Incorporating an intersectional perspective into local community cultural facilities: identifying priority areas

Abstract

The integration of an intersectional perspective in the analysis and response to inequality and discrimination has become frequent in recent years because of the need to develop more complex approaches in these areas. This article aimed to present some initial reflections and approaches to the transfer of this perspective to the practice of local cultural facilities (e.g., community centres). To this end, we provide a definition of the intersectional perspective and its implications and apply it to the practice of local cultural management, including the identification of a range of conceptual and practical challenges. The work concludes by distinguishing a set of priority areas for the mainstreaming of intersectionality as part of the management of local cultural facilities: baseline analysis, training, consultation and participation spaces, programming, mediation, and evaluation and learning processes. Despite the complexity involved in implementing these tasks, we suggest that intersectionality should be understood as a progressive learning process that may take advantage of existing initiatives and knowledge in areas including cultural rights, gender, and diversity management.