Description
Book SynopsisWho funds creative and cultural projects, and why? This insightful book analyses how the arts have been funded in a variety of political environments, helping readers understand how politics and economics intersect to support cultural life.
Employing the UK Arts Council as an historical case study, the author explores the politics of arts funding and how artists and audiences adapt their behaviour around evolving incentives. In focusing on how arts funding has worked in practice, the book allows readers to develop their understanding of economics principles in the cultural sector.
With a balance between historical and contemporary themes, the book provides fundamental insights into cultural economics and policy. As such it is required reading for students and practitioners who want to know how arts funding professionals make decisions.
Trade Review"Both a fascinating examination and a bracing critique, Funding the Arts is essential reading for anyone interested in how we make a fairer and more sustainable cultural sector." Dave O'Brien, Professor of Cultural and Creative Industries, University of Sheffield, UK.
Table of ContentsWhat to expect from this book Part 1 Funding fundamentals 1 The lost half-century: what happened to cultural democracy? 2 Funding: what it means in the context of this book 3 Public expenditures, private interests and the politics connecting them 4 On cultural economics: time, money and the value of the arts Part 2 A framework for funding 5 The art of the possible 6 New economies 7 Old stable economies 8 Declining economies 9 Command economies Part 3 Funding failures 10 Grants for individual artists: on false hope and the false promise of "open access" funding programmes 11 The grant–exchange continuum: rent-seeking, proxy purchase and the payment of reparations 12 The grant–exchange continuum: rent-seeking, proxy purchase and he payment of reparations Part 4 Funding futures 13 The direction of public policy Collected chapter abstracts
