General audience, cultural and non-professional practices

The issue of the public arises in Algeria since independence, although no general study of cultural and artistic practices of Algerians have been performed. The only statistics available are those concerning museum attendance[1]. So we're going to look at these statistics, trying to draw lessons for other cultural disciplines.

In 1992, the number of visitors in the 8 national museums[2] was 75,893 visitors. 17 years later, and despite the significant increase in the budget for the Ministry of Culture in ten years, this number has increased only slightly since 2009, the 8 national museums totalled 94,205 visitors (see Tables 05 and 06) . They had received a grant of approximately $ 7.6 million that year.

The evaluation of the performance of museum structures is against logic: while the budget for culture is increasing, the number of visitors to museums has almost stagnated. This performance is linked against one side to the non-recognition of the citizens in the products and exhibits in museums, but also the shortcomings in the management of these structures, particularly in terms of attractiveness and communication.

Table 05: Attendance of national museums between 1992 and 2000

Table 06: Attendance of national museums between 2001 and 2009

• [1] Annuaire Statistique 2001-2010 - Ministère de la Culture.
• [2] Musée Bardo ; Musée des Beaux-Arts ; Musée des Antiquités ; Musée Arts et Traditions Populaires ; Musée de Cirta ; Musée de Sétif ; Musée Zabana ; Musée Nacer Eddine Dinet.