Beyond Bakhtin: Literally legislating the 'hell' out of the

carnivalesque

Dr Rebecca FinkelQueen Margaret University, EdinburghLecturer, Events ManagementSchool of Business, Enterprise & Managementrfinkel@qmu.ac.uk

Presentation outline

Research methods Cultural economy and link

to cultural policies Shift in the way culture is

interpreted, valued and experienced

New Labour priorities Changes in public funding

for arts festivals Impacts on programming Conclusions

Research methods

42-question mail-back survey questionnaire 117 combined arts festivals (2003) 56% response rate 66 in sample Analysed by size and years in existence

In-depth interviews with 18 organisers (2004) Based on festival size and years in existence

Case studies (2004-5) Cardiff Festival Henley Festival Lichfield Festival Lafrowda Festival (Cornwall)

Past perceptions of the societal roles of arts festivals

Escapism Featherstone, 1992

Reinforce community values and identity Turner, 1982

Subversive social inversion Bakhtin, 1968

Re-affirming status quo Stallybrass and White, 1986

Contemporary roles in UK

Argument The concept that the arts and, more specifically, arts festivals have the potential to assist in economic development is a relatively new phenomenon, which has been embraced and implemented in late twentieth century Britain. Why?Economic changesGlobalisation processesShift away from Keynesian principlesGovernment's entrepreneurial decisions

Cultural economy = Cultural policy?

Decline of manufacturing and apparent rise of creative industries – 'Capitals of Culture'

UK New Labour government's managerialist approaches towards culture

Pressure on arts organisations to be instrumental in achieving cross-cutting targets for health, social inclusion, crime, education and community cohesion

Emphasis on socio-economic outcomes as a result of arts provision, as opposed to simply the arts themselves

New Labour Priorities for Culture

Functionalist arguments for public spending

Tied to non-aesthetic, socio-economic policies

Regeneration Image promotion Inter-urban competition Economic development Social inclusion agenda Tourism

Changes in public funding for arts

'Joined-up' government (DCMS --> ACE -->)

Justifications for public spending on arts Diversity Wider access Social inclusion

(not social justice) Education Economic benefits Image/reputation

Impacts on arts festival funding

Harder to secure public funding, so seek other means “Too many hoops” “Too many strings” “Project” not “Performance” Future sustainability concerns ROI targets to be met Diversity & inclusion agendas Not “visible” enough with

marketing to widely attract and develop audiences

Politically-correct content becomes watered down

Impacts on arts festival programming

Argument Sanitation of content Standardisation of format and structure Not as symbolically connected to unique

characteristics of place and communities

Why? Increasing importance of economic development

and marketing agendas Instrumentalist guidelines to public subsidies “Find a formula that works and repeat it” Necessity and focus on business skills for staff Higher value placed on non-aesthetic outcomes

Conclusions

“The arts are a means of empowering people to shape their own identities and destinies.

But it won’t be able to do that if they are seen as mere commodities, elite specialisms,

niche marketing and other objects of economic exploitation”

(Hewison in Robinson et al, 1994, 32).

References

Bakhtin, M. (1968) Rabelais and his world. Cambridge, MA: M.I.T. Press.

Featherstone, M. (1992) 'Postmodernism and the aestheticization of everyday life', in Lash, S. and Friedman, J. (eds) Modernity and identity. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 265-290.

Robinson, O., Freeman, R., Riley II, C. (eds) (1994) The arts in the world economy: public policy and private philanthropy for a global cultural community, Salzburg seminar. London: University Press of New England.

Stallybrass, P. and White, A. (1986) The politics and poetics of transgression. London: Metheun.

Turner, V. (1982) Celebration: studies in festivity and ritual. Washington, DC: Smithsonian

* Please see conference paper for complete list of references