Warwick University, 15th July 2014 Whose cultural value? Power, politics and cultural policy Dr Eleonora Belfiore Centre for Cultural Policy Studies University of Warwick e.belfiore@warwick.ac.uk @elebelfiore ‘Value’ from a cultural policy perspective •  An interest in the politics of cultural policy making and the analysis of the discursive formation around justi8ications of public funding for the arts and culture •  The question of ‘making the case’ for the arts is fundamentally one of cultural value: “There will never be enough money”. “Choices will always have to be made, judgments-­‐
between” (Richard Hoggart) Cultural value and power Janet Wolff, Aesthetics and the Sociology of Art (1981) 'Understanding art as socially produced necessarily involves illuminating some of the ways in which various forms, genres, styles, etc. come to have value ascribed to them by certain groups in particular contexts'. Justifying public arts funding in the 21st century The arts’ sector “attachment” to social and economic agendas: •  arts as an engine for local economic development •  arts as a tool to promote social inclusion The latest cultural industries headline… Creative Industries worth £8million an hour to UK economy (DCMS 2014): •  Of8icial statistics published today reveal that the UK’s creative industries are now worth £71.4 billion per year to the UK economy. •  Growth of almost 10% in 2012, outperforming all other sectors of UK industry •  Accounted for 1.68 million jobs in 2012, 5.6 per cent of UK jobs Cultural policy rhetoric and the celebration of value Peter Bazalgette, Chair of ACE”: When I bang the drum for this investment, with national and local government, with philanthropists, charities and companies, a consensus is emerging as to why this is so important. It starts with the inherent value of culture, continues through all the social and educational bene8its and only ends with the economic. […] We instinctively know this. Imagine society without the civilising in8luence of the arts and you'll have to strip out what is most pleasurable in life – and much that is educationally vital. ACE: ‘great art for everyone’ Commenting on the latest Taking Part survey data (from their website): More people than ever are participating in the arts, culture and heritage in England, according to the Taking Part survey. Phil Cave, Director of Engagement, said: 'These 8igures and the increase in the number of people taking part show just how important the arts and culture are to the public -­‐ and that they are becoming even more so.' great art for whom, really? However, detailed analysis conducted by Arts Council England itself on the 2008-­‐9 data, published in 2010 paints a different picture… Arts engagement in
England 2008/09
Arts engagement
in England 2008/09
Findings from the Taking part survey
Vanessa Martin, Catherine Bunting and Anni Oskala
February 2010
From the ‘Rebalancing Our Cultural Capital’ report (2013) Year 2012-­‐3: Once £450m direct spending by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is added to this picture: Ø  Bene^it php in London: £68.99 Ø  Bene^it php in the rest of England: £4.58 The issues at the heart of the project: •  What is arts funding for and who is supposed to bene8it? •  Which forms of human creativity should be supported and which ones should be left to fend for themselves in the marketplace? •  But above all, who gets to decide on the above? Where do those in a decision-­‐making capacity derive such authority from? What relations of power are hidden behind these processes of value allocation? And what role do public institutions have in these mechanisms of valuation? •  Can this process be made more democratic? Cultural Value and Social justice ‘The absence of an explicit conception of social justice in political life has the result that arguments about public policy are made without any attempt to explain from the ground up what is their justi8ication. Instead, such arguments as are offered rest on tacit assumptions that would not withstand scrutiny if they were spelt out formally’. (Barry 2005) Cultural value: in the eye of the beholder My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding – Channel 4 2011-­‐3 Voted ‘Most Groundbreaking Programme’ at the Cultural Diversity Awards 2010 Series 1 was nominated for a BAFTA in the YouTube Audience Vote category The ‘value’ of MBFGW 2012 •  Audience 8igures for Episode 1 series 2 of Big Fat Gypsy Weddings reached 9.2 million •  Firecracker also won ‘Best International Sale Award’ – a key industry accolade: The judges said the show had “made a signi^icant mark on the international market, with some staggering deals”. •  By then, BFGW had generated sales revenue of £3.5m from deals in 81 territories The ^lipside… The Gypsy and Traveller community in the UK •  Europe largest minority ethnic group (10-­‐12 million): Approx. 300,000 in the UK; 100,000 in caravan mobile accommodation; 25,000 in unauthorised sites •  One of the most excluded groups in Britain •  A Stonewall 2003 survey concluded they are one of the most reviled groups in society •  First anti-­‐gypsy law was introduced in 1530 by Henry VIII ‘stigmatization operates as a form of governance which legitimizes the reproduction and entrenchment of inequalities and injustices’ Imogen Tyler (2013:8) Stigmatization and the politics of recognition Charles Taylor (1994: 25): ‘The thesis is that our identity is partly shaped by recognition or its absence, often by the misrecognition of others, and so a person or group of people can suffer real damage, real distortion, if the people or society around them mirror back to them a con8ining or demeaning or contemptible picture of themselves. Nonrecognition or misrecognition can in8lict harm, can be a form of oppression, imprisoning someone in a false, distorted, and reduced mode of being’. The harm of misrecognition Dear Channel 4, I am writing to you with the hope that you will stop ruining my life. […] The myths that you have been spreading have not helped matters. Indeed, I was subjected to physical attacks during your last series of your 'documentary' which ultimately led to my expulsion from school (long story), whilst my 12 year old cousin was beat up on her way home from school by a gang of girls who were calling her a prostitute. […} We suffer from discrimination on a daily basis and our human rights have historically been violated, yet you deem it acceptable to broadcast a misleading 'documentary' that has been made not to raise awareness of our plight but for entertainment. We are not a joke, we are human beings and your work of 8iction is only strengthening stereotypes and ignorance. Filip Borev, Feburary 2012 Recognition, social status and cultural value Nancy Fraser, ‘Rethinking recognition’ (2000:113): To view recognition as a matter of status means examining institutionalized patterns of cultural value for their effects on the relative standing of social actors. If and when such patterns constitute actors as peers, capable of participating on a par with one another in social life, then we can speak of reciprocal recognition and status equality. When, in contrast, they constitute some actors as inferior, excluded, wholly other, or simply invisible—in other words, as less than full partners in social interaction—then we can speak of misrecognition and status subordination. Misrecognition as ‘institutionalised insubordination’ What can be done? ‘…to de-­‐istitutionalize patterns of cultural value that impede parity of participation and to replace them with patterns that foster it. Redressing misrecognition now means changing the interaction-­‐regulating values that impede parity of participation at all relevant institutional sites’ (Fraser 2000:115) Trying to ^ind a different way Becky Taylor Another Darkness, Another Dawn (2014:7): Despite their presence across the world, Gypsies, Roma and Travellers are some of the most marginalized and vili8ied people in society. They are rarely seen as having a place in a country, either geographically or socially, no matter where they live or what they do. Part of their marginalization stems from the fact that they are excluded from mainstream histories. At the same time, they are rarely granted a separate history, but rather seen to exist in a timeless bubble, unchanged and untouched by modern life. It remains that, despite a growing amount of research and writing, overall they are ‘part of the historically inarticulate’. What we tried to achieve via the case study How can we develop new cultural policy approaches that •  Acknowledge the real nature of cultural value •  Have a focus on social justice, inclusion, diversity and access to the means of cultural production. •  But that avoid the ‘de8icit model’ that drives so much of widening participation initiatives in the UK A 21st century version of the old democratization of culture vs. cultural democracy debate that aims to encourage a paradigm shift in the mainstream policy & cultural infrastructure – this can only be a joint effort!