Questioning the cultural hierarchy
What is the relationship between policy and practice in the cultural sphere? Do the policies of government and the public sector funding bodies simply reflect the changing contours of arts activity, or do policy goals determine the direction taken by those working within the arts? What impact do changes in public sector policy and funding structures have on the priorities of organisations and individuals working within the arts? While questions such as these do not have easy answers, recent work in cultural policy studies has placed them firmly "on the agenda". In a way they match those frequent '1980's' debates concerning the relationship between art practice and theory: does art open the way to new theoretical developments, or is it simply an "illustration" of existing theoretical positions "imported" from other places?
The question of the relationship between policy and practice was raised in an odd way in the "Foreword" to last year's DASET Discussion Paper, The Role of the Commonwealth in Australia's Cultural Development. Here, the then Arts Minister, Wendy Fatin, began by noting that the Commonwealth had previously "been reluctant to formulate an explicit policy goal in the cultural arena, believing firmly that the paths followed by authentic cultural development can never be predetermined". However, despite the fact that the document she was introducing was clearly designed as a first step in the development of such a cultural policy, she went on to note, "[t]he Government's view on this fundamental point remains unchanged". So, despite the fact that a cultural policy was being developed, there appeared to remain a fundamental uncertainty about the role it would play in "authentic" cultural development.
The ambiguity of the relationship between... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline