Roses for everyone? Arts Council England’s 2020–2030 strategy and local authority museums – a thematic analysis and literature review

Rex, Bethany

doi:10.1080/09548963.2020.1761247

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Most notably, my data illuminated a gap between the aims and strategies put forward by current UK cultural policyas exemplified by "Let's Create" (ACE, 2020)and the everyday experiences of art workers "on the ground". Specifically, my analysis challenged idealising entrepreneurial discourses in the arts which present the financial possibilities of commercial activities and private sponsoring as fitting solutions to fill the economic vacuum created by austerity, rather than acknowledging the need for more systemic economic redistribution (Rex, 2020). The widening of commercial services was not seen as a sustainable solution for institutions to maintain their commitment to both staff and work, especially in light of the overall pressures to re-envision the wider social role of museums today.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…These reflections indicate the kinds of values and aims that are currently competingand perhaps clashingin the cultural sector between neoliberal understandings of the arts and those oriented towards a critical and inclusive publicness (e.g. Rex, 2020). In this vein, a curator at a major London public museum cautioned that a consolidation of exhibition practices centring around the white middle-class consumer would lead to "already marginalised stories becoming even more marginalised" because "people tend to get very conservative" under conditions of financial risk.…”

Section: Commercial Pressures On Programming and Curationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…27, 49). Bethany Rex (2020) therefore argues that the strategy's focus on "dynamism" and "resilience" would actually reinscribe austerity discourses by demanding cultural institutions to become even more entrepreneurial, while leaving "difficult questions of how to translate the strategy's ambitions into actual action unanswered" (2020, p. 129).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Unequal entanglements: how arts practitioners reflect on the impact of intensifying economic inequality

Kolbe

2021

Cultural Trends

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This article discusses how arts practitioners reflect on their work amidst deepening economic inequality. Given the renewed interest in the social role of arts institutions under conditions of financialised neo-liberalism, the paper traces the complex ways in which economic imperatives figure in cultural practice. Drawing on interviews with UK-based gallery directors, museum curators, art consultants, and artists, I map out how austerity politics and intensifying privatisation processes have a profound impact on the workings of the sector, how they recalibrate dynamics between private and public artworlds, and how they shape processes of production and curation. My data specifically document how increasing economic precarity brings into relief structural inequalities of gender, race and (post)-colonial legacies already manifesting in the artworld. Rather than understanding austerity as a financial condition only, the paper thus presents an empirical exploration of the wider inequalities that it has exacerbated, from arts funding to institutions' programming practices.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Commercial Pressures On Programming and Curationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Unequal entanglements: how arts practitioners reflect on the impact of intensifying economic inequality

Kolbe

2021

Cultural Trends

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“…Curiously, research into the nature of spending cuts to cultural services has been limited, with the issue of austerity being explored more through questions of political discourse and individual organisations' responses and less in terms of the transforming shape of cultural funding itself. While we acknowledge that scholarship has not ignored austerity, as a recent literature review illustrates (Rex, 2020a), we suggest that it is equally important to supplement a focus on austerity discourses with a contextualised exploration of the nature and extent of the cuts. The picture that emerges in this article is of austerity as a variable concept rather than a singular empirical reality.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

The impact of austerity measures on local government funding for culture in England

Rex

Campbell

2021

Cultural Trends

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In the 2010s, austerity measures had a severe impact on the level of spending on cultural activity. In England, the potential for this was especially great due to the reduction of resources available for local government, the largest funder in this field. Whilst prior work has attempted to establish overall reductions in spending, little attention has been paid to variations in cultural spending across the country in this period of austerity, or which types of cultural services have been cut and why. Here, we compare local authority spending in 2009/10 with 2018/19 to provide further detail on the varied picture that has emerged in this period. Whilst there is indeed a significant reduction in the level of spending on culture in this period, we identify significant variation in local experiences of austerity across England. We also show which types of cultural services are more vulnerable to cuts and explore a range of contextual factors as potential explanations of these patterns.

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“…Notwithstanding these declarations of importance and value, arts and cultural organisations face substantial challenges in generating and maintaining funding. Issues around the availability and amount of public subsidy and the scarcity of resources are well-documented (Banks, 2014, 2020; Belfiore, 2004; Gilmore, 2014; Rex, 2020). In the following, Banks (2014: 7) connects issues of funding and precarity to cultural value and accountability:[.…”

Section: Funding Arts and Culture: Npm And The Everyday Experiences O...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Funding arts and culture: Everyday experiences and organisational portfolio precarity

Ashton

2022

European Journal of Cultural Studies

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This article examines the everyday experiences of arts and cultural organisations in negotiating the UK government and cultural policy priority for funding income diversification. Identifying the challenges of declining public funding and the connected pressures for arts and cultural organisations to be accountable, this article positions income diversification in relation to New Public Managerialism. In doing so, the need to examine the everyday experiences of how arts and cultural organisations engage with and respond to the income diversification priority is established. This article then presents findings from empirical research with arts and cultural organisations under the following three themes: balancing simultaneous sources, managing timelines and working through change. The discussion develops this analysis by identifying portfolio working and precarity as prominent and significant features of organisations’ experiences. Portfolio working is evident in how organisations identify and manage multiple, potential funding sources. Precarity is evident in the uncertainty and instability of managing the multiple funding sources, and in the way that organisations address operational issues of planning and working practices. To conclude, the concept of organisational portfolio precarity is proposed as a way to critically understand the everyday situations and implications of how art and cultural organisations respond to the income diversification priority.

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Roses for everyone? Arts Council England’s 2020–2030 strategy and local authority museums – a thematic analysis and literature review

Abstract: How to cite:Please refer to published version for the most recent bibliographic citation information. If a published version is known of, the repository item page linked to above, will contain details on accessing it.

Cited by 5 publications

References 30 publications

Unequal entanglements: how arts practitioners reflect on the impact of intensifying economic inequality

Unequal entanglements: how arts practitioners reflect on the impact of intensifying economic inequality

The impact of austerity measures on local government funding for culture in England

Funding arts and culture: Everyday experiences and organisational portfolio precarity

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