Cultural education has recently been particularly emphasized as key for the promotion of equal opportunities, social cohesion and political engagement. While the relationship between political engagement and formal education has been extensively discussed, little research has been conducted on non‐formal types of education, such as non‐formal cultural education (NCE) in particular. However, the share of NCE programmes is becoming increasingly important as more and more formal institutions are reducing their cultural education programmes. This article examines, firstly, whether NCE actually promotes political engagement and, secondly, who effectively participates in NCE programmes. Using data from the eighth wave (2016–2017) of the German National Educational Panel Study, we implement a mediation analysis within ordered logistic regression models to disentangle the mechanisms at play. Our results indicate that NCE exerts a small but significant effect on political engagement directly and indirectly via political discussions and political interest. However, participation in NCE is strongly influenced by social strata. The advantages of NCE are therefore not evenly distributed across the German population.

(1) Background: The equality of life chances in Germany is often assessed along the lines of a west/east and urban/rural differentiation in which the latter usually perform worse. One currently popular proposal for addressing these inequalities is to strengthen cultural and arts education. The question arises to what extent regional characteristics genuinely influence participation opportunities and to what extent individual resources still play a decisive role. (2) Methods: Using descriptive analyses and multilevel logistic regression modelling, we investigate the distribution of and participation in non-formal cultural education amongst German youth. (3) Results: We find that differences are more complex than a simple west/east or urban/rural divides. Rather, cultural activities must be considered in terms of their character in order to assess the mechanisms at play. There seem to be differences in the dependency on district funding between very peripheral and very central districts that frame the cultural infrastructure. (4) Conclusions: Regional discrepancies are not uniformly distributed across different fields of education or infrastructure. Simplifying statements that classify peripheral regions the general losers can be refuted here. Simultaneously, more comprehensive data could yield significantly more results than we are currently able to produce.

Non-formal cultural education (NCE) infrastructure has recently been at the centre of discussion regarding the promotion of equal opportunities as well as social cohesion and resilience. The German government strives to ensure equivalent living conditions, including access to education throughout the country. Although NCE infrastructure is considered a service of general interest, it is a voluntary service that districts are not obliged to provide. Research shows that NCE infrastructure provision and funding vary significantly between regions and that qualitative case analyses are needed to adequately contextualise key factors for the provision of NCE infrastructure. These developments and findings raise many questions against the background of spatially differentiated socio-economic landscapes. The article analyses two peripheral regions in Germany by examining key factors for the local provision of NCE infrastructure based on content analysis of qualitative interviews. This article aims to understand how NCE infrastructure is provided in peripheral regions to discuss the effect of these dynamics on the development of equivalent living conditions in Germany. The results show that citizens in peripheral areas have found alternative ways of providing NCE infrastructure due to the lack of financial resources available from the public sector. Self-responsibilisation, civic engagement, and individual commitment provide and sustain large parts of NCE infrastructure in rural areas. These developments impede the provision of equivalent living conditions in Germany while enabling a more resilient community through civic engagement. This article, therefore, provides an important contribution to the discourse on social and regional inequality.