In contemporary globalized societies, public policies must be flexible enough to adapt to the specific contexts and particularities of the communities and territories they serve. This is particularly relevant in the case of cultural policies because symbolic, aesthetic and sociocultural factors are key to their formulation and assessment. The objectives and instruments of public action, as well as the recognition of its impacts, are deeply rooted in specific contexts and territories. Drawing on the experience of the European project “Stronger Peripheries: A Southern Coalition”, supported by the Creative Europe Programme, this paper explores the challenges and specificities of cultural policies in such contexts. The concept of “southern peripheries” provides a common framework from which to approach these policies, despite varying local, regional and national contexts in which each of the project partners operates. The way each institution or artist identifies with a community or territory is inherently complex and is based on continuous engagement processes. Self-identifying as belonging to a certain kind of south or periphery can be an important point of view for policy setting. Adopting this perspective, this paper enters into a debate about what it means to be from the southern peripheries in contemporary societies. This, together with the experience from activities undertaken during the Stronger Peripheries project, is used to highlight some specific characteristics of these territories. General guidelines for territorial policymaking in the cultural field, at local, regional and national scale are suggested. Finally, recommendations concerning EU support to participatory cultural projects are proposed.

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cultural policies,territorial policies,territory,culture,south,peripheries