Cultural mediation and its forms in the pedagogical science and practice in France

The article is devoted to the study of a term “Cultural Mediation” that is widely spread in pedagogical theory and practice in France. It presents different international variations of the term, such as: Cross-cultural Mediation, Cultural Development, Outreach, Education, Interpretation, Social Inclusion, Access, Cultural Promotion. The main accent is paid to mediation in practice and it is studied from different perspectives. There is connection between Cultural Mediation and art, curator, programming, teaching and educating, pedagogical service, vulgar- ization, interpretation, cultural action, animation and entertainment. One of the main peculiarities of mediation is presented in the article, i.e. the work with different public, such as: children under school age, pupils, adults, immigrants, illiterate people, delinquents, disabled and others. Besides, the article highlights such functions of mediation as Pedagogy in the sphere of Optional Education and social and political function of Cultural Democ- ratization, which was first mentioned by French minister of culture Andre Malreaux. Another aspect taken into consideration is the forms of mediation: direct and indirect. The author points out the idea that it is possible to work with audience not only by means of excursions in monologue, dialogue, false-dialogue and culture exchange, but also with the help of questionnaires, planning, visitor study, pedagogical atelier, games and quests, culture proj- ects, teacher's book and student's book. Moreover, the author presents her own definitions for the terms “Cultural Mediation” and “Mediator”.