions are answered based on a critical approach and with the help of relevant theories about discourse and power, performativity and public spheres. The material that forms the foundation of the essay has been collected through ethnographic methods where both participative observations and interviews with staff integrate to cover different perspectives from the organization. The essay's result shows that audience development as a concept and working method is multi-faceted with several starting points. At Kulturkvarteret, a goal has been set to reach an average of Örebro's demographics. Through audience development, representation among visitors is expected to increase, which in turn entails the cultural policy goal that Kulturkvarteret should be a place for democratic meetings. While the interviews show that the challenge of reaching groups that do not visit Kulturkvarteret is extensive, that is not always the focus of the work itself. During the observations, the work is instead more about developing the relationship with the visitor groups that have lower thresholds to visit the organizations. At Kulturkvarteret, there is also a significant discourse about who is a part of the audience and who is not. A lack of representation among both staff and visitors divides the demographics of Örebro between an “us” and a “them”. The conclusion is therefore that while Kulturkvarteret works towards its goal of being an inclusive place for everyone, active and long-term strategic work is required to continue to be relevant to as many of the population as possible.