Re-visioning Arts and Cultural Policy: Current Impasses and Future Directions

In this monograph I am not advocating ‘economic rationalist’ or ‘neo-liberal’ policies. Instead, I am interested in investigating options that combine forms of government support with market-oriented measures in more imaginative and productive ways irrespective of the broad governmental agenda. Such strategies will inevitably involve a ‘mix-and-match’ composite of objectives, mechanisms, outcomes and evaluation measures. To achieve this, it is essential that strategies reject the ‘old school’ arts and cultural hierarchy that give rhetorical support to popular culture but insistently focuses schemes for government support into traditional, elite and non-popular forms of culture. This ‘arts club’ seeks to reproduce earlier forms of patronage under the guise of new governance, relying on self-serving arguments reminiscent of old-style lobbying. Alternatively, non-elite culture is treated as part of a general platform of cultural sustainability (that I prefer to call ‘eco-culture’ or ‘pan-culture’) and addressed in 'whole-of-government' or 'joined-up' governmental approaches. This monograph addresses these questions and offers possible solutions to these dilemmas by taking a constructively critical view with an eye to the longer-term sustainability of the sector. While situating the monograph in an international context, specific reference is made to arts and culture in Australia, examining the role of government policy, specialist agencies, interest groups and cultural practitioners. I welcome the debate that should ensue.