As a permanent tool for observation and debates for cultural and also territorial policies, the Observatory for Cultural Policies (OCP) was fathered, when created in March 1989, by the Ministry of Culture, the University Pierre Mendès France in Grenoble, the IEP of Grenoble and the CERAT, CNRS local research centre (see the detailed history).

* How do we define the Observatory?

It is a national organism which was created to aid the decentralisation and de-concentration of cultural policies, to help the reflection on the cultural development and improvement of the country, on the cultural and artistic dynamics through training, studies, advise and information.

The OCP works together with the Government, the local associations, professionals from the artistic, cultural, university and research field. These four worlds of culture are represented within its departments.

* Its role and its missions

To explore interactions between social, cultural and artistic dynamics and public policies within their local dimension

To promote knowledge, evaluation, or even prospective analysis of the cultural actions of local and public bodies in order to compare them at a national, and more and more, a European level; Not only the institutions, that are involved in the cultural field, are represented but those which are involved in this field form another public sphere: the Town Council, Social Affairs, Foreign Affairs…)

To help different initiatives from local associations and government services in cultural policies,

To support reflexion on the co-operation and cultural exchanges at a national and international level,

To contribute to the professionnalisation of cultural managers of local associations, government services, artistic and cultural projects and institutions,

To obtain more reflexion on local cultural policies,

To participate in making cultural actors aware of the stakes of public policies and making public decision makers aware of the cultural and artistic stakes, by giving and debating its observations and analysis to the local government, institutional managers, researchers.
* These missions are defined into 4 operational working axis organise and implemented by the OCP:
o Studies and research-actions,
o Training,
o An activity of advice, expertise, follow-up, information,
o Publications in books, studies and bi-annual magazine.