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In an era of austerity, reasons to fund the arts

UK

Chapeau : Culture is a social language that we would be dumb without

Source : Culture Europe International (http://www.culture-europe-international.org)
01 49 40 72 46 - contact@culture-europe-international.org
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Rubrique : Revue de presse

du 27/07/2010 00:00 au 27/12/2010 00:00
Paris France



Texte : By Robert Hewison
The Art Newspaper
UK
From issue 215, July-August 2010
Published online 6 Jul 10 (opinion)
(extracts)

Culture creates social capital, expressed as trust generated by a shared understanding of the symbols that the arts generate, and a commitment to the values they represent. It sustains the legitimacy of social institutions by ensuring that they are accepted, not imposed. Societies with an equitable distribution of cultural assets will be more cohesive, and more creative. Wellbeing, which is the true end of economic activity, depends on the quality of life that culture sustains. The word “culture”, after all, means “growth”.

Social capital—like economic capital—requires both regulation and investment. That the educated and well-off have greater access to the arts is not an argument for abandoning intervention to secure a more equitable distribution of cultural experience. Rationally, the government should be putting more funding into the arts because of the social capital they generate. There is a sound economic argument that when the market fails to provide certain kinds of goods thought useful, then it is necessary to intervene—health and education are the usual examples. The economics of the arts are particularly prone to market failure, for it is not easy to make the advances in productivity that technology facilitates in manufacturing. A symphony played on a synthesiser is not an efficiency gain.

It seems particularly ironic, then, that the creator and first chairman of the post-war Arts Council was the economist John Maynard Keynes. He believed that in a recession, governments should stimulate the economy. He also understood the use value of the arts. The decision taken in 1940 that led to long-term funding of the arts was not taken on economic grounds, or for reasons of health, social inclusion or the prevention of crime. But it was a rational decision, based on a rational argument: that we are supposed to be fighting for civilisation.

The writer is professor of cultural policy and leadership studies at City University London.

Full version

Date de publication : 06/07/2010


Période traitée : 2010-07-06
Mots-clés : long-term funding of the arts, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, social capital, distribution of cultural assets, Arts Council, John Maynard Keynes
Inséré le : 27/07/2010 19:44