Our field of study is in the Gers, a French department where tourism helps consolidate the economy in a predominantly rural setting. The tourist offer and wealth are structured essentially around built heritage. In recent years, our research has focused on the cultural policies deployed in rural areas—and on historic monuments in particular. The notion of heritage is a major one to analyze, as it is a work in progress. This implies a dynamic process that highlights the interplay of actors, social mobilizations around the meaning of heritage, its reinvestment and appropriation, and the convergences and possible conflicts between social groups.

To study the heritagization process, we drew on data collected at Château de Lavardens, a site rescued from ruin in the 1970s and transformed into an art centre. Since 2020, the Château has welcomed over 100,000 visitors; this increase is partly due to the participative management model implemented by the managing association and working team (made up mostly of young people aged between 20 and 30). The monument aims to become a showcase for Gers culture, while boosting tourism and the economy. At the same time, the association organizes temporary art exhibitions featuring French and/or foreign artists, and is carrying out several restoration projects. For the past four years, socio-professional integration has been one of the main concerns.

The challenge is to create collaboration between the cultural, professional, and academic worlds, to integrate different trades around a single project, and to ensure the longevity of a historic monument while adding a social dimension. The development of tourism at certain sites in the Gers has been partly successful thanks to the appropriation of heritage by young people; this appropriation has taken place following the hiring of masters-level work-study students affiliated with the University of Pau. We’ve seen an improvement in the quality of our offer, and the feedback we’ve received from visitors and tourists has been very positive. Young people are involved at various stages of the heritage process: they can be actors, promoters, and receivers of the cultural offer. At Château de Lavardens, this can be seen in the management of the monument, as well as in the development and mediation projects: the students recruited have been able to integrate by developing their functions and establishing a balanced distribution of their missions. We believe it’s important to make room for young people from the very first transformations of a cultural site, in the hope of achieving harmonious and balanced heritage development between the various players and the different heritage communities. However, finding and developing the right arguments to attract young people to rural areas is complex, but possible. We wish to address these arguments to “change the way we look at” the attractiveness of heritage in rural areas, and to share them at the Quinzièmes Rencontres internationales des chercheurs de la relève en patrimoine.