Art and State. An Introduction to the Concept of Public Cultural Policy - van
den Hoogen
Introduction
● Modern cultural policy → public policies towards the arts and creative sectors
that have been created by nation states after WW2
● Culture → a specific meaning referring to a particular set of objects and events in
society; heritage artifacts, art works and art events
● Rudi Laermans (2002): Culture is a socially shared reservoir or repertoire of
signs
○ Repertoire of signs refers not only to a formal semiotic game of similarity
and differentiation, but also to assigning meaning as sense that gives
direction and reason for existence to both people and societies
○ “Sign” → meaning we assign to things
Chapter 1. Government and the Cultural Sector
Government, nation and state
● Government exists because they handle the making of collective decisions
○ Also exists because of division of labor
○ ‘Free rider’(Baumol 1952) → members who do not partake in building in
collective projects but are entitled to the benefits of collective community
● Social contract → a voluntary agreement between the people and the rulers.
Government seen as a representation of the rule of the people over themselves
○ Important to recognize that modern nation-states are a relatively late
invention of history → ‘imagined political communities’
The relationship between Governments and Social Agents
● Powerful position of government is restricted by the law → power is legitimated
based on the outcomes of political discussions that are codified in acts (the law)
● Common that governments depend on organizations outside the government to
produce and distribute culture
○ ‘Delivery agents’ (Jankovich/Hansen) → cultural institutions that produce
and distribute artistic and cultural programmes to audiences
,Chapter 2 Defining Cultural Policy
Cultural policy (Per Mangset) → the structured actions of specific public authorities
responsible for the cultural sector
Cultural Policy Instruments
● Policy instruments → actions taken by government to achieve specific goals
● Copyright → provides economic basis for cultural systems
● Permit → governments can allow or disallow certain behavior
○ May penalize those who organize a festival without such permission
● Management by speech → public officials/politicians publicly speak out against
or in favor of certain behavior, hoping that people will pick up on this
● Provide certain facilities that can be used by all cultural agents (e.g. power
sockets on public square)
● Perform collective tasks for the creative and cultural sectors such as collective
marketing
● Can try to influence behavior of audiences through cultural education
Cultural Policy Agents
● Cultural policies are not simply the actions of politicians and civil servants: a
variety of social agents are involved in cultural policies as well → political parties,
social pressure groups, artists, and managers of cultural institutions.
● Cultural policy is a cultural praxis in and of itself: it is a process in which the
people involved collectively develop a shared sense of what cultural policies are
about and how they should be executed. Agents assign a certain meaning to art
and culture in society and to the role of the government regarding this sector
4 basic types of decisions in cultural policies
● Decisions regarding the goals of public cultural policies
○ Goals determine the types of values that are prioritized → intrinsic vs
extrinsic
○ Intrinsic values → close to the arts themselves
○ Extrinsic/Instrumental values → more political, economic or social in
nature
● Decisions regarding the infrastructure for art and culture
○ Consists mainly of the built environment for culture and art (buildings
etc.)
○ Not only material or spatial → through education policies (cultural
education specifically), government's impact on the reception side of art
● Decisions regarding subvention of artists and cultural institutions through
subsidies
, ○ If used as instrument, how to allocate them to delivery agents and under
which conditions, are important issues
○ Arm’s length principle → subsidy allocations need to be made at least at
‘arm’s length’ from political bodies
● Decisions regarding programming
○ Decisions about content of the programme of delivery agents, the art
institutions
○ Arm’s length principle applies here as well
Chapter 3. The Values of (and behind) Cultural Policies: Decisions on Policy Goals
Four Historical Traditions in Cultural Policies
● Culture States (Grand Cultural States) → States claim a hegemonic status of their
culture
○ Culture is linked closely to the concept of citizenship: to be a citizen of the
nation means to be part of its culture
○ State takes up the role of protecting the national cultural patrimony which
defines a sense of self of the citizenry (sense civique)
○ E.G. Italy, France, Austria, Germany, Spain and Portugal
○ Common goal: spreading one’s culture (the language and philosophy) →
accomplished through cultural institutions abroad → cultural diplomacy
○ Highly centralized cultural policies with a central ministry of culture on
national level
○ Role of government in quite unchallenged → policies tend to be informal
in the sense that they may not always be written down explicitly but need
to bei inferred from actions of governments
● Cultural Protectionism → Links cultural identity of the nation to its political
sovereignty
○ May lead to informal policies as the role of the government in supporting
an independent cultural sphere may be seem as self-evident
○ E.G. Canada
■ Opposition to American cultural intrusion has been a basis for
Canadian Cultural Policies since the 1950s. Goal → realize an
independent space for Canadian creativity and artistry
■ Canadian cultural policies also have strong traces of other traditions
● Social-Democratic Culture → cultural policy is part of a much broader array of
governmental efforts to provide a high-level quality of life that is accessible,
sustainable and representative
○ E.G. Scandinavian Countries, also Netherlands and Belgium
, ■ ‘Nordic model’ → sees culture as one of the arrangements of the
welfare state (Duelund 2003)
○ Defines culture as a means for personal development of citizens and
therefore it is the responsibility of the state to provide it to all citizens
○ Tendency towards a large role for local and regional governments, with
coordination of the efforts of local and national authorities, into a
nation-wide cultural policy system by a central cultural ministry
● Laissez-Faire → conceptualisation of culture as an inherently private matter,
which leads to rather restricted role of the government regarding the arts, this in
marked contrast to other traditions
○ Mulcahy only refers to USA, but arguably UK as well
○ Government is a minority stockholder in the business of culture
Shifts in Policy Goals over time (1945-2020)
● Western societies → evident tendency towards democratization: growing
economic prosperity, rising education levels, and the advent of mass
media/digital technologies have led to a wider array of cultural forms being
produced and consumed
○ Democratization of culture→ ideal was to give the whole population access
to the high or elite culture
● 1960/1970 europe → marked by growing conflicts between older and younger
generations and the advent of youth culture made possible by mass media and
the upsurge in post war economy
den Hoogen
Introduction
● Modern cultural policy → public policies towards the arts and creative sectors
that have been created by nation states after WW2
● Culture → a specific meaning referring to a particular set of objects and events in
society; heritage artifacts, art works and art events
● Rudi Laermans (2002): Culture is a socially shared reservoir or repertoire of
signs
○ Repertoire of signs refers not only to a formal semiotic game of similarity
and differentiation, but also to assigning meaning as sense that gives
direction and reason for existence to both people and societies
○ “Sign” → meaning we assign to things
Chapter 1. Government and the Cultural Sector
Government, nation and state
● Government exists because they handle the making of collective decisions
○ Also exists because of division of labor
○ ‘Free rider’(Baumol 1952) → members who do not partake in building in
collective projects but are entitled to the benefits of collective community
● Social contract → a voluntary agreement between the people and the rulers.
Government seen as a representation of the rule of the people over themselves
○ Important to recognize that modern nation-states are a relatively late
invention of history → ‘imagined political communities’
The relationship between Governments and Social Agents
● Powerful position of government is restricted by the law → power is legitimated
based on the outcomes of political discussions that are codified in acts (the law)
● Common that governments depend on organizations outside the government to
produce and distribute culture
○ ‘Delivery agents’ (Jankovich/Hansen) → cultural institutions that produce
and distribute artistic and cultural programmes to audiences
,Chapter 2 Defining Cultural Policy
Cultural policy (Per Mangset) → the structured actions of specific public authorities
responsible for the cultural sector
Cultural Policy Instruments
● Policy instruments → actions taken by government to achieve specific goals
● Copyright → provides economic basis for cultural systems
● Permit → governments can allow or disallow certain behavior
○ May penalize those who organize a festival without such permission
● Management by speech → public officials/politicians publicly speak out against
or in favor of certain behavior, hoping that people will pick up on this
● Provide certain facilities that can be used by all cultural agents (e.g. power
sockets on public square)
● Perform collective tasks for the creative and cultural sectors such as collective
marketing
● Can try to influence behavior of audiences through cultural education
Cultural Policy Agents
● Cultural policies are not simply the actions of politicians and civil servants: a
variety of social agents are involved in cultural policies as well → political parties,
social pressure groups, artists, and managers of cultural institutions.
● Cultural policy is a cultural praxis in and of itself: it is a process in which the
people involved collectively develop a shared sense of what cultural policies are
about and how they should be executed. Agents assign a certain meaning to art
and culture in society and to the role of the government regarding this sector
4 basic types of decisions in cultural policies
● Decisions regarding the goals of public cultural policies
○ Goals determine the types of values that are prioritized → intrinsic vs
extrinsic
○ Intrinsic values → close to the arts themselves
○ Extrinsic/Instrumental values → more political, economic or social in
nature
● Decisions regarding the infrastructure for art and culture
○ Consists mainly of the built environment for culture and art (buildings
etc.)
○ Not only material or spatial → through education policies (cultural
education specifically), government's impact on the reception side of art
● Decisions regarding subvention of artists and cultural institutions through
subsidies
, ○ If used as instrument, how to allocate them to delivery agents and under
which conditions, are important issues
○ Arm’s length principle → subsidy allocations need to be made at least at
‘arm’s length’ from political bodies
● Decisions regarding programming
○ Decisions about content of the programme of delivery agents, the art
institutions
○ Arm’s length principle applies here as well
Chapter 3. The Values of (and behind) Cultural Policies: Decisions on Policy Goals
Four Historical Traditions in Cultural Policies
● Culture States (Grand Cultural States) → States claim a hegemonic status of their
culture
○ Culture is linked closely to the concept of citizenship: to be a citizen of the
nation means to be part of its culture
○ State takes up the role of protecting the national cultural patrimony which
defines a sense of self of the citizenry (sense civique)
○ E.G. Italy, France, Austria, Germany, Spain and Portugal
○ Common goal: spreading one’s culture (the language and philosophy) →
accomplished through cultural institutions abroad → cultural diplomacy
○ Highly centralized cultural policies with a central ministry of culture on
national level
○ Role of government in quite unchallenged → policies tend to be informal
in the sense that they may not always be written down explicitly but need
to bei inferred from actions of governments
● Cultural Protectionism → Links cultural identity of the nation to its political
sovereignty
○ May lead to informal policies as the role of the government in supporting
an independent cultural sphere may be seem as self-evident
○ E.G. Canada
■ Opposition to American cultural intrusion has been a basis for
Canadian Cultural Policies since the 1950s. Goal → realize an
independent space for Canadian creativity and artistry
■ Canadian cultural policies also have strong traces of other traditions
● Social-Democratic Culture → cultural policy is part of a much broader array of
governmental efforts to provide a high-level quality of life that is accessible,
sustainable and representative
○ E.G. Scandinavian Countries, also Netherlands and Belgium
, ■ ‘Nordic model’ → sees culture as one of the arrangements of the
welfare state (Duelund 2003)
○ Defines culture as a means for personal development of citizens and
therefore it is the responsibility of the state to provide it to all citizens
○ Tendency towards a large role for local and regional governments, with
coordination of the efforts of local and national authorities, into a
nation-wide cultural policy system by a central cultural ministry
● Laissez-Faire → conceptualisation of culture as an inherently private matter,
which leads to rather restricted role of the government regarding the arts, this in
marked contrast to other traditions
○ Mulcahy only refers to USA, but arguably UK as well
○ Government is a minority stockholder in the business of culture
Shifts in Policy Goals over time (1945-2020)
● Western societies → evident tendency towards democratization: growing
economic prosperity, rising education levels, and the advent of mass
media/digital technologies have led to a wider array of cultural forms being
produced and consumed
○ Democratization of culture→ ideal was to give the whole population access
to the high or elite culture
● 1960/1970 europe → marked by growing conflicts between older and younger
generations and the advent of youth culture made possible by mass media and
the upsurge in post war economy
