Arts and culture have long claimed that their work is socially essential. But with the sector in crisis, Pierre d’Alancaisez asks how this can any longer be justified.
Art and culture like to see themselves as representatives of social causes. But the pandemic has turned their solidarity towards themselves. Does this undermine their often proclaimed social relevance more than it helps them?
In the midst of the pandemic crisis, art and culture are forced to lobby for their survival and to compete for resources with other imperilled industries more than ever. They are also facing a new test of their claims of culture’s social utility. Since the publication of François Matarasso’s notorious whitepaper (1997), the arts and cultural sector has claimed to perform miracles of social amelioration through a variety of inclusion, representation, and outreach initiatives together known as social practice. Those claims are today’s foundation of art and culture’s status and importance in the public sphere and, in no small part, their rationale for public funding. Even in good times, however, these arguments attracted considerable scepticism from critics and publics alike.
Art and culture like to see themselves as representatives of social causes. But the pandemic has turned their solidarity towards themselves. Does this undermine their often proclaimed social relevance more than it helps them?
In the midst of the pandemic crisis, art and culture are forced to lobby for their survival and to compete for resources with other imperilled industries more than ever. They are also facing a new test of their claims of culture’s social utility. Since the publication of François Matarasso’s notorious whitepaper (1997), the arts and cultural sector has claimed to perform miracles of social amelioration through a variety of inclusion, representation, and outreach initiatives together known as social practice. Those claims are today’s foundation of art and culture’s status and importance in the public sphere and, in no small part, their rationale for public funding. Even in good times, however, these arguments attracted considerable scepticism from critics and publics alike.
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