Referring to the work of Richard Sennett, this article puts forth the proposition that art production is possible only when there is a correct relation between theory and artistic practice. An effective artistic praxis can only be realized by incorporating theory in artistic practices. Based on empirical research, the author elaborates on the biotope, which is the necessary precondition for a sustainable development of art. This biotope consists of domestic, communal, market, and civil domains. Within these domains, theory and artistic practice interact in different ways. In order to ensure the development of an artistic praxis, art education needs to maintain this biotope. The author demonstrates that policy decisions in the Netherlands following the Bologna Process regarding education do not make the task of higher education of arts any easier. Increased scale, increased bureaucracy, and neoliberalization of educational space threaten to counteract the integration of theory and practice and thus to undermine the artistic biotope of the artist.

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How can we understand the relationship between art, education and democracy in the contemporary Western political condition? The recent presidential elections in the USA showed that the classical model of liberal representative democracy is shaking on its foundations. The question is how can artists and education respond to this political condition? In this article it is argued that art has a special quality to address political, and especially democratic, issues. It can strengthen education in its lessons in democracy and citizenship. Art has a special quality to walk on an alternative path of democracy, namely that of the civil domain. In the civil sphere artistic qualities and skills of designing and of imagination can play a crucial role.

How are artistic choices made and what arguments play a part in this process? In this article selection mechanisms were analysed by means of mainly qualitative research methods, such as participant observation in artistic institutions and governmental bodies, in-depth interviews with policy-makers and decision-makers, research in the records and analyses of documents. Artistic selections were compared for two fields of research in Flanders (the Dutch-speaking community in Belgium), namely that of contemporary dance and that of the field of visual art. In addition to the empirical research, theories of sociology of art were explored. By doing so, the necessary and appropriate conceptual tools were researched in order to answer the central issue. Particularly, the French discussion between Pierre Bourdieu and Nathalie Heinich proved to be very inspiring. The tension between the two sociological views provided the necessary material for the development of a conceptual model that can explain the argumentations sociologically for artistic selections. The author goes on to crystallize a conceptual model that explains the value regimes in which artistic selections are made. The article concludes with some empirical findings and the interpretation of these findings within the expounded model.

The creative industries: conflict or collaboration? An analysis of the perspectives from which policymakers, art organizations and creative organizations in the creative industries are acting.