scholarly journals Revisiting the Cultural Policy Moment: Queensland Cultural Policy from Goss to Bligh

2011 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 190-206
Author(s):  
Stuart Glover
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Studies ◽  
Cultural Policy ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Policy Studies ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Cultural Sector

An account of cultural policy-making in Queensland since the election of the Goss Labor government in 1989 requires revisiting the rise and fall of what Stevenson (2000) has called the ‘cultural policy moment’ in Australia.This period, from the early 1990s to the early 2000s, was characterised by political and scholarly interest in the civic and symbolic utility of culture, and in the outcomes achieved through its management. The cultural policy moment was produced simultaneously within government, the cultural sector and the academy. Within government, it was characterised by a new and highly visible interest in managing culture and (through it) the citizenry (O'Regan 2002). Within the academy, the cultural policy project was raised by Tim Rowse in Arguing the Arts (1985) and developed by the Institute for Cultural Policy Studies at Griffith University through the work of Ian Hunter, Tony Bennett, Toby Miller, Colin Mercer, Jenny Craik, Tom O'Regan and Gay Hawkins in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Stuart Cunningham's Framing Culture (1992) focused existing debate within Australian cultural studies over the place of policy-based approaches within the discipline.

From Chauvel to creatives: Celebrating the career of Distinguished Professor Stuart Cunningham

2021 ◽  
pp. 1329878X2110441
Author(s):  
Terry Flew ◽  
Amanda D Lotz
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Studies ◽  
Cultural Policy ◽  
Creative Industries ◽  
Academic Leadership ◽  
Institution Building ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Policy Studies ◽  
Communications Media

This essay introduces the special issue of Media International Australia dedicated to the work of Stuart Cunningham. We note the scholarly contributions made by Stuart Cunningham to communications, media and cultural studies, including screen studies, creative industries and cultural policy studies. We also note his extensive contributions to institution building and academic leadership in engaging with industry and policy agencies from an applied humanities perspective.

scholarly journals How can cultural policy strengthen the arts and cultural sector?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Susan Richer
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Cultural Policy ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Term Survival ◽  
Multiple Systems ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Cultural Sector

<p><b>During the COVID-19 worldwide health pandemic, with gigs cancelled, seasons postponed, travel ceased and unemployment increasing, calls for new approaches to cultural policy have emerged despite there being no shared understanding of what cultural policy is, does and could be. Governments in Australia and New Zealand have responded to the sector’s increased precarity with large-scale rescue funding packages, which are focussed on immediate relief and short-term survival. Even pre-COVID, it seems there was little interest in longer term cultural policy thinking.</b></p> <p>This research explores the legitimacy of cultural policy as source of sector sustainability through a review of contemporary cultural policy literature and insights from key players in the cultural policy space - arts and cultural bureaucrats, whose perspectives are usually muted. Norwegian sociologist Per Mangset (2020) suggests that western democracies may actually be facing the end of cultural policy, which has not adapted or responded significantly to major societal, economic and cultural changes of the last 50 years. While not conceding that cultural policy is a redundant practice, this research responds to Mangset’s provocation by identifying three key policy approaches through a survey of contemporary policy literature. The three approaches; policy as action, policy as sustainability and policy as democracy intersect to create a grey area in which new democratic approaches to policy development might be further explored.</p> <p>This contribution to the contemporary cultural policy heritage narrative of the trans-Tasman region clarifies definitions and approaches utilised by policy makers in Australian and New Zealand government settings. It finds that cultural policy has been looping in a neo-liberal, post-democratic pattern of short-term cycles resulting in a cultural policy stasis and elitist decision making, which largely excludes the public. Recommendations for further research include exploration of new democratic approaches to cultural policy that could transform policy making to encompass multiple systems and perspectives that can strengthen the arts and cultural sector.</p>

scholarly journals Toward Cultural Policy Studies on Mobility: Reflections on a Study of the Hong Kong Working Holiday Scheme

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis Ho
Keyword(s):  
Economic Policy ◽  
International Trade ◽  
Cultural Policy ◽  
Policy Studies ◽  
Arts Policy ◽  
Cultural Policies ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Labour Policy ◽  
Cultural Experiences

Cultural policy is predominantly, and practically, considered the sum of a government’s activities with respect to the arts, humanities and heritage. Thus, cultural policy encompasses a much broader range of activities than was traditionally associated with an arts policy. Critical cultural policy studies, then, sees a distinction between ‘explicit’ cultural policies that are manifestly labelled as ‘cultural’, and ‘implicit’ cultural policies that are not labelled as such, but that work to shape cultural experiences. This article considers this explicit/implicit cultural policy distinction through John Urry’s idea of ‘social as mobility’, suggesting that some public policies regarding mobility (such as immigration, international trade and labour policy) have led to specific cultural consequences and therefore qualify as implicit cultural policy. Using Hong Kong’s working holiday scheme as a case study, this article explores how an economic policy on temporary immigrant labour involves a deliberate cultural agenda as well as ‘unintentional’ cultural consequences and problematises the fact that cultural policy studies are largely framed by the idea of ‘social as society’.

scholarly journals How can cultural policy strengthen the arts and cultural sector?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Susan Richer
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Cultural Policy ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Term Survival ◽  
Multiple Systems ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Cultural Sector

<p><b>During the COVID-19 worldwide health pandemic, with gigs cancelled, seasons postponed, travel ceased and unemployment increasing, calls for new approaches to cultural policy have emerged despite there being no shared understanding of what cultural policy is, does and could be. Governments in Australia and New Zealand have responded to the sector’s increased precarity with large-scale rescue funding packages, which are focussed on immediate relief and short-term survival. Even pre-COVID, it seems there was little interest in longer term cultural policy thinking.</b></p> <p>This research explores the legitimacy of cultural policy as source of sector sustainability through a review of contemporary cultural policy literature and insights from key players in the cultural policy space - arts and cultural bureaucrats, whose perspectives are usually muted. Norwegian sociologist Per Mangset (2020) suggests that western democracies may actually be facing the end of cultural policy, which has not adapted or responded significantly to major societal, economic and cultural changes of the last 50 years. While not conceding that cultural policy is a redundant practice, this research responds to Mangset’s provocation by identifying three key policy approaches through a survey of contemporary policy literature. The three approaches; policy as action, policy as sustainability and policy as democracy intersect to create a grey area in which new democratic approaches to policy development might be further explored.</p> <p>This contribution to the contemporary cultural policy heritage narrative of the trans-Tasman region clarifies definitions and approaches utilised by policy makers in Australian and New Zealand government settings. It finds that cultural policy has been looping in a neo-liberal, post-democratic pattern of short-term cycles resulting in a cultural policy stasis and elitist decision making, which largely excludes the public. Recommendations for further research include exploration of new democratic approaches to cultural policy that could transform policy making to encompass multiple systems and perspectives that can strengthen the arts and cultural sector.</p>

scholarly journals Museum Diplomacy: Developing cultural partnerships between New Zealand and China

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Lillian Bayly-McCredie
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Cultural Policy ◽  
Cultural Diplomacy ◽  
Original Data ◽  
National Museum ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Policy Studies ◽  
International Activity ◽  
The Government ◽  
Cultural Sector

<p>Museums play an increasingly important role in cultural diplomacy. New Zealand cultural organisations support international objectives by assisting cultural exchange, increasing mutual understanding and connecting key players. However, the intersection between museum and government activity is often regarded with scepticism, stemming from a general antipathy towards instrumentalism in museum and cultural policy studies literature. This research draws on recent work by Nisbett (2013), which revealed how British cultural organisations inverted instrumentalism—the use of cultural ventures by governments to help achieve goals in other areas—to achieve their own goals. The literature suggests that British museums strategically promoted their cultural diplomacy activity to formulate cultural policy and expand the scale of their international activity. This provides a useful model for the New Zealand cultural sector to build on, in its unique environment.  This dissertation addresses this gap in the literature by investigating the intersection of museum and government activity between New Zealand and China. Through a case study of the partnership between Te Papa and the National Museum of China the research explored the state of cultural organisation partnerships, and assessed to what extent museums benefit by acting instrumentally. Interviews were conducted with ten cultural sector professionals and grounded theory was used to analyse the data.  This research found that New Zealand’s national museum positioned itself as willing and able to engage in cultural diplomacy activity, in order to develop its international activity, and offer benefits in return to its principal funder, the government. Results suggested that while the museum has not utilised instrumentalism to impact cultural policy in New Zealand, there is scope to develop this. Consequently, the research identifies an emerging area in museum practice, ‘museum diplomacy’, which I define as the developing practice of intersecting activity between international museum work and state-sponsored cultural diplomacy. The research contributes to museum and cultural policy studies literature by producing modest, yet original data about museum partnerships and cultural diplomacy in New Zealand, and provides insights for government and the cultural sector in international cultural partnerships. It echoes the critical view of the disjuncture between museum theory, policy and practice, and concludes by discussing some recommendations and calling for further research to be conducted on museum diplomacy.</p>

Personalising cultural policy: The influence of Tom O’Regan

2021 ◽  
Vol 180 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-53
Author(s):  
Terence Lee
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Studies ◽  
Cultural Policy ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Media Policy ◽  
Major Contributor ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
Policy Domain ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Firsthand Experience ◽  
Actual Policy

This article offers a personal commentary on the influence of Tom O’Regan, my Honours supervisor in the 1990s. Among many other things, he was a major contributor to the ‘cultural policy debate’ in Australia. More than offering an explanation about the subject, O’Regan had warned of the need to strike a balance when debating culture and critiquing cultural policy, and not fall into polemical traps. Making a case for policy independence, he urged academics to participate collaboratively and cooperatively in cultural policy-making processes, instead of primarily engaging in cultural criticisms. I write as well of my firsthand experience of how his cultural policy writings transcended scholarly rationale into the actual policy domain during my time as a media policy professional in Singapore. His ability to apply policy thinking beyond academia underscores why he was – and will remain – a giant of media and cultural studies in Australia and beyond.

scholarly journals The local cultural sector : Reinvigorating its public functions and foundations

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-37
Author(s):  
Anita Kangas
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Cultural Policy ◽  
Cultural Policies ◽  
Policy Sector ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Provision Of Services ◽  
Political Objective ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Cultural Sector

In the Nordic tradition, public cultural policy has been endowed with an enlightening and welfarepolitical aim. Nordic cultural policies are based on an overall socio-political objective of furthering the empowerment of the individual, universal enlightenment ("Bildung") and the continued democratisation of society (Nielsen 2003). Locally, an important actor is a municipal cultural sector that is one specialized sector in a municipality's administration. Cultural and art institutions (such as libraries, museums, theatres) are working under the cultural sector administration, although they might sometimes have their own separate administration. According to Gray (2002, pp. 82-83) the arts as a coherent policy sector within local government is weak because of low political salience and a fragmented field of activity, with many actors having a role to play in the provision of services and development of arts policies.

scholarly journals Museum Diplomacy: Developing cultural partnerships between New Zealand and China

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Lillian Bayly-McCredie
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Cultural Policy ◽  
Cultural Diplomacy ◽  
Original Data ◽  
National Museum ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Policy Studies ◽  
International Activity ◽  
The Government ◽  
Cultural Sector

<p>Museums play an increasingly important role in cultural diplomacy. New Zealand cultural organisations support international objectives by assisting cultural exchange, increasing mutual understanding and connecting key players. However, the intersection between museum and government activity is often regarded with scepticism, stemming from a general antipathy towards instrumentalism in museum and cultural policy studies literature. This research draws on recent work by Nisbett (2013), which revealed how British cultural organisations inverted instrumentalism—the use of cultural ventures by governments to help achieve goals in other areas—to achieve their own goals. The literature suggests that British museums strategically promoted their cultural diplomacy activity to formulate cultural policy and expand the scale of their international activity. This provides a useful model for the New Zealand cultural sector to build on, in its unique environment.  This dissertation addresses this gap in the literature by investigating the intersection of museum and government activity between New Zealand and China. Through a case study of the partnership between Te Papa and the National Museum of China the research explored the state of cultural organisation partnerships, and assessed to what extent museums benefit by acting instrumentally. Interviews were conducted with ten cultural sector professionals and grounded theory was used to analyse the data.  This research found that New Zealand’s national museum positioned itself as willing and able to engage in cultural diplomacy activity, in order to develop its international activity, and offer benefits in return to its principal funder, the government. Results suggested that while the museum has not utilised instrumentalism to impact cultural policy in New Zealand, there is scope to develop this. Consequently, the research identifies an emerging area in museum practice, ‘museum diplomacy’, which I define as the developing practice of intersecting activity between international museum work and state-sponsored cultural diplomacy. The research contributes to museum and cultural policy studies literature by producing modest, yet original data about museum partnerships and cultural diplomacy in New Zealand, and provides insights for government and the cultural sector in international cultural partnerships. It echoes the critical view of the disjuncture between museum theory, policy and practice, and concludes by discussing some recommendations and calling for further research to be conducted on museum diplomacy.</p>

Impact of the 2020 crises on the arts and culture in the United States: The effect of COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement in historical context

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 449-465
Author(s):  
Stanley N. Katz ◽  
Leah Reisman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cultural Organizations ◽  
Black Lives Matter ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Arts And Culture ◽  
History Of ◽  
Cultural Sector ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThis article discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement on the arts and cultural sector in the United States, placing the 2020 crises in the context of the United States’s historically decentralized approach to supporting the arts and culture. After providing an overview of the United States’s private, locally focused history of arts funding, we use this historical lens to analyze the combined effects of the pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement on a single metropolitan area – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We trace a timeline of key events in the national and local pandemic response and the reaction of the arts community to the Black Lives Matter movement, arguing that the nature of these intersecting responses, and their fallout for the arts and cultural sector, stem directly from weaknesses in the United States’s historical approach to administering the arts. We suggest that, in the context of widespread organizational vulnerability caused by the pandemic, the United States’s decentralized approach to funding culture also undermines cultural organizations’ abilities to respond to issues of public relevance and demonstrate their civic value, threatening these organizations’ legitimacy.

Exploring ethno-racial policy for the Garinagu in Central America: making the case for Black Indigeneity

2020 ◽  
pp. 117718012097900
Author(s):  
Sheryl Felecia Means
Keyword(s):  
Central America ◽  
Cultural Policy ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Water Rights ◽  
Central American ◽  
Language Attrition ◽  
Political Autonomy ◽  
Collective Rights ◽  
Land And Water Rights ◽  
Racial Policy

Across the Central American region, several groups received political autonomy by the end of the 20th century. By granting autonomy to these groups, countries like Nicaragua acknowledged certain populations as members of distinct ethnic groups. This was not the case for every country or group in the region, and the lack of effective ethno-racial policy-making considerations across Central America has led to language attrition, loss of land and water rights, and commodification of historic communities. This article focuses on Honduras and Belize as unique sites of ethno-racial and socio-cultural policy making, group identity making and unmaking, and group rights for the Garinagu. Specifically, this work forwards a re-examination of national ethno-racial policy and a critical assessment of political models based on ethno-cultural collective rights intended to combat racial discrimination.

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