I thought these links may be of interest.
First up, the recent SCCPR/VAGA report 'Briefing for the Visual Arts and Galleries Association (Scotland)'
Available from: http://www.culturalpolicy.arts.gla.ac.uk/research/ dissemination_publications.html
Secondly, 'Valuing Culture', a Demos paper for a seminar in London on 17th June which included Tessa Jowell as a speaker.
http://www.demos.co.uk/media/valuingculture_page269.aspx
Below is a quote from the paper...
"...many leading members of the arts community express grave misgivings about the state of health of the sector, and the extent to which its needs and dynamics are understood by policy makers. Distinguished conductors, theatre directors, museum directors and managers of leading venues have expressed concern, in considered but explicit language, that funding patterns are skewed towards the marginal cost of marginal programs and peripheral capital infrastructure whilst core activities remain under funded and core responsibilities inadequately or grudgingly recognized. In the process of expansion an already thinly capitalised and staffed sector is stretched still further.
There are several possible explanations:
- A bout of Spenglerian cultural pessimism;
- Resentment at the diminished place of the high arts and more traditional notions of culture in an increasingly plural and participative cultural agenda;
- The wailing of a community infantilised by the need to plead one's case over and over again that is intrinsic to a 'contract culture';
- An ingrained belief that the price of adequate arts funding is noisy, pre-emptive vigilance on the part of the funded;
- ... or, possibly, none of the above.
The purpose of this seminar is to provide a forum for a discussion of the proposition that there is another serious, systemic, cause of the conundrum and one that is unusually soluble, at least to a degree."
-------------------------------------------------- Chris Byrne New Media Scotland P.O. Box 23434, Edinburgh EH7 5SZ Tel. +44 131 477 3774 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.mediascot.org --------------------------------------------------
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