The Geography of Producing and Marketing Design for Montreal Fashion: Exploring the Role of Cultural Intermediaries

2010 ◽  
pp. 93-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norma Rantisi
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Intermediaries

Merchants of Asianness: Japanese Art Dealers in the United States in the Early Twentieth Century

2009 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-46
Author(s):  
CONSTANCE J. S. CHEN
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cultural Capital ◽  
American Art ◽  
The United States ◽  
Racial Identities ◽  
Japanese Art ◽  
Art Dealers ◽  
Cultural Intermediaries

This article explores the role of Japanese merchants within American art and collecting circles and analyzes the ways in which the construction of “Asianness” and, in particular, “Japaneseness” became intertwined with the classification of Asian art. In order to reconstitute the market for high art and to create their own positionalities as legitimate cultural intermediaries, Asian art dealers such as Bunkio Matsuki (1867–1940) and Sadajiro Yamanaka (1866–1936) used their connections to Japan as cultural capital. Ultimately, their experiences illuminate the complexities of the reconceptualization of ethnic–racial identities through the lens of aesthetic discourses.

scholarly journals Contingencies of Value: Devices and Conventions at a Design School Admission Test

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Malou Strandvad
Keyword(s):  
Economic Sociology ◽  
Assessment Criteria ◽  
Assessment Practices ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The World ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Admission Test ◽  
Cultural Intermediaries ◽  
Aesthetic Values

Based on a study of the admission test at a design school, this paper investigates the contingencies of aesthetic values as these become visible in assessment practices. Theoretically, the paper takes its starting point in Herrnstein Smith’s notion of ‘contingencies of values’ and outlines a pragmatist ground where cultural sociology and economic sociology meet. Informed by the literature on cultural intermediaries, the paper discusses the role of evaluators and the devices which accompany them. Whereas studies of cultural intermediaries traditionally apply a Bourdieusian perspective, recent developments within this field of literature draws inspiration from the so-called ‘new new economic sociology,’ which this paper adds to. While the admission test is easily described as a matter of overcoming “subjective” aesthetic evaluations by means of “objective” and standardized assessment criteria, the paper does not accept this storyline. As an alternative, the paper outlines the contingencies of values which are at play at the admission test, composed of official assessment criteria and scoring devices together with conventions within the world of design, and set in motion by interactions with the objects that applicants submit.

Contextualizing “Quality” US Television Programs for the United Kingdom

2019 ◽  
pp. 239-256
Author(s):  
Paul Rixon
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Significant Part ◽  
Television Programs ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Quality Programs ◽  
Online Strategy ◽  
Cultural Intermediaries ◽  
British Culture

American programs have been a significant part of British television culture since the 1950s. Helping their mediation into British culture have been press critics who, in the past, have often been dismissive of such programs. However, as new forms of quality American programs have appeared, and online media have weakened the role of professional cultural intermediaries, a more supportive discourse has appeared. This chapter explores how contemporary American quality programs are being mediated into UK public debate. It will look at the website of one of the most important national UK newspapers, the Guardian, which has developed its online coverage of TV, often in ways more akin to fan sites, while encouraging public participation. The chapter will reflect on how the Guardian’s online strategy has served a niche UK readership interested in American programs, and how it has helped to reinforce and consecrate this group’s cultural dispositions in relation to US television.

Conclusion: Where next for cultural intermediation?

2019 ◽  
pp. 221-230
Author(s):  
Phil Jones ◽  
Paul Long ◽  
Beth Perry
Keyword(s):  
Critical Examination ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Deprived Neighbourhoods ◽  
The Face ◽  
Excellent Work ◽  
South East England ◽  
Cultural Intermediaries ◽  
Cultural Sector ◽  
Work Done

The book concludes by arguing not about the need to increase funding for cultural intermediaries, but rather for a critical examination of the role of culture in tacking entrenched inequality. The cultural sector is largely a closed shop, dominated by the white middle classes in south east England. Realistically, only the very talented and very lucky can count on the creative sector as a route out of poverty, regardless of how many well-meaning cultural activities run in deprived neighbourhoods. The chapter calls for a clearer delineation of different types of intermediary function, noting that the excellent work done by intermediaries based in deprived communities tackling skills and confidence building should not be unreflexively conflated with the activities of large arts organisations engaging in wider practices of marketing cities to middle class consumers. The chapter concludes that cultural intermediation will continue to play a role in building confidence and skills among a relatively small number of people. Unfortunately, in the face of a right-wing agenda that seems determined to entrench inequality, the capacity of cultural activity to transform society remains highly limited.

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