By Áine O’Brien
Defending the ‘value’ of the arts and culture these days is a tricky business. With budget cuts effecting cultural institutions – both big and small – the value of the arts is often reduced somewhat predictably to pounds, shillings and pence. And ‘culture’ is increasingly evaluated through crude formulas, dismissive of the wider social impact underpinning the creative arts and its collective application.
A recent paper by Hasan Bakhshi, Director, Creative Industries at NESTA doesn’t mince words:
There is perhaps no other relationship that is more fraught with tension, more hotly contested, in cultural policy than economic and cultural value. But if there is one thing everyone agrees on, it is the need for more sophisticated public funding decisions for culture – ones that are better understood by cultural institutions and by the public. (‘Measuring Cultural Value’, 2012)
Bakhshi points to myriad ‘economic impact studies’ produced by arts organisations desperately needing to prove worth yet failing to credibly persuade public funders of their ‘outcomes’ and impact estimates. Because of ‘inconsistent’ methodologies, says Bakhshi, we need: ‘…more tools that embrace the concept of cultural value which, unlike economic value, derives from a cultural discourse that cannot be expressed in monetary terms’.
Debates about the ‘value’ of arts and culture become even trickier when you throw ‘diversity’ into the mix. A recent article by Diane Abbott (Guardian) highlights the immediate impact of dramatic cuts in funding for Black History Month and related cultural events across several London boroughs. For Abbott this signals how in a time of austerity ‘racial diversity is taking a back seat when it comes to public policy’. Hugh Muir points to this emerging trend back in 2010, when he wryly comments on Boris Johnson’s ‘social philosophies’ as a form of market driven diversity. As Muir puts it: Johnson is ‘into diversity; but that isn’t the same thing as equality’ (Guardian).
The emptying out of equality principles from diversity initiatives dovetails in many respects with the debate about the contested ‘value’ of the creative arts as a social good. The Cultural Learning Alliance (spearheaded by cultural and art leaders, educators and practitioners across the UK) has responded to the removal of music, art, drama and design as core subjects in the English baccalaureate and mooted a dangerous two-tier system resulting from shortsighted curriculum reform. An Alliance publication ‘ImagineNation’ sums up the non-monetary value system alluded to by Bakhshi.
Culture is the way we come to know the world, individually and collectively. It is as rich and diverse as the traditions that stand behind its making. It is the active engagement with the creation of our arts and heritage, and the expression of what and who we are as individuals, as communities, and as a nation. The quality of that culture is a measure of the way we live. At a time of social and economic stress, the case for cultural learning is stronger than ever.
Questions surrounding the value of the creative arts and culture specifically in relation to refugee and migrant experiences are central to Counterpoints Arts’ mission. And we practice what we preach by creating and producing. From Platforma to Moving Worlds, Refugee Week and One Stop Doc to Simple Acts, Celebrating Sanctuary London, and Learning Lab our projects are grounded in a belief that the creative arts and culture can tell a more humane, imaginative and historically rich story about migration to diverse audiences.
We don’t advocate prescriptive formulas between the creative arts, progressive change and public debates on migration. But are interested in activating the dynamic, cooperative spaces that lie in-between creation, audience and social action.
The Learning Lab at Counterpoints Arts opens space for dialogue on a range of these connected issues – beginning with an interview with Hassan Mahamdallie, Senior Strategy Officer, Arts Council England titled: Beyond the boundaries – is the arts world’s engagement with diversity lagging behind society? Date to be announced.
[Image by Veronica Vierin]
